Police too often get a bum rap

A few weeks after getting my driver's license I was heading to the bowling alley. Our school had an intramural bowling league on Saturday mornings, and I was running late. The car ahead of me was going slower than I wanted to go, so I passed it nearly hitting a police car head-on. Looking in my rear-view mirror I saw the car turn around and follow behind me. I pulled in the parking lot of the bowling alley, and the police car pulled in behind me. No light flashing. As I tried to walk nonchalantly into the business the officer calmly waved me to his car.

His first question was, "Do you know what I did yesterday?" When I responded I didn't, he told me he had some dental work done. He then said, "And you almost undone everything the dentist did." Of course, he checked my license and had a little talk with me about proper passing, and he let me go. Not even a warning ticket.

A few days later I was helping my Dad when he said, "I understand you met Ralph the other day." I was hoping he wouldn't find out about that! I admitted I had and asked how me knew. All he said was, "We have breakfast sometimes. I wouldn't say anything about this to your mother if I was you."

That was over 50 years ago, but a comment on Facebook the other day reminded me of it. The person said he liked to watch  Lone Star Law and North Woods Law on the Animal Planet. These are two shows I often watch as well. He said he didn't realize how often police gave people breaks. That's because that is not the kind of police action the media likes to portray.

While there are a few bad actors in police work, these are the exceptions. Most police I've known have been solid people who weren't interested in harassing people or making it especially difficult on those they've dealt with. Most of them entered police work to make a positive difference in people's lives and to protect the public against the bad guys. Because the media is all about sensational stories, too often they want to show the police as the bad guys. They don't tell the stories about the cop crying over the broken body of a child in a car wreck or about how they have to stop a drunk from beating his wife to death.

In our community the police often buy plush animals with their own money to give to upset children after an accident or a domestic abuse situation. Some of them also purchase blankets to give to homeless people or to people who need something to wrap themselves in after an accident. Those acts of kindness never get reported by the media.

It wasn't movie stars, politicians, TV anchor people or professional athletes running into the Trade Towers on 9/11 to try to rescue people they didn't know. It was cops and fire fighters risking their lives to save others. They are true heroes.

Reading that FB post reminded me of something else from the past. When I was in high school I was a member of a Police Explorer Post led by a state police sergeant. We had the opportunity to direct traffic during major events in our community as well as a lot of other things. I learned a lot from him. After I came home from the Navy I never saw him again until a few months ago in Wal-Mart. I introduced myself to him, and he immediately remembered me. I then told him a story.

The previous summer a car traveling towards me hit a deer right beside me. I stopped to make sure everyone was OK. There were no injuries but the car was disabled. It was dusky dark with night quickly approaching. Traffic was backed up both ways, no one knew what to do. I tried to get one lane of cars moving, but no one would move. Suddenly, I remembered a  trick the sergeant taught us in Explorers when he were doing traffic detail.  I put it to work, and immediately traffic started moving. I was able to keep traffic flowing smoothly so there were no further accidents until the police arrived.

As I shared my story with the sergeant it was obvious that he appreciated that something he had taught 50 years ago was remembered by one of his scouts and put to use. We talked for a few minutes and separated to do our shopping. He died a few months later.

Don't judge every cop by what you see on TV or read in the paper. Most of them are good persons doing a tough job, a job, frankly, most of us couldn't do.

I have to say a word to pastors before I close. Just as that sergeant didn't know that something he taught a bunch of teens would be used 50 years later, we in the ministry do not know how our messages might impact someone years later. Sometimes, we might feel that what we do doesn't seem to make much difference, but we simply do not know how God might use something we did or said years later to make a difference in the lives of other people.