Working and Living in the Balance
Written By: Officer Mom
5280, there is a call for a fight at 123 Alaska blvd where the caller is stating they see a man and a woman fighting and screaming at each other, 5280 can you respond?
Today I was assigned the 5280 beat at work, the morning was rough due to the fact that I was up about 3 times with my newborn baby and my 4 year old was up coughing on and off due to starting a new daycare and of course got sick the 2nd day he was there. ANNNDDD of course no one can sleep in past 7am…I know I have to get to the gym before work for my mental and physical health. I’m a cop, I cant be out of shape and I want to be in the best shape to come home to my family. With that being said, I have to make the choice to get my kids up and out the door to day care again, get to the gym on time and then head into work not knowing what the day will hold… and knowing I wont see my kids until the next morning for an hour as I get them ready to go back to the day care again. The mom guilt sets in and I immediately shove it down and try to focus.
5280, we are getting another call on this, there was a gun displayed and the woman is now on the ground. The offender left in the victim’s blue honda accord, nothing further. 5280?
Stuff just got real, I stop daydreaming, gain my bearings and flip my lights and siren on. “5280, I will be responding, do we have a description on the offender or plate information?” My mind goes into police mode and I go into the various 100 different ways this call could end up going as I am driving at a high rate of speed, looking for the offender and trying to get to my victim.
5280, the offender information is M/B, early 20s, about 6ft tall, wearing a grey hoodie, surgical mask, jeans, and white sneakers. He did display a black type handgun. Last know direction was S/B on Alabama.
My heart is racing and I arrived on scene to see an elderly white woman who stated that she had just entered her vehicle, put her purse on the passengers seat and heard “GIVE ME YOUR KEYS”, she responded no and a fight ensued where she was pulled from her vehicle, a gun was displayed and the offender took the victim’s vehicle.
Fast forward, the offender was actually tracked down, arrested and the vehicle and majority of her belongings were recovered. This is one of the good stories.. no one was truly hurt, property was returned and the “bad guy” gets locked up. However, each and every one of these calls does something mentally to this momma.
Hi, my name is “Officer Mom” and I am 33 YRS old and have been married for almost 7 years to "Mr. Dad". WE are an interracial couple who have 2 amazing boys who are full of energy and joy. We are a bible believing home and try and rely on God’s direction for our family. "Mr. Dad" works in the Human Resource world whereas I have been a social worker for 9 years and been a police officer for 2. It is an ever constant in balancing act of job, family, Christian walk, house…..should I keep going? I am sure you could fill in your own similar list here. Not to mention the added factor that I am a white cop married to a black man. This is an entirely different element that I am blessed to have but also still working through all that that means. I truly have a great responsibility at work to be a light in the darkness, to treat everyone with respect and dignity, to be an example to my coworkers, to be proud of my family, my job and of the work that I do.
The next day I received a call from one of my sergeants and what she said hit me deep – “you know when that lady (our white older lady) left the other day she left not being a victim of a white on black crime or that she has now a written story about how a black person aggressed toward her but that she left just being involved in an incident. “ The sergeant (who is also black) went on to say that she felt that something that I had done made that happen… and extended gratitude about that. Even though our offender was a knuckle head the script has to start getting rewritten. If I am totally honest when the description of our offender went out, I even had to battle these thoughts of “yeah typical description”. The internal bias that we each have has got to be faced, admitted and rewritten and I am hoping I can be part of the key to that.
Today I was assigned the 5280 beat at work, the morning was rough due to the fact that I was up about 3 times with my newborn baby and my 4 year old was up coughing on and off due to starting a new daycare and of course got sick the 2nd day he was there. ANNNDDD of course no one can sleep in past 7am…I know I have to get to the gym before work for my mental and physical health. I’m a cop, I cant be out of shape and I want to be in the best shape to come home to my family. With that being said, I have to make the choice to get my kids up and out the door to day care again, get to the gym on time and then head into work not knowing what the day will hold… and knowing I wont see my kids until the next morning for an hour as I get them ready to go back to the day care again. The mom guilt sets in and I immediately shove it down and try to focus.
5280, we are getting another call on this, there was a gun displayed and the woman is now on the ground. The offender left in the victim’s blue honda accord, nothing further. 5280?
Stuff just got real, I stop daydreaming, gain my bearings and flip my lights and siren on. “5280, I will be responding, do we have a description on the offender or plate information?” My mind goes into police mode and I go into the various 100 different ways this call could end up going as I am driving at a high rate of speed, looking for the offender and trying to get to my victim.
5280, the offender information is M/B, early 20s, about 6ft tall, wearing a grey hoodie, surgical mask, jeans, and white sneakers. He did display a black type handgun. Last know direction was S/B on Alabama.
My heart is racing and I arrived on scene to see an elderly white woman who stated that she had just entered her vehicle, put her purse on the passengers seat and heard “GIVE ME YOUR KEYS”, she responded no and a fight ensued where she was pulled from her vehicle, a gun was displayed and the offender took the victim’s vehicle.
Fast forward, the offender was actually tracked down, arrested and the vehicle and majority of her belongings were recovered. This is one of the good stories.. no one was truly hurt, property was returned and the “bad guy” gets locked up. However, each and every one of these calls does something mentally to this momma.
Hi, my name is “Officer Mom” and I am 33 YRS old and have been married for almost 7 years to "Mr. Dad". WE are an interracial couple who have 2 amazing boys who are full of energy and joy. We are a bible believing home and try and rely on God’s direction for our family. "Mr. Dad" works in the Human Resource world whereas I have been a social worker for 9 years and been a police officer for 2. It is an ever constant in balancing act of job, family, Christian walk, house…..should I keep going? I am sure you could fill in your own similar list here. Not to mention the added factor that I am a white cop married to a black man. This is an entirely different element that I am blessed to have but also still working through all that that means. I truly have a great responsibility at work to be a light in the darkness, to treat everyone with respect and dignity, to be an example to my coworkers, to be proud of my family, my job and of the work that I do.
The next day I received a call from one of my sergeants and what she said hit me deep – “you know when that lady (our white older lady) left the other day she left not being a victim of a white on black crime or that she has now a written story about how a black person aggressed toward her but that she left just being involved in an incident. “ The sergeant (who is also black) went on to say that she felt that something that I had done made that happen… and extended gratitude about that. Even though our offender was a knuckle head the script has to start getting rewritten. If I am totally honest when the description of our offender went out, I even had to battle these thoughts of “yeah typical description”. The internal bias that we each have has got to be faced, admitted and rewritten and I am hoping I can be part of the key to that.