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I keep a picture on my nightstand, the centerpiece of what my wife half-jokingly refers to as my “shrine” to my son. It was taken on our first family vacation to Florida when he was only five years old. We are standing facing the water, the sun setting in the background over the Gulf ofContinue reading “Growing Pains”

I was 23 the first time I almost shot another human being. I and a fellow rookie officer had responded to a bland suburban neighborhood for a “welfare check” on a middle-aged woman who lived alone on a quiet residential street. Her mental health struggles were well known in the neighborhood and to many fromContinue reading “Deadly Force”

Arriving at the battered trailer home, I wasn’t expecting much. Domestic calls were routine in this mobile home park, and the caller, a downtrodden looking woman about 35 years of age, had requested assistance getting her boyfriend and his brother to leave the trailer after they had all started arguing about the boyfriend’s drinking. “They’reContinue reading “Be Kind”

My son turned 16 the other day. It’s funny how time can pass unnoticed. One day you are holding your newborn baby for the first time, and the next you are making plans to get him his driver’s license. The intervening years, which sometimes seemed to go by so slowly, suddenly feel like a blur.Continue reading “Don’t Blink”

“He’s going to kill me.” She stated it flatly, without emotion, the resignation in her voice somehow more unnerving than fear would have been. “He’s going to kill me and there isn’t anything you can do about it.” She was a plain, sad-looking woman, and at 45 she seemed old to me, just 25 andContinue reading “A Woman’s Intuition”

For as long as I can remember, I have been an avid reader. Once, on a trip to the pediatrician’s office for some childhood ailment, I happened upon a collection of short stories, primarily moral and religious tales of the type frequently encountered in the 60s and 70s. Each was accompanied by detailed illustrations. OneContinue reading “The Last Exit”

Cassandra Clare once wrote, “Lies and secrets…are like a cancer in the soul. They eat away what is good and leave only destruction behind.” When I was in college, I worked as a paid intern at a local police department alongside my closest friend. One afternoon as we worked filing papers in the criminal recordsContinue reading “Can You Keep a Secret”

When a new police recruit attends the police academy, a great deal of time is spent training new officers on how to deal with one of the most commonly encountered calls; domestic violence. It is widely accepted that calls involving family violence are exceptionally high risk. The reasons for this are apparent; emotions run extremelyContinue reading “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.”

My wife and I attended a post-incident stress workshop down south a few years back. The welcoming environment and genuine southern hospitality we found in the participants and staff proved quite healing. On the first day, all of the police officers were asked to fill out a questionnaire listing the different types of traumatic incidentsContinue reading “Caveat Emptor”

He was holding the body in his arms when I pulled up, cradling the boy as if he were an infant and not a strapping fifteen-year-old. He was a big, rough-looking man, dressed in a worn Carhartt jacket and faded jeans. After all, this was farm country, his heavy work boots clogged with mud. TheyContinue reading “Father and Son”