Unexpected Sacrifices

I was thinking about the two Boston fire fighters that perished in the Tai Ho restaurant fire today. Paul J. Cahill had a blood alochol level of .27 BAC (.08 BAC considered DUI) and Warren J. Payne was found to have cocaine in his system. I then discovered the newspaper article about Wheaton Illinois Officer Thomas M. Wilson (35yoa) who was arrested because he shoved $85 worth of DVD's into his pants and then left a Costco Store.

I began thinking about the sacrifices we give up to be men and women police officers and fire fighters. These sacrifices are not always readily evident nor easily understood by those who partake of our services but are nevertheless outside our chosen fields.

The particular sacrifice I am alluding to is the ability to make personal mistakes and commit actions that lead to self-inflicted wounds. For most people in most professions substance abuse and mental illness damage only themselves with a little collateral damage to the families of those involved in personal destruction. The risk of showing up to work drunk is really about the DUI getting to work and the treat of loosing your job. However PO's and FF's metal and physical relate directly to the welfare of our co-workers and the citizens who we are trying to aid. We do not have the option to be a "functional alcoholic" or mildly psychotic. Simple put we have a lot less room to mess our lives up then the general public.

This may seem like an obvious point but we do not get second chances at life and remain in this profession. Further we do not have the luxury to temporally fall from grace then decide to pick ourselves up. Rather, we fall and then we have to flee.

In law enforcement addiction is three times the average, suicide twice the average and mental illness more than double the national average. I wonder if the added stress of wondering, while you are going through a dark time, if this personal trial will cost you your job. Quite an additional stress to an already stressful situation. While it is best poor personal decisions are never made. nevertheless they are indeed made all the time with terrible consequences. I wonder if I understood when I joined the force that along with many other sacrifices I would be giving up my life "mulligans"?

PO's and FF's sacrifice their ability to make mistakes in their personal lives in order to be there to bail out the public when they suffer the consequences of their personal destructions.

Dead Boston Fire Fighters found to have alcohol and cocaine in their systems

From the Boston Globe


Autopsies find alcohol, some cocaine, 2 officials say

New details on firefighters killed in blaze

By Jonathan Saltzman and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | October 4, 2007

One of two Boston firefighters who died fighting a fire in a Chinese restaurant in late August was legally intoxicated at the time, and the other had cocaine in his system, two officials said yesterday.


A source who was briefed by a person with knowledge of the autopsies of Paul J. Cahill and Warren J. Payne told the Globe that one firefighter had a blood-alcohol level higher than .08, the level at which someone is too drunk to drive legally in Massachusetts. The other firefighter had traces of cocaine in his system, the source said.

A government official briefed on the findings of the state medical examiner's office said Cahill registered a blood-alcohol level of .27 in the autopsy, which would have placed him at more than three times the legal limit, while Payne had cocaine in his system.

Neither official was specific about the amount of cocaine found in the firefighter.

The two officials were briefed on the autopsy results separately. They spoke separately to the Globe on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

The two veteran firefighters were the first members of the Boston Fire Department to die in the line of duty since 1994. Thousands of white-gloved firefighters from across the country attended their funerals last month, and Governor Deval Patrick and Senator John F. Kerry were among those who paid tribute to two men praised as heroes.

Steve MacDonald, spokesman for the Boston Fire Department, said the department had not received any reports on the district attorney's investigation.

"Right now, just because of the actions today, we just really want to really reach out to the two families of the two firefighters and let them know that we're still thinking of them and we're here for them," he said.

Yesterday afternoon, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Merita Hopkins barred WHDH-TV (Channel 7) from reporting on findings from the autopsies, saying autopsy results are exempt from disclosure under state public records law and can only be released with permission from next of kin. The station informed Hopkins that it would appeal the ruling to a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court today, the judge's clerk said.

The Boston firefighters' union sought the injunction from the judge after learning yesterday morning that the television station intended to report on the autopsy findings.

Paul Hynes, the lawyer for the union, said that the families of Cahill and Payne had not seen the autopsy results and that it would pain them to learn about the findings on television. He also said that the law is unambiguous and that WHDH had to have broken it to obtain the findings.

Wheaton Illinois Officer Arrested

The article from the Chicago Tribune.

Wheaton cop accused of shoplifting in Costco

By Gerry Smith, Tribune staff reporter Tribune staff reporter Art Barnum contributed to this report

October 5, 2007 A Wheaton police officer who was named Officer of the Year in 2006 will appear in court next week with his career in jeopardy after being charged with stealing DVDs costing $85 from a Naperville Costco.

Naperville police arrested Thomas M. Wilson, 35, of the 27W000 block of Washington Street, Winfield, last month and charged him with misdemeanor retail theft after he was accused of putting a four-pack of DVDs in his pants and walking out of the store without paying on Sept. 2, said Naperville police Cmdr. Dave Hoffman.

After a security officer confronted Wilson in the parking lot, he fled on foot and was later seen driving away in a car, Hoffman said. Wilson turned himself in to authorities Sept. 9 and posted a $100 cash bond.



A hearing before the Wheaton Police and Fire Commission to determine Wilson's future at the department has not been scheduled.

A Wheaton police officer for 10 years, Wilson was named Officer of the Year last year and had an "outstanding" career on the force," said Wheaton Police Chief Mark Field.

"As soon as I found out about it, he was immediately placed on suspension with pay," Field said. "I will be seeking his termination."

Wilson's attorney, Michelle Moore, declined to comment on the charges, saying they "raise difficult issues for him and his family."

"He does have a very distinguished record of public service for many, many years," she said. "I think there are some extenuating circumstances at work here."

Last month after his arrest, Wilson applied to enter a court program that allows non-violent offenders with mental illness to receive mental health treatment in lieu of detention, according to court records.

Wilson is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

Proof of God-The Causality Argument

Thomas Aquinas was probably the first to use the Causality Argument as published in his "Summa Theologica." Many others have arrived at the same point of view: Only nothing comes from nothing - everything else comes from something. Everything leads back to a more original form.

Thomas Aquinas argues that there is no case known in which a thing turned out to be the efficient cause of itself, because in that case it would be prior to itself, which is impossible. If, however, one thing was caused by another, there would be an infinite chain of cause and effect, which would be impossible. But if we take away the ultimate cause it is to take away the effect. If in efficient causes it is possible to go on to infinity, there will be no first efficient cause, neither will there be an ultimate effect. Therefore it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God.

Thx: http://www.self-realization.com/articles/proof_God.htm

In other words: A professor and his student are on a long walk through the woods. After some time they come into a clearing and see a small perfectly round crystal ball, sitting on the ground. They quickly look around but soon discover that they are alone. The student asks his professor, "Is there any way to determine how this ball came into being?" The professor responds, "Clearly by its flawless carving and polishing and where it has been laid we can determine, at least, that it was placed here by the hand of man and not by a random act of nature." The student pauses for a moment and asks, "If this crystal ball was the size of a boulder, would it be greater proof of an intelligent creator." The professor nodded his agreement. The student stated further, "If this was the size of a building would that be even greater proof of its intelligent creator?" Again the professor nodded. Finally the student said,"If this crystal ball was the size of the whole world?" The professor quickly responded, "No then it would be by accident."

There is no effect without a cause. You can follow this cause and effect train all the way back to one cause-that cause being God.

Proof of God-The Ontological Argument

These are straight from the source...

1. St. Anselm (around 1077) developed what is now called the "Ontological Argument" for the Existence of God in his book "Faith Seeking Understanding." He argued:
Men believe God to be the Being than which none greater can be thought. It is greater to exist in reality and in the understanding than to exist in the understanding alone. Therefore, it is contradictory to hold that God exists only in the intellect, for then the being than which none greater can be thought is one than which a greater can be thought, namely, one that exists both in reality and in the understanding. 2. Descartes:"Whatever is contained in a clear and distinct idea of a thing must be predicated of that thing; but a clear and distinct idea of an absolutely perfect Being contains the notion of actual existence; therefore since we have the idea of an absolutely perfect Being such a Being must really exist."

3. Leibniz:"God is at least possible since the concept of Him as the Infinite implies no contradiction; but if He is possible He must exist because the concept of Him involves existence."

Thanks to: http://www.self-realization.com/articles/proof_God.htm

Proof of God-Gambler's Proof

Gambler's Proof

1) If you do not believe in God and there is no God then you win and gain nothing.
2) If you do not believe in God and there is a God then you loose and gain hell.
3) If you believe in God and there is no God you loose and loose nothing.
4) If you believe in God and there is a God you win-heaven-everything.

There is only one sure bet.

Future of Policing

As I look into the future I see a fundamental shift in policing as it concerns its present organization. Currently there are a multitude of police departments of all shapes and sizes that have concurrent jurisdictions. For example the police department I work for shares jurisdiction with Cook County Sheriff's Police and Illinois State Troopers along with sharing some ares with Cook County Forest Preserve Police not counting Illinois Secretary Police and all the rest.

I believe eventually there will be a shift toward an Israeli model of law enforcement. In Israel the municipal police force is a national police force that covers the entire country. What logically will occur is that there will be a consolidation from separate municipal police to a system wide state police, with multiple jurisdictions, each current police department being a different zone/area/district.

There are three main reasons for this shift. Cost, efficiency/duplication and information dissemination.

1. Cost-economy of scale. The largest expenditure and concern for all cities is their pension obligations. Currently all of the different municipal police departments are paying into and controlling their own pensions within state guidelines. By increasing the payment and participation pools you can lower costs and increase investment returns. The same can be said for health insurance costs. Further equipment purchasing would be much cheaper because of the volume of equipment to be purchased.

2. There is a lot of duplication of services between departments. For example our investigation division handles homicides, financial crimes, identity thefts etc. However, because of this generalization most of our investigators have limited contact with each crime. However with one state wide police force you could set up separate bureaus that would specialize in homicide, identity theft, etc. Then each serious incident would be handled by an expert in that field rather than a generalist. This problem has all ready been identified and there are multi-agency task forces for serious crimes to solve this problem. The success of these task forces suggest that this trend will continue. Further there would be dedicated traffic divisions etc that could cover all policing duties, better knowledge and experience equals higher solution rates with less investigation time.

3. Terrorism-information dissemination. Currently information is passed from department to department through a number of different and impersonal methods (e-mail, flier, LEADS messages) since each department has different general orders, priorities and procedures much of the information that should be passed along is not. With a single state wide department information protocols would be standardized and with similar and pre-stated priorities. Right now most of the information that is collected by a host agency stays with that agency. Terrorism detection is about finding patterns and strange behavior that could indicate terrorists in the planning stage. These actions, while troubling but not criminal, do not get transmitted form one source to the next.

The biggest problem for this implementation is the same question asked two different ways. "Which Police Chief is going to give up his or her title from Chief and become a district commander with a greater number of police in oversight over him?" and "Which town is going to give up control of their police force to an agency that may not respond to their concerns or bow to the leaders of their cities?"

I believe need will over come these two questions. There is not enough tax money to continue operating in this manner and second public safety will trump over local public control.

-that's my prediction-

Agents of Mercy

Agents of Mercy

As I was watching the DVD of Grave of the Fireflies and it occurred to me that while I tend to glorify the warrior nature of Police work, an equal or even greater element of this profession is our actions as agents of God’s mercy. Matthew 5:6-8 states: 6God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will receive it in full. 7God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. Police Officers also help the helpless and give aid to those in need. Psalm 10:8-10 states: 8They lurk in dark alleys, murdering the innocent who pass by. They are always searching for some helpless victim. 9Like lions they crouch silently, waiting to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture their victims and drag them away in nets. 10The helpless are overwhelmed and collapse; they fall beneath the strength of the wicked. I believe that being agents of mercy is the greatest job perk, well above all the many other positives of Police work (And there are truly many positives). There are few if any other professions that can help as many people as profoundly as we can. While the pursuit and arresting of criminals, “kicking ass and taking names” (In a context of legal, justifiable action) is a sexier concept, and one that will score you more points at a dinner party than speaking of mercy, aid and compassion, it falls a distant second in reality. For the vast majority of professions the best an employee can say at the end of the day is that they either made their company more money or saved them money. We, in Law Enforcement, each and every day, can say we loved our neighbor and made their lives better and we are the only profession that carries a gun while doing it. The opportunity to show a lost and wicked world the power of a transforming God comes in large and small doses. Romans 5:6 states: 6When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. We mirror this, the greatest of examples, in a less perfect and smaller way, the ultimate example of perfect mercy.
I responded to a call for an ambulance assist at a home in our town for a little boy with a head wound. I arrived at the home well in advance of our paramedics. As I was walking up the sidewalk to the home I could hear the child hysterically screaming from inside the home through their screen door. A young mother met me at the door with tears streaming down her face holding a little boy of no more than six-years-of-age with a bleeding head wrapped in a white bath towel. I was immediately greeted with a high speed, rambling, barely comprehendible, account of how this child was injured. The little boy was jumping on the bed when he miss-stepped and came crashing down headfirst onto the corner of a close by five-drawer dresser. A young child takes some of his emotional cues from the emotional state of his parent, and if the parent is scared, worried or anxious the child will mirror this reaction without understanding the triggering event that caused the emotion. It is compounded when the child is emoting the same feelings as their parent. The child will layer their feelings with the input from the parent and will increasingly become more and more emotional. It was occurring in this case. The little boy was scared and in pain. The mother was running around, screaming and crying. Thus the little boy became panicked and terrified and that is when I entered the door. When I found him, he was screaming and thrashing about making his head wound slowly rip wider. I immediately took the child away from the mother and brought him over to the couch and sat him down, with his mother hovering right behind me. I obtained a more coherent account of her story about how the injury occurred and sent my backup Officer upstairs to confirm her story in order to make sure this was not really some form of child abuse. I pulled the towel back and saw the wound streaming blood down into the child’s face and the flap of skin pulled back to show a small bit of bone and sinew. I donned my latex gloves and found a sterile four by four out of their home medical kit and held it into place with my hand. The child still would not stop screaming. I looked into his eyes and started speaking to him but he would not and could not listen. I said in my best authorial parental voice, “Lawrence, look at me. No, look at me, look at my eyes!” He paused mid-scream and looked at my face for the first time. I inquired if he was looking at my eyes and he sniveled a little and nodded yes. I asked him if he was hurt and he again nodded yes. I smiled and asked him if he knew who I was and in a small voice he said, “A Policeman.” I told him to look around and tell me how many Policemen were in his home. He slowly looked around and said, “Four”. I tried to sound as kindly as possible when I asked him how he could be so sad when he was knee deep in Policemen and soon there would be firemen into the mix as well. A slow smile crept across his face and he soon forgot that he was injured. I removed my rechargeable stinger flashlight from my gear belt, hit the on switch and asked the boy to hold it for me for a minute. He started giggling when he used the flashlight to light up the faces of the other Officers in the room. A moment later a phalanx of firefighters and paramedics burst through the door. I began to pull away to let a firefighter treat the child’s wound but when the child felt me start to move, he clutched at me and began to cry again. I sat back down next to him and told the paramedic what had occurred to cause his head injury. The paramedic tried to reach over to check the wound, but every time he got close to the child’s forehead, the child pushed into my body and buried his head into my chest. After the third attempt by the paramedic to inspect the boy’s wound, the paramedic looked over at me, shrugged, and gestured for me to either calm the child down or bring him over to the stretcher and while the boy is kicking and screaming, strap him down so that he may be treated. I thought for a moment and said to the little boy, “Do you know what happens to little boys when they are visited by Policemen and firemen? They get a special hat so that everyone knows they were lucky enough to have this special visit. The paramedic needs for to you to hold still so that he can make your special hat or it will not look very good.” The child stared at the paramedic with a trace of suspicion in his eyes but after a moment he nodded and leaned forward so that he could have his wound treated. The paramedic wrapped clean and sterile four by fours around his head until he looked like a recently released lobotomy patient. The boy was so proud of his newly created haberdashery that when his brother entered the room, because he no longer heard hysterical crying so he thought it was safe, turned and pointed to his head and told his brother about his special hat. The brother was so impressed with the headgear that he began to pester the paramedics to give him a hat too. A short time later, they did just that. The little boy was smiling and waving goodbye when he was shipped off in the ambulance to the hospital for his stitches. The mother and her other son walked past me so that they could meet the wounded child at the hospital. The mother turned, gave me a quick hug and said, “Thank you. I do not know what I would have done, if you had not come” and with that the mother, the assembled Policemen and firemen all walked out of the apartment. Matthew 25:39-41 states: 39When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you? 40And the King will tell them, `I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!' 41"Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, `Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his demons! We as Law Enforcement professionals are paid to fulfill this requirement. James 2:13 states: 13For there will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others. But if you have been merciful, then God's mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.

Quick Thought

Before you decide on Nationalized Health care or Nationalized Medical Care this is the two steps you should take to aid you in your decision process.

1. Buy a stamp and mail a letter at the post office.

2. Go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and have your address changed on your driver's license.

Then ask yourself do I want to turn my health over to the people that set up these programs and deal with these employees when I am sick and injured.

Monday's Thoughts

Whenever there is a review of a legal proceedings or an extra step for law enforcement to follow when dealing with criminal matters, whether providing a private attorney to death row inmates or not accepting the testimony of a single witness to arrive at a guilty verdict, there is a decrease in the amount of "innocent" people convicted. However the greater result of these changes is that criminals found innocent at a much higher rate.
Remember, if we do not want to ever arrest and convict an innocent person the only way to ensure that outcome is to never arrest anyone. It is analogous to the speed limit. The speed limit is a simple calculation concerning how many deaths there will be verses how long it will take you to get to your chosen destination. We could make all speed limits 5mph and there would be very little deaths but it would take forever to get anywhere. On the reverse we could set the speed limit at 105mph and get there quick but we would be uncomfortable with the amount of deaths. So, for instance, 55mph was picked because we could get there in a time that was reasonable with the amount of deaths traveling at that speed will cause. It is the same with legal reform. How many innocent persons do you want to be convicted of a crime they did not convict verses the chances that the person who victimized you would be convicted.
I am not looking at any particular legal reform. However I never about the reverse of the coin when I hear about legal reforms like mandatory video taping of homicide confessions and the such. When a legal reform is mandated or procedures are tightened or increased they usually will keep less people from being wrongly convicted however it will greatly increase the chance of the guilty being found innocent. Where would your line be? Some changes are beneficial and needed but the whole affect should be considered rather than only one side of the equation.
Justice is due both to the innocent who is accused but also to the innocent that is the victim.

Someone You Should Know

One of my guilty pleasures is video gaming. Primarily playstation 2 (hopefully soon to be playstation three) and on-line computer games. The games that I enjoy the most are the Resident Evil Series, the Final Fantasy Series and the Metal Gear Solid Series. Unfortunately in all these series there are elements that are disquieting for a believer and some games I will not play at all because of their content regardless of their playability (as an example, the highest reviewed game of all time for playstation is Grand Theft Auto: San Andres-very evil). The video game industry has higher gross sales than the movie industry (if you factor out porn)and reaches a very wide and very young demographic.

There is a great need for Christian Video game programmers and producers.

I found this web site for Patrick Majewski one such video game programmer. I believe he should be supported in his effort to provide Christian themes and concepts in an exciting and playable video game experience. I have played some of his games and they are good and show great potential.

I am sure he would appreciate our support for his work for Christ and what a great way to bring the truth to a new audience.

Link on right side of page.

Police work is a full contact sport that ensures freedom.

One of the obstacles that is emerging as a major hurtle for law enforcement is the public’s perception that a negative consequence is a directly equated to malfeasance. I was watching the video of the campus police’s response to the protester that ended in his arrest and Tazer’ing. The university has now launched an investigation into the conduct of the officers on scene. The two underlining public sentiments are; that the police used excessive force and that this “student” has his right of free speech revoked.


The second issue first. The biggest destructive force in the maintenance of our freedoms is the lack of civility and civil discourse. A time limit had been imposed for the question and answer section so that the largest number of people could ask questions. However the “student” went over that time demanding answers that were not forthcoming. His conduct revoked the rights of everyone in that room. He prevented other students from being able to address the assembled staff and Senator Kerry and changed the focus from discerning the Senator Kerry’s political positions to ascertaining the response of police to the student’s action. Civil discourse has turned into shouting down sessions with each side claiming victory by screaming mindless slogans. I can not remember the last public display of freedom of speech that involved a positive exchange of ideas from two competing viewpoints. Properly communicated ideas followed by positive listening to the response, that’s freedom of speech. Screaming at your opponent so that he or she can not deliver their view is an attempt to remove their freedom of speech. Every political position has flaws and the best way to identify those flaws is to listen to your opposition and address their concerns. In that way everyone keeps their beneficial freedoms rather than a competition to see who can remove the most freedoms from the proponents of the opposite view.


Second issue, successful police work can lead to negative outcomes. An officer can conduct themselves within departmental guidelines, within the color of law and with excellent decisions and the conduct of the offender necessitates a use of force. What has happened in modern law enforcement is that once force has been applied, the public sentiment does not side with the heroic efforts of the officers but rather with the negative experience of the offender. Very rarely is excessive force used, rather if anything, the officer thinking of the lawsuit taking his home and car reacts much slower to a violent confrontation then he or she should. The increase of on-duty officer deaths, and as a better indication, on-duty injury is support for the supposition. This can be seen in many aspects of law enforcement from increased restrictions in the vehicle pursuit policies due to the deaths cause by the fleeing offender to the lengthening of the use of force continuum due to the injuries suffered by non-compliant suspects. I tell everyone I meet when they give me the classic question, “My (name of friend of relative) did this tiny thing and the officers then did this crazy thing. Were they right?” I always say if he/she had followed the officer’s orders then the officer’s would not have had to use force. If he/she thought the officer’s were operating illegally then follow their orders and address the issues later. Now they have criminal charges to deal with along with the issue that began the confrontation. The bottom line is that criminals/subjects/offenders can not easily be controlled, but we can. Since we will follow the rules and we are found in the same place everyday, the control can be placed on the officer rather than the criminal. It is a short cut that politicians use to show they had done something to improve a negative event.

Concerning this event, what would have happened if the student had pulled away and the officers stood their and did not use force to detain him again. If this student had jumped onto the stage and punched that Senator Kerry in the face, the officers present would have been criticized for not acting swiftly enough. Again, the emphases would not been on the student’s foolish actions but rather on the police again. The public needs to understand that negative actions bring negative consequences and the ramifications of these actions fall solely on the actor. The only other approach would be to stop the officers from taking any action whatsoever until there is voluntary compliance to verbal orders or unless someone is injured. The reason negative actions are restricted is due to the negative affects they have on all of us. That is why the state brings criminal charges to bear on behalf of the individual because the understanding is that we have all suffered together. Police officers want to be mind readers but we are not. If we knew that the minor actions that the offender is committing, is all that they would do, we would step aside and let them just run out of energy. However we act to stop the current conduct in the fear that it will increase in severity. The only means we have to ensure this process is that once we have reached a threshold level of criminal conduct is force and the negative affects that it has.

If this continues and we are totally restricted in our ability to preemptively take action to control the chance of damage or injury then the mental picture should be of the traffic stop where the driver does not want to exit their vehicle. Just have the officer stand there and ask him nicely to exit his vehicle until he does, if that takes a minute or an hour or a day. If you like this, then please do not complain when you are in need and all the officers are busy telling students their question times is up and they need to move along. Please move along, pretty please, pretty please with sugar on top, put the gun down, please put the gun down…

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NWukZhsiBw

Monday Quick Shot

This is the verse that I have been falling back on when times get tough or I feel victimized or alone with my trouble. I use it to try to find some calm, peace and joy despite what is happening to me. I hope it can help you also.

Psalm 73

1A psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?"
12 This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
20 As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.

21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

Monday Quick Shot

A number of my fellow officers are considering going to the Kel-Tek .380 as an off duty gun. I have placed its dimensions with the handgun that I currently use as secondary weapon on duty and as an off duty carry. The Glock 27 (40cal). With off duty weapons, size does matter and my Glock is just a little to big to just place into a pocket and go. However Glock is a well crafted weapon with very few misfires and I have had no maintenance problems with it for ten years. Will have to keep tabs on this Kel-Tec.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
GLOCK 27 .40

CALIBER.40
WEIGHT 19.75 oz. LOADED 26.98 oz.
LENGTH 6.29 in.

HEIGHT 4.17 in.
MAG. CAPACITY Standard: 9

WIDTH 1.18 in.
TRIGGER PULL 5.5 lbs.
LINE OF SIGHT 5.67 in.

BARREL LENGTH 3.46 in.

Kel-Tek
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Calibers : .380 AUTO
Weight unloaded lbs. : 8.3 oz.
Loaded magazine : 2.8 oz.
Length : 5.2"
Height : 3.5"
Width : .77"
Capacity :
6 + 1 rounds
Trigger Pull : 5lbs

Monday Quick Shot

I was reading in the paper concerning the Steve Fossett search when I ran into the article that stated that in the attempt to find him the have discovered SIX other crash sites that they previously did not know about. Two things come to mind: first rather than water-boarding to get Abu Ghraib prisoners to confess we should just threaten to take them on a single engine small plane flight in the southwest and secondly there is a new hobby (seriously) using services like Google Earth scan remote areas of the US in search of downed aircraft and the like. Link to the Article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/monday/chi-fossett_scharnbergsep17,0,175044.story

Telling Police War Stories

Work Stories

On Christmas Eve I responded to an assist the fire department call at one of our apartment complexes. When I arrived at the complainant’s apartment, I found the Grandmother sitting on top of her eight year old granddaughter in their living room. As I walked up to the Grandmother, she took her hands off her granddaughter’s wrists with the hope that I could calm her granddaughter down. The second that the granddaughter felt the pressure come off her wrists, she balled her fists and struck her grandmother in the stomach twice. I quickly re-secured the little girl’s arms and held them down while her grandmother sat on her legs. My partner then obtained the information needed for my report from the mother and let the fire department into the apartment. The daughter was then strapped down to the stretcher, taken to the hospital, strapped down again to a bed and transferred to a juvenile psychological hospital that could adequately handle a juvenile in the midst of a mental crisis. I spoke to the mother at the hospital, who told me that her daughter has had a mental illness for a number of years. The mother then told me what had happened prior to my arrival. Their family (grandmother, mother, two daughters) had been opening a couple of Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. Her daughter became angry because she did not get to open as many Christmas presents as she desired. She then picked up a long, two-inch wide, red ribbon and walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. She proceeded to tie one end of the ribbon around her neck and the other to the top of a serving table leg. She then knelt down. After a short amount of time, her mother decided to check on her daughter and found the daughter hanging from the table. She immediately ripped her down. The grandmother, upon hearing the screams of the mother, ran into the room and sat on the daughter so that the mother could call 911. I spoke to the daughter at the hospital but it was futile; she would only tell me that I had to cut her loose or she would kill me. Prior to this incident, the youngest person that I had dealt with who had made a legitimate suicide attempt was a twelve-year-old boy. He tried to slit his throat with a steak knife. I had to tackle and restrain him, too.
The day after this incident was Christmas and I left with my wife and two children and drove to my in-law’s home. While on the road, I attempted to tell this story of the night before to my wife. I was told to stop because she did not want to me to ruin her Christmas. When we arrived at the house, I also tried to tell this story to my father-in-law (a thirty year plus Police Officer) and he told me, “Not here, not now, not appropriate”. A short time later my wife found me and told me to knock it off, which resulted in a brief moment of martial discord.
The point to this story is not to tell work war stories to your wife/husband. I have come to understand that this should only be violated if something occurs in which you are having serious trouble dealing with it on an emotional level. There are many reasons for keeping a boundary between your spouse and your work experiences. The reason that I was attempting to relate this story was to tell someone else about a unique experience that I had at work. I was not trying to seek any advice or to air out an issue that I had been struggling with; rather I was just telling what I viewed as an interesting story, with the added perk of being the center of attention. However, rather this being an interesting anecdote, this story would have been received as depressing and troubling for the listeners, which is against the purpose in which I would have told it.
The reasons that these stories have a greater impact on a spouse are both numerous and logical. First, your spouse is a passive participant of the story. The Police Officer received the call, went to the incident location and attempted to the best of his/her ability to rectify the crisis. The person who is listening to this story does not have the ability to actively aid anyone in distress. They hear about the situation but can do nothing to affect any type of solution leaving them only to produce the negative emotions. My Police Department turns over more dispatchers than any other position because of this reason. Our dispatchers man the telephones, hear the problems and send the Police Officers out to respond to the crisis. They however, cannot provide any real direct tangible help. They must be satisfied with the help that their surrogates provide. Your spouse, when subjected to your war story finds himself/herself in a similar position.
Second, it makes the job look much more dangerous and depressing than what it is in reality. We only tell stories that are interesting, exciting (dangerous), grotesque or depressing. You are not going to tell the story about your three routine traffic stops or your two-hour telephone harassment case. What you are going to relate to others is death, violence or poverty (emotional, financial, and physical). I may have only three or four semi-interesting cases a week but if you look at it from my wife’s perspective it seems that I am always doing something harrowing. This increases her worry about my safety while I am at work and yet in reality I am rarely in danger.
Third, it makes your spouse worry about the job’s possible effects on your mental health. I told my suicide story with the simple intention of conveying my experience of dealing with the youngest person that I have encountered that made a legitimate attempt at suicide. The reaction to this story is bewilderment, in that how can one so young hate her life already, to sadness in that evil and pain are ladled out with no regard to age. I am not only not telling the story from that standpoint; I am also not emoting any sympathy or sadness. This leads your wife/husband to wonder if you have lost the ability to care for other people or to understand the proper context of the event. It is not a large jump for them to become concerned that if you do not have an emotional reaction after what you have been through, you could be losing the ability to connect with them on an emotional level. Further, if you have children, your spouse will wonder if you can be concerned with their daily little crises, if you are not concerned by these abominable calls. The bottom line is do not tell war stories or your wife will unnecessarily worry that you will become cold and uncaring to the family. I reacted to that child’s suicide attempt, as any one else would have. I handled the call, did the best that I could to help all those involved and internally processed all the emotions. I told the story only after I had sorted through my feelings and came to a conclusion. By telling that story it made me appear to others as cold and being entertained by other’s misery.
Fourth, it begins to skew your spouses view about the true nature of their environment. Since, you only tell stories that empathize the violent or extreme elements of society, your wife/husband begins to believe that the world is a much more dangerous and harmful place than it really is. I have found that I have to remind my wife that we are actually living in very safe times according to any objective standard. However, when all you tell them are these horrible things, they begin to think (quite logically) that if it could happen in the municipality in which my husband works, it could happen at my home. I was on station during a tour of midnights when my wife called me and told me that she had called Chicago P.D. for the third time in two weeks because she believed that a burglar was in the house. After I told her to stop wasting Chicago’s time, it struck me that I had for the last three weeks been coming home and telling my wife about all the car and home burglaries that I was encountering in my duties on the bicycle patrol. This had caused her to start to believe that this type of crime is much more prevalent in society and thus in our neighborhood than she originally thought. I stopped telling her these stories and the calls to Chicago P.D. stopped with them. Ephesians 5:33 states: 33So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. I realized I would not wish to hear the stories from my wife if she was a D.C.F.S. social worker assigned to sexual abuse cases any more than my wife should hear my retched Police war stories.
I believe that the best step is to tell your wife/husband each day that everything went well and find a good uplifting story to tell them and leave the “look what I did” stories to be told to your fellow Police Officers. Your work experiences are always best shared with your shift-mates because they have the proper context to deal appropriately with them. Do not unnecessarily burden your family with your exploits.

Authorities to Re-authorize Search and Rescue

Authorities to Re-authorize Search and Rescue

Daily News Wire Services

Article Last Updated: 09/13/2007 06:37:41 AM PDT

Dateline: MINDEN, Nevada.-Sheriff John Shultzerberger has announce that the search and rescue for missing billionaire and adventurer Steve Fossett will begin anew now that it was discovered that the person they pulled out of the Nevada desert is not in fact Steve Fossett as the man claimed but an imposter.

“We were all taken in and now precious hours have been lost” stated a clearly angry Sheriff. When asked why they mistakenly airlifted a 6’02” three hundred pound man claiming to be Fossett out of the parking lot of a Minden Dairy Queen, the Sheriff responded, “He informed my deputies that he had decided to attempt the world record for corndog eating and they believed him.”

Suspicion quickly mounted when the imposter upon arriving at the airport where this tragic event had started, did not immediately take out another single engine airplane into the desert to break Fossett’s previous survival record.

The Sheriff has stated at the press conference announcing the re-commission of the search that his department was looking into filing charges against the Georgian Kudzu salesman.

Meanwhile this paper has been contacted by the Fossett foundation and informed that they will not be seeking to break the current world record of fake Fossett-search news stories and are pleased to leave the current world record at one.

Pray for the Heroes and the Victims that fell that day

No matter what happens or what evil is done. The final judgement and perfect justice are to come.



2 Peter 3:7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Buffalo Bills' Kevin Everett

My prayers go out to Kevin and his family. The most recent news is not positive and they saying that he probably will be paralyzed due to the hit he suffered. (Article) Everett likely to be partially paralyzed

At the end of the game the entire Bills team went back onto the field and held hands in prayer for their fallen teammate.

It is in times of crisis such as this that we all instinctively know who is truly in charge. Money, power, fame all become meaningless. Powerless we petition at the throne of the architect of the universe.

Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

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