I recently read a complaint to a commentator because he said Police Officers are not paid enough.  I gave him an abridged comment, here is my unabridged:

“Most police are paid well in relation to other people who serve the public, with decent pensions. There are police who can retire at 50. Who can do that other than athletes and the super-rich?”  - part of the complaint

First, Peter, thank you for your support of the officers.

While I appreciate this person’s concerns reference ‘inequality of pay between public servants’ there is a reason.  Every time a police officer goes to work – and in some areas just being a police officer is enough, since they are ‘always on duty,’ they risk their lives.  They never know what the next minute will bring, what the next traffic stop will bring, what the next call will bring.  With the exception of fire fighters, – and of course our military – the other public servants, or most professions, don’t lay their life on the line every minute of every day.

Police officers don’t run from the danger, they run to it.

While all professions have their stress levels, a police officer has one of the highest.  I would invite the writer to do a few ride ‘a longs’ in a police cruiser and they will have a better understanding of what an officer does. 

When he/she has those ride alongs, make sure one is on Christmas or Thanksgiving while their family has to ‘work around’ their shift work.  After that, make sure the next one is not a ‘day shift’ ride along, but an evening or graveyard where their family is home and going to bed – like most of the rest of the normal jobs.  Then the next one should be on a weekend when the children are home from school.

I am not demeaning the other professions who work around the clock every day to provide services – nurses and doctors, Police/Fire (911) dispatchers, among other necessary services are good examples. 

But the complaint was against Police Officers.

Ride along with them when they get a call of unknown problem, a family disturbance, a riot in the street, a fatal accident, a violent crime, a criminal who the officer has arrested without problems, many times in the past, decides this time they will fight – oh, wait, sorry we can’t plan for that – we never know when it will happen and it happens in split seconds where the officer must make quick decisions.

Ride along when the officer has to investigate a crime involving a child – it might even be a child his child’s age – watch them hold back their emotions while they do what must be done.  THEN ride along with them when they have to advise the family that their child has been killed and listen to them as they try and comfort them and tell them they don’t know why it was their child.

Ride along with the officer when he/she is several minutes if not hours away from backup – another officer - as he/she arrests a violent person, by themselves.  Stops a car at 3:00 am, not knowing what is going on, only the vehicle must be stopped – and it is dark out, the driver is driving erratically – could be drunk, high on drugs, or upset because they just killed their spouse.  The point is you never know when you stop a car (at any hour of the day) what is going to happen.

Ride along when someone calls for help and instead of sitting back with a phone camera, or running the other way – you run to the danger and try and take charge of the situation while others are yelling at you and threatening you.

Or, just stay home and complain because Police Officers make too much money.

Reference early retirement - It is a ‘young person’s’ game.  While many officers do work until they are much older it is not safe for them or the public to expect them to wrestle a drunk 20 year old, 30 years their junior, among other reasons.

There are not that many off the road positions for an officer to transition to as they get older (and by the way, investigators and management in a police department have a whole new level of stress in addition to the wondering if they have to respond to a call – as happens in the smaller departments – and have that same level of danger as the street officer.)

I served on the street, in investigations, a supervisor and commander in a police department and as the elected Sheriff of my county – and as the father of a police officer – I can tell you right now, police officers are not paid enough, especially right now.

And the stresses on their families are also much higher – ask a spouse or child, of a Police Officer, what they think.  They do not know until Dad or Mom walks through the door if they will come home in one piece.

They have to go to work or school and often times face bullying tactics because their parent is a Police Officer. 

Their parent is careful about where they go off-duty and tries to avoid those areas where they or their family can be accosted because the parent is a police officer – or they go into a ‘friendly’ store and suddenly someone attacks them verbally or physically because their parent is an officer.

Then of course, they must adjust when the parent makes an arrest while on a family outing – it happens more times than people know – and has to change their plans for the day.

They have to adjust when family oriented plans are disrupted because the officer is subpoenaed into court and HAS to go – or is called out on an emergency because there are not enough officers to handle the situation.

And all this assumes that the Police Officer IS paid enough – or in the opinion of the original complainant paid too much.

Even though Police Officers are being attacked by many in today’s society, they still put their uniform on and go out the door to protect their citizens. 

And the vast majority does it with a sense of honor and integrity; it is a calling for most of us and very few people can do it.

Just ride along and find out; not just one day, but many and then multiply that by several years and then see if you still want to complain because they make too much.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again