One major difficulty in the first responder world is how versatile the job requires you to be. It’s not a resume builder kind of versatile, it’s an absolute necessity with the variety of calls that they get. Then it’s pretty normal that there is not much time to regroup or think before the next calls drops. Of course you never know what kind of shift it could be. It might be twelve hours full of minor calls and not much activity or it could be twelve hours full of tragedy and painful calls. This is true for the dispatchers all well as the officers and detectives out on the streets.
One night I was up in dispatch spending some time and checking in on them and I was surprised by the rhythm of the shift up there. I hear the calls come out when I’m in the units with the officers, but didn’t really know how it felt on their end. The dispatchers would be talking with me and enjoying a lull in calls and then all of their phones would start ringing with various situations to handle. One minute they would be on a call that was almost comical in nature and the next minute the tone would ring of someone calling in on 911. The feel in the room changes a bit when it’s a 911 call because you never know what you could answer the phone to find happening. They have to be ready to calm someone down, to walk someone through CPR, to assure someone that help is on the way, and so much more.
I think about this concept often when I’m riding with the officers because I see it firsthand. I see how quickly they have to go from one thing to another. For some reason I was reminded of it specifically at a scene just a couple of weeks ago. It was a suicide where the adult daughter found her father dead in the closet in their home. The father had a few serious illnesses and the daughter had recently quit her job to stay home and care for her dad while her mother continued to work. That morning the daughter had gotten up and was fixing breakfast. She went upstairs to get her dad into the shower and went back down to finish cooking. At one point she heard something and realized she hadn’t checked on her dad in a while. She thought maybe he fell in the shower. When she got upstairs she realized he was in the closet. She had to force the door open to get to him and she realized he was gone. I’ll spare you the details of what she had to experience and see, but it was awful.
It took me a while to get to the scene because I wasn’t in Galveston when it happened, so I can imagine what I arrived to was the calm version of what the first responders arrived to. Understandably so, the daughter was extremely upset after what she had seen and the horrific tragedy she had to experience. She kept telling her mom, “You didn’t have to see what I had to see.” She would begin to describe it and then she would stop herself. Officer Hicok and PPO (Probationary Police Officer) Alby were on the scene along with Sgt. Migues who was doing the crime scene investigation. These men were in the thick of the mess of the death and had to see and fully experience it all. Before leaving Hicok and Alby came over to the neighbor’s house where the family was waiting. The wife of the man who died asked for the officers to explain to her what happened and what he did. Officer Hicok had a concerned look on his face, but he went out on the back deck and gave her the appropriate information to share. So just in this moment Hicok and Alby had to go from dealing with a dead body and a big mess in a home to speaking to a grieving family who wants details.
After this call, the day wasn’t over. The officers still had another 4 hours of their shift. In theory they will take a short break to go back to the station to write the report, but that doesn’t always happen. The volume of calls often means they clear one scene and have to head straight to another. So let’s say the next call they get sent to is a disturbance. Let’s say it’s a rather petty argument between neighbors where no law is being broken so there really isn’t anything the officers can do anyway. One of the people gives one of the officers an attitude. After seeing what the officer had to see and feeling the pain of the people, it’s difficult to have patience with people in situations that can seem silly.
The officers can’t lose their cool though. It’s important in their job that they remain professional and that they treat each situation as important. They have to put what just happened on the last scene aside and not let it impact what they do next. They have to jump from one thing to another. This, in my opinion, is so much easier said than done.
Since this scene there have been two child deaths, which were both heartbreaking. The first one wrapped up close enough to the end of shift that the officers probably didn’t have to go to another call. They still had to come back to work the next morning with it all still on their mind. They other child death happened about mid-shift, so the officers had to go on to other calls.
This is one of the reasons I think the role of chaplain is so vital. Chaplains provide a safe and confidential space for the officers to process what they have seen and heard. When they are out on patrol it can be as quick as a text message sometimes. Even though it’s minimal, they know they aren’t alone and that there is a support system for them. When the chaplains respond to scenes or ride with the officers, their presence can even be enough to help the officers deal with the difficult moments. I’ve had the dispatchers tell me that even if they don’t see me they feel better knowing that I’m out with the officers. It’s such an honor to be in that position. To get to serve as a law enforcement chaplain full-time is an incredible privilege. It’s makes the chaplain program so much more accessible to the officers and allows us to be both proactive and reactive in our approach.
If you encounter a police officer that seems to be a little off or maybe seems to be a little short with you, consider giving them a little bit of grace. Maybe they just left a tragic scene that is still stuck in their mind or broke their heart. Of course they have to do their job and take care of your situation, but they might need to be reminded that someone cares. Officers have to be able to handle such a large variety of situations and most of them do it so well. I can’t imagine that they had a full concept of what all would be asked of them when they applied for the job. Most are able to step up to the challenge and find healthy ways to deal with everything that happens. Thank you for caring for first responders and being willing to understand their world.
