Another One Bites the Dust

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I am kind of bummed tonight.  I spoke with Law Dog earlier and he mentioned that one of the guys from his academy put in his resignation last week.  It wasn’t just anyone, it was a close friend of ours, so close Tubbs and Crockett call him Uncle J.

This got me thinking, I wonder how many police officers make it through the academy.  How many make it through their first year?  How many make it through the first five years?  So I Googled, I couldn’t find any real statistics on it so I am going to report on my experience.  For those of you with husbands or boyfriends in the academy right now, take a good look around during family night because close to half of those people won’t make it through the first five years.  Some officers started the academy and quit within the first week because they just didn’t have the determination to make it through.  Some got kicked out of the academy because they couldn’t shoot or drive.  Some officers decide that this isn’t the career for them like the officer who resigned because he decided to become a firefighter instead.  Some get fired for doing really, really stupid things, like the guy who got smashed at a professional sporting event and decided he would show off to all of his friends by walking up to a police car (in another city) and letting himself inside.  Some get the “option” (quit or be fired) for doing less stupid things like getting too many civilian complaints.   Finally, others get killed, like tragedy that happened to T a female from Law Dog’s academy.

When I went to family night during Law Dog’s academy, I remember driving home thinking that I couldn’t believe some of these guys were going to be cops.  Let me brag about my husband for a minute.  Law Dog is a pretty intense person with a lot of street smarts; add that to his size and you get one good cop.  Ladies, Law Dog is the type of cop who wants to break the door down so he can be the first one in, the one that most cops want to show up to be their back-up.  I am profiling now, but some of the guys in Law Dog’s academy couldn’t intimidate a fly let alone a criminal.  Uncle J, an ex-marine, was a lot like Law Dog.  Even though he is smaller in size, he has a confidence about him that just begs someone to push him too far.  I rested easier knowing Uncle J and Law Dog were on the same shift in the same sector and would be backing each other up.  There aren’t many people I trust my husband’s life with; Uncle J is one of them.  Even though Law Dog and Uncle J didn’t always see eye to eye, the PD lost a good cop this time.  Uncle J will be a lifelong friend of ours because we have a friendship that extended beyond the PD. I just wonder,  who’s next?

PS, like my new blog look?  It's coming along!