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 (Editor’s note: I was
given this letter to read that was originally published in The Police Beat, a
once quarterly newsletter put out by the NLRPD by Lt. Jeff
Baker. This wasn’t given to me by Baker, but after reading it I thought its
message was as significant now as it was when written. Its insight goes beyond
that meant to be conveyed to Baker’s fellow police officers.)
Nearly twenty years ago when I was a young and single rookie
cop, I met a very attractive girl at one of our local night spots. She was what
you young guys now describe as "hot".
It was very apparent from her demeanor and body language
that she was interested in me (stop laughing) and I would not be spending the
night alone. Eventually the conversation came around to occupations to which I
proudly announced my employment with the North Little Rock Police Department.
This vision of loveliness suddenly became the invisible
woman. Without so much as a word she got up, left and never returned. Suddenly I
felt like Rodney Dangerfield. Only shorter. Apparently she must have had a bad
experience with cops and now I paid the price.
I hate it when that happens.
Nearly twenty years later, as one of NLRPD's most revered
supervisor's (your laughing again) I received a phone call from a woman (no,
not the one that dumped me after the 20 minute romance) who complained about
the way she was treated by the police officers that worked her accident.
She stated that they were rude and appeared disinterested in
hearing her side of the story. She went on to say that the officers even had
the audacity to find her at fault for the accident. (Does anyone see where I'm
going with this?) After lending a sympathetic ear for 10 minutes I spent
another 10 minutes (egad, another 20 minute relationship) cajoling her and
rationalizing the officers actions until she was thoroughly placated.
The woman thanked me for taking the time to explain
everything and stated that if the officers had only taken time to explain things
to her and treated her as if this was her first accident instead of their 10tt
accident then, she would not have been upset.
For all you readers who haven't yet nodded off or been
overcome by nausea, I am about to make my point. Don't tell people what you do
for a living. Just kidding.
The point being, what goes around comes around. Every time
that we as police officers have a negative encounter with a citizen of our fair
city, you can rest assured that the next officer who has to deal with this
person will find a chip on their shoulder the size of a cow pie. So let’s take
care of each other by taking a little extra care of the public we are sworn to
serve. After all, no one wants to spend the night alone.
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