Police Story

Good cop, bad cop.  "F*** da police".  Police brutality.  Rodney King.  "The Boyz in Blue". 
They're in the news, but often their perps are the ones who get the media attention.  Those who are in the news are often so because they've been charged with using excessive force.
I didn't think much of this until my daughter said "bad policeman" one day.  After my jaw hit the floor, I gathered it up and asked her to repeat herself.
Yep, that's what she said.
Having heard this from someone not even five years old worries me. 
There's always been bad cops.  But I've always tried to teach my daughter that police officers help people.  Even the bad ones usually start out with good intentions.
My dad became a part-time police officer with the Allegheny Township Police Department in Westmoreland County in the spring of 1979.  Definitely not because of the paycheck, but rather what he was witnessing firsthand...young people succumbing to a growing drug problem in the Alle-Kiski Valley which could impact others coming of age.
He graduated from the Kiski II Regional Police Academy, sanctioned by the Crime Study Center of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  Greg Adams (whose killer, Donald Eugene Webb, has never been apprehended) was his instructor, and Leonard Miller (one of the victims in the infamous "Kill for Thrill" murder spree) graduated from the class ahead of his.
This will give an insight to this rather dark period of violence happening in our own backyards.
I made it a priority to prove to my daughter that policemen are the good guys. 
I showed her a picture of her then 34-year-old grandpa in uniform, whom she immediately recognized, his badge, and he gave her the department's "Officer Bob" coloring book.
"Officer Bob" was a product of Collinsville, Illinois-based Scott Publications, which distributed the book for kids in neighborhood departments, paid for my local merchant advertisements on the back cover. 
Then one day "bad policeman" was replaced with this:
"I want to be a policeman when I grow up."
My cousin Steven today is an officer with the Allegheny Township Police Department, thus making him a second-generation cop.  I could only be too proud to see my daughter be part of the next generation of fine lawmen and women.
Many of my friends uphold the law in squad cars, uniforms, and courtrooms.  And our armed forces uphold the law of the land...we call it the Constitution.
You know who you are, there's too many of you to mention.
Thank you.


NEXT WEEK:  Soup's on!