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
Zeke: Your comments were quite insightful and I thank you for offering them. Yes, it does feel like sometimes cops are expected to be the scapegoats, as you said. It is something I have gotten used to, but have never been totally comfortable with. Today’s world seems to be one of little accountability where the norm is to blame somebody else for your problems. It’s always easy to blame the cop who shows up on your doorstep. Unfortunately, this lack of accountability that is being taught to so many of our children has led to the problems we have today. As far as the children themselves go, I became involved in a mentoring program about 18 months ago, as I mentioned in the book, and it has helped me see children once again for who they are. In the streets, however, it is often hard to find compassion for a child, no matter how young, when they have just snuffed out the life of another. I agree with your statement that 99% of the kids in general are decent people, deep down. Unfortunately, as police officers, we are often called to deal with the other 1% . . . and usually 100% of that 1% are not nice people. Again, thanks for taking the time to put together a well-thought-out comment.
As far as the grammatical errors . . . I plead guilty and ask for leniency! Because my book was self-published, I tried to cut down on expenses by not absorbing the cost of a professional editor. I figured between me, my wife and a couple teacher friends, reading and re-reading the manuscript, we would catch all the errors. Obviously, a couple slid by. I hope this did not detract from your enjoyment of the book itself.
Michael East
Comment by admin — February 1, 2010 @ 1:37 pm