Beyond Hope? Michael S. East

I received this correspondance earlier in the week and thought I would post it for all to read:

Thank you for your efforts to do good police work. Thank you for all the kindness you have extended to people throughout your career. Thank you for writing your books, and sharing your experience with us.

You were hired, in part, to be a *scapegoat* for this community. We /get/ to scoff at you when things aren’t going right; it’s part of the service you provide for the taxpayers. We get frustrated, too, and you are usually the only one we see when bad trouble hits us. Thank you for letting us express our fear and despair, and we’re sorry after we hurt your feelings. Even your own dog will bite you, you know, when he’s suffering terrible pain.

Please always remember though, that all those hard-faced young men who seem so lost and angry to you - they are our children. They were sweet little boys, not so long ago, and they were all victims before they became thugs. Please be gentle with them. Maybe sometimes when they treat you rudely, they are really looking up to you as a strong father figure and asking with all their heart, “Why didn’t you protect ME when I needed you? Why weren’t you there when I screamed for your help?” They did scream, you know, and nobody came to their rescue…some of their anger is justified. They all have another side, of course; most of the time they are charming and delightful, eager to help out, and just looking for a place in life where they can earn respect and all the things men need. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they’re nice. Really. Truly.

(And gee whiz, learn the (spelling) difference between “in vain” and “in a vein”!)

Best wishes, and good luck in both your writing and your police work.
Zeke

Last Tuesday (June 30th, I believe . . . but I’m too lazy to go downstairs and look at a calendar) started as one of “those” days. While dressing for work in the lockerroom @ about 0600 hrs, the previous shift Lt. was laughing hysterically about me being the topic of the previous night’s City Council meeting. He said the City Manager and Mayor had mentioned Beyond Hope? during the council meeting and slammed me for writing negative things about the City of Saginaw. They supposedly went on to say they are sick of hearing people talk negatively about the city. At first I thought he was joking. But, further conversation with other officers confirmed his story. And an hour later, while setting out for a day on patrol, both WSGW and 100.5 FM carried stories and sound bytes from interviews with Mr. Earley the day before. He was obviously not happy with the book . . . at least the title of the book (as in “One Cop’s Fight for Survival in a Dying City”). At one point it even seemed I was being set up for a cage match with local businessman Dick Garber as there seemed to be an insinuation that I was offending Mr. Garber by using the word “dying” in the title of a book about my experiences as a Saginaw police officer.

I found the whole thing unsettling to say the least. I am one of those people who likes to “fly under the radar,” so to speak, although I am sure that is not conducive to being a well-known author. This is why, even though I like to write, I have never been overly concerned with being a “well-known” author. Just to have someone call me an author without having to fight to supress giggles is enough for me.

I digress. I do not know Mayor Seals very well, but from what I’ve seen and the few times I’ve met her, she seems quite personable, and she obviously cares about Saginaw. I have met Mr. Earley on several occasions during contract negotiations when I was part of the patrol officers union executive board. I have found him to be not quite as friendly as Mayor Seals. However, that is to be expected when sitting on opposite sides of the bargaining table. One thing I never questioned about Mr. Earley was his dedication to performing his job of keeping Saginaw breathing while it struggles to stay afloat in the fiscal quagmire which threatens to consume it. In other words Mr. Earley is tight with the purse strings . . . because he has to be. I can - and do - have an appreciation for that. Both Mayor Seals and Mr. Earley spoke out in defense of Saginaw, maybe because they felt I was attacking it, and that is commendable. However, this book is not, and has never been, meant as an attack on the City of Saginaw.

Beyond Hope? was written to give those who care just a little better understanding of what it is like to practice policing in the violent and often surreal surroundings of Urban America . . . not just Saginaw. I am sure cops from Flint, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc . . . have stories which are much worse than those found within the 168 pages of Beyond Hope? Obviously, because I’m a Saginaw cop, most of the cop stories told in this book revolve around Saginaw - that simply cannot be helped. What I find most disturbing is that some people in the newspaper have called me negative and anti-Saginaw for simply telling these stories as I perceive them.

Saginaw, Michigan, has lost nearly half its population in the past 40 years and the trend has not slowed. Jobs, houses and people have left Saginaw in droves. The violent crime rate is through the roof, poverty levels are staggering yesterday I read in The Saginaw News that more than 70% of children born in Saginaw are born to single mothers. Is Saginaw dying? Yes, I think it is. Do I want Saginaw to die? No - that would be a ridiculous wish since I have staked my employment future on this city. I am one of those people - take note Cubs and Lions fans - that love to pull for life’s underdogs. Saginaw, my friends, is the underest of underdogs. Since arriving in Saginaw in 1994 I have screamed from the hilltops that I am here to stay (Okay, it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but my friends, family and co-workers all knew from day one I was marrying my fortunes to this city, happiness be damned!). Few people want Saginaw to survive and thrive more than the employees of the City. However, I don’t believe turning a blind eye (as some residents seem prone to) to the problems that plague Saginaw and whistling a happy tune to ward off evil trolls and gnomes (poverty, violence and economic chaos) paves the road to Oz. Acknowledging Saginaw’s problems and dealing with them is the only way to correct them. Having patrolled the streets of Saginaw for 15 years I have seen the truth about what goes on day in and day out, and let me tell you, it ain’t good. Maybe some day we can change all that. I plan to continue to try.

There have been a dozen or so comments posted on-line in The Saginaw News since the article about Beyond Hope? was printed. Most commentors seem to share my thoughts, or at least my right to make such thoughts known. A couple chastised me for speaking such ills about my city, questioning my loyalty to my job and to Saginaw’s citizens. One person even said I would “run back to Port Huron” when I retire. To that person I would have to say: “Why can’t I run where I want to when I retire?” My plans, however, are to stay in Saginaw, keep answering calls for help as the come in (all too frequently) and settle in the area if I actually make it to retirement (Like most cops, I try not to take retirement for granted). A book itself is nothing more than a person’s thoughts put into writing. Why, having the police experience I have gained over 15 years, some people think I should not be allowed to share my viewpoints, is beyond me. It’s funny how people often expect cops to protect the God-given rights of others to have free speech, but they would take these same rights away from a cop in a second if they disagree with said cop’s perspective.

Ironically, the day the news broke about my book and it was insinuated that I was offending local businessmen - I believe Mr. Garber was correctly referred to as a philanthropist - I attended a meeting at the office of the Dick Garber-owned Saginaw Spirit to plan our third annual Guns-N-Hoses charity hockey game. This game has raised money for the Meijer Shop-With-A-Hero Program, the Mike Cohee Scholarship Fund and, this year, the 100-Club of Saginaw County. Do I hate Saginaw? Of course not. Do I think Saginaw is a perennial underachiver? You bet. Will Saginaw get better? I don’t know, but I’m willing to keep trying . . . even if it means writing about our collective failures along the way. By the way, Mr. Garber has since asked for a copy of the book.

Finally, I have wondered, with more than 200 hits on this website in the past few weeks, why nobody has taken the time to review Beyond Hope? here. Then I found out the review function is not connected. Being rather limited in my computer abilities, my website surgeon, Russ, is taking care of that for me. Please give me an honest review of Beyond Hope? on this site if you are so inclined.

Thanks for stopping by.

Beyond Hope? received some unexpected good news last week when it was awarded the Best Overall Submission (16 categories) and Best Non-Fiction Book at the 2009 Public Safety Writers Association annual conference and writing competition held at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Although I wasn’t able to attend, just being judged against the talent that was entered in this competition was a great experience. To place first overall was great!

Justin Engel of The Saginaw News ran a nice feature of Beyond Hope? in the paper’s June 26th edition. He hit the thrust of the book pretty well and I felt the article did the book justice.

Finally, I got to hand deliver a copy of Beyond Hope? to Gregory and Linda King recently. A memorial to their daughter, Karen, is displayed on the cover of the book. The Kings were kind enough to give me permission to use the photo, and that was no easy decision I am sure. Theirs is a nightmare no parent should have to endure and to have to constantly re-live it has got to be a great burden. However, they trusted me to use the photo and to briefly tell Karen’s story. For that I am forever grateful because, as mentioned in the book, Karen’s death had an effect on a lot of cops in Saginaw, especially those of us who were working the night it occured and those detectives and supervisors who worked the case.

I was very surprised at how well the Kings handled themselves when meeting with me and talking about this book. As for me, I had a hard time maintaining my composure. How do you look into the eyes of the parents whose daughter you failed to save and not shed a tear? It was not an easy thing to do, but I am glad to have met them and shared in their loss in my own small way. Thanks to Tom Heriter for suggestting I hand deliver the book rather than mail it.