I’ve spent the majority of my time riding out with GPD on the night shift. When I first started they worked from 10pm-6am, so it was dark for the majority of their shift. Now they work 12-hour shifts, so they go in at 6pm and have a few hours of light depending on the time of year. Of course there are plenty of perks to working when it’s dark outside. There is not as much traffic, it’s often not as hot outside, and there aren’t as many people around. A lot of times the more “interesting” calls come at night and you can find things that you can’t find during the day. There are certainly downsides to working at night too. Restaurants aren’t all open at 3:30am when it’s time to eat again, there is often a lack of positive people to interact with, and it’s tough to try and get decent sleep during the day.
Not that police officers in general are stopped all of the time and thanked for what they do, but I would assume it’s more likely during the day. There is probably a higher percentage of calls during the day shifts where people would be more likely to express appreciation or be happy to see the officers. This fact in and of itself can set an interesting tone for the night shift officers. They are working when there is no light outside, but also without much “light” from people in the way of encouragement. It’s an easy way to get discouraged or feel a little down. I know I am always excited to see some sunshine after the several days of rain and I think being a night shift officer has the same effect. Many of them will say that they don’t like when there is too much light, but I would argue with them that they need it.
One night I was out riding with, let’s call him, Officer P. Officer P was patrolling through some of the neighborhoods that are known to be “trouble spots.” As he was driving down one of the streets he started to turn one direction and saw that it was a fairly well-lit street. He quickly turned the other direction saying that it was too light over there and he wanted to go where it was dark. That statement kind of caught me off guard. As I sat in his passenger seat thinking about what he just said, I realized how much time officers do have to spend in the dark. Going down the darker street he saw some people around a vehicle and went to check it out. Turned out it was clearly their vehicle and all was good, but it could have been someone trying to break into the car or slash the tires. I think the darkness encourages people to do things they wouldn’t do in the light because they feel like no one is watching them. For that reason, officers have to be willing to be in the darkness to enforce the law. If they, like Officer P, are willing to go into the darkness they can certainly help expose those wrongful things and bring them to the light in a sense.
There is another way officers use the darkness to their advantage. If someone runs from an officer the call goes out and the other officers move quickly to respond and help search. The officer calls out where the person is running so the other officers know. They set up a perimeter around the area so that people are watching potential places that the person might run as they are trying to get away. Within the perimeter there are people on foot searching and cars driving around. It is to the officer’s advantage at that point to utilize the darkness. They turn off all lights on their car and slowly drive around. This way, they have an opportunity to get close to the person before the person sees them. If they drive with their light bars on and using their spotlight, the person is able to remain hidden while they drive by. Of course this is a catch 22 situation because the light bar and the spotlight make it so much easier to see if anyone is around. Again, the darkness can help the officers to find the person doing something wrong and bring that thing to light.
Darkness is a difficult place to be all of the time. On the positive side, officers and those in the church have something pretty important in common when it comes to the darkness. We both have something to offer that is different than darkness. Whether it’s actually dark outside or not, all officers spend a lot of their time in other people’s darkness. They are called out to desperate situations, to family crisis, to people wanting to end their lives, to children being hurt, and so much more. When they arrive at these scenes they are able to give a little bit of hope and light to the darkness. They give them resources to use and hopefully help to solve their problem. As someone of faith I hope to do the same thing. Christians are called to be the light on the hill (Matthew 5:14-16) and to shine like the stars (Philippians 2:15). We have a brilliant light to share with people that is capable of conquering any darkness. We have a hope that is bigger than any despair and grace that is big enough to cover any mistake. If we are willing to go into the darkness we will find many opportunities to share the good news and shed some light.
It also gives us hope when we are the ones in a place of darkness. The same light that we offer to others is available to us too. It’s ok if the roles have to shift some days and we aren’t able to be the light. It’s just important that we be willing to reach out to each other when those times come rather than trying to be in the darkness alone. It’s all about finding balance and taking care of ourselves and each other. We have to go into the darkness from time to time, but we also have to make sure we spend enough time in the light to have the strength to go.