The faces of police and first responders provide a window to the internal world of feelings and emotions and when they encounter adversity or exposure to danger, trauma, and other negative job related events, they present a mask of determination, and of strength and fortitude. The event has summoned the officer and he or she has responded and must now take charge, bring order to disorder, confront danger with their training, and often endure as a silent witness to yet another human tragedy. No tears will fall at what is observed. No emotion must be witnessed, and the physiological and...

One cannot imagine the encounters that will follow upon their entry into the work at hand. What people observe on the local news or read in newspaper pales to actually being present when those same stories occur. It begins with a 911 call and evolves from there. The behavior of people who may have a mental illness, substance abuse, anger, or other issue of personal conduct, is also antiseptic from one's living room. It is the closeness of smelling, tasting, feeling, hearing, seeing and physical contact where reality becomes real. To every man and woman who wears the uniform, you have a...

Police and citizen relations, in some areas of a community, are at rock bottom. Emotion and closed mindedness rule and the belief systems have been subjugated to follow specific mantras designed to cause disharmony and disorder. Blaming police or residents accomplishes nothing and exacerbates the situation. Random and unplanned change may induce a pathway fraught with potholes, boulders, and blind turns, admitting few and dissuading most who might wish to find improvement. Given the futility of this approach, save those who would promote a narrow agenda for its sake, we need to chuck the...