I lived through dealing with the public as a police officer in the aftermath of one of our police Lieutenants being convicted of murdering his girlfriend while on duty and abusing her corpse.
It was hell for us working street cops.
I know what's in store for my brothers and sisters working the streets now.
Former Mansfield officer Mike Garn was convicted last week on 25 of 34 counts against him in Common Pleas court. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison. Garn didn't kill anyone, but the scars he caused to the department will remain for a long time. Current Mansfield police officers will pay a price for Garn's abuse of authority and sexual proclivities...and they will have to deal with public backlash.
Losing the trust of those you serve and protect, those whose taxes pay the salaries of the men and women wearing a badge, is a huge hit. Damage control aside, the department as a whole has a lot of work ahead of them, as do the city's decision-makers.
And they'd better develop thick skin.
About a week after the Lieutenant's conviction, I had occasion to stop a car for a traffic infraction while working late in the evening. I won't recount the entire exchange between the driver and I, but the first words out of her mouth were "are you going to kill me and put me in your trunk?"
I had to check my rage.
I was angry not only because of the woman's remarks, but also because of the position I was put in by someone else's actions; someone who wore the same badge as I, who cared not a bit what his crimes would do to us and the department as a whole. Comments like the one the woman made were repeated on an almost daily basis, on every shift. All of us, everyone, knew we would have to be in total control of our emotions...and our anger.
The men and women wearing a badge now at Mansfield PD, most of them, have had to deal with a few others who broke the law and were sentenced to prison. A former police officer who decided that he would risk the safety of his fellow coppers in order to pay off his loan debt to a drug dealer by forewarning him of impending search and/or arrest warrants; another who, in concert with his wife, defrauded a charity they worked for out of thousands upon thousands of dollars, dollars meant to aid a local high school's student athletes and athletic programs.
These weren't rash, spur-of-the-moment decisions; they were thought out and repeated.
Why? Greed. Power. Sex. All without a thought of anyone but themselves.
As far as I'm concerned, they all got what they deserved. They inflicted damage, though, not only upon themselves but on all of us, past, present and future.
The rest of us who suffer didn't deserve it. The vast majority of working and retired police officers maintained our commitment to the oath we swore on Day One, kept our integrity intact.
Don't judge us all because of the actions of a few.
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