In Praise of Police

My day job is coordinating a program for teenagers with “behavior problems,” as we say. I don’t write about it much here due to confidentiality and boundary issues. 

And today I can’t go into the kind of detail necessary for a really good blog post either. 

Let me just say we had a real rough week and I want to praise the police officers that I work with for stepping into situations where somebody could get hurt – especially themselves – and doing what they could to avoid or minimize the damage. 

I saw some real bravery this week that inspires me. In Zen we talk about stepping into the unknown and risking body and life. This past week I saw a young man do just that. And it didn’t turn out so well for him either. 

Police work really can be a life of service and it seems to me that in liberal circles we often take for granted or look down our privileged noses at the women and men who serve in this way, going into the dank places in our society everyday and maintaining order and peace as best they can. 

If you don’t think it’s necessary, from what I’ve seen, I respectfully disagree.

The picture above is from the 2008 Republican Convention held in nearby St. Paul. “Democracy Now” anchor, Amy Goodman is about to be arrested. Many were horrified.

I work closely with the officer standing behind her in the picture who arrested her. His story is quite different than what you might have read, like how she came to him and asked him how she could be arrested, presumably for the cameras and to be with her producers who just got arrested.

Amy’s suing the police for her “treatment” but when talking about it, my friend just shrugged and said, “She seemed like a real nice lady.”

This cop is one of the most decent, calm and balanced people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. If one of my own kids were ever to get in trouble or be in the wrong place, I’d pray that it was this man who was there to deal with them.

This week, though, I was given the gift of selflessness in action. Thank you, Officer.