Good day Franklin!

As we move along, I find it more and more difficult to be glib with my salutations. But with all sincerity, I hope everyone is well.

In the mid-1970s (here we go…back in time again), I was working with the Belmont, MA police department as part of their Employee Assistance Program (EAP). About a year later, I joined that police department as a Special/Auxiliary (i.e., part-time) police officer and really began my LE career.

In relation to the EAP, I worked closely with an officer who, at the time was a recovering alcoholic. He introduced me to the work of Father John Martin, a Roman Catholic Priest who had been given papal consent to work with alcoholics. Father Martin was a recovering alcoholic as well. I attended a few of Father Martin’s presentation known as “Chalk Talk”. He would write a variety of things on a chalk board and open the discussion to the participants (who were considered his far-reaching congregation).

I particularly enjoyed it when the Good Father would hold up a popular magazine of one sort or another and ask an audience member what they saw. Usually, the front cover was aimed at the participant and they would describe the cover photo, etc. of a Time or Newsweek or whatever. Father Martin would then describe his view, the back cover (which was quite often an ad for an alcoholic beverage of some sort. Go figure!).

Father Martin would turn the magazine over and flip through the pages while stating that no matter what the point of view, the inside material was the same to both perspectives. I still use that teaching technique on occasion.

So, I’d like to present you with a little exercise if I may. We old polygraph examiners love analogous comparisons.   

What would you conclude about the following set of facts?

In this case, we are dealing with a service-oriented enterprise. It is, for our purposes, nationwide (but it is, in fact, world-wide). The industry employs millions of individuals at various levels of professionalism. In fact, it has been stated that 1 in 8 Americans are employed by this industry (National Public Radio).

Research into the delivery of these services has revealed long-term, embedded bias and racism (American Bar Association, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Center for Medical Advocacy). Additional study has revealed that this industry is responsible for “mistakes” resulting in approximately 250.000 deaths in the United States annually. This makes the industry responsible for the third leading cause of death in America behind heart disease and cancer (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine).

Have you guessed what I’m referring to? If not, the subject of this exercise is health care in the United States. I ask, why aren’t we picketing health care facilities? Or denigrating providers? Or demanding equality and justice in the delivery of these services?

As I have mentioned before, just about everything is a matter of perspective. It is difficult to analyze all the information that assails us on a daily basis. There is little doubt that we often (but fortunately not always) revert to knee-jerk reactions or conclusions based on less-than-optimal data.

I only ask that folks recognize the vast complexity of everything we find ourselves in today. Please take the time to think and discuss. I also guarantee that the difficulties experienced in other parts of our great country will not be tolerated here on my watch.

There are very few problems, of any sort, we can’t solve if we approach matters with objectivity, understanding, and flexibility. After all, we did land on the moon and we have sent people into space aboard the most complex piece of machinery in the history of human-kind.

I would like to leave you with a short poem I share with my police academy recruits three times a year.

Have a wonderful day if you can. Be well. Be safe. Reach out and let someone know you care. We do.

Tears of a Cop

Anonymous

I have been where you fear to go…

I have seen what you fear to see…

I have done what you fear to do…

All these things I’ve done for you.

I am the one you lean upon…

The one you cast your scorn upon…

The one you bring your troubles to…

All these people I’ve been for you.

The one you ask to stand apart…

The one you feel should have no heart…

The one you call the man in blue…

But I am, human just like you.

And through the years I’ve come to see…

That I’m not what you ask of me…

So take this badge and take this gun…

Will you take it? Will anyone?

And when you watch a person die…

And hear a battered baby cry…

Then so you think that you can be

All those things you ask of me…?