The best summation of the best of The Finest. Just my nsho. I’ll soon be chasing off for another refresher of courses for law enforcement chaplains.
Some might be “offended” by the violence depicted in this tribute. I ask them if they are offended by, say, a memorial to those fallen in battle, or by a crucifix.
Anyway, there are also many super-cool moments in this video. I really appreciate the inclusion of the scene of the bald officer getting out of the cruiser at 6’24” …
The other day Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, not too far from the parish here in Western North Carolina, sponsored a day in their facilities for the International Conference of Police Chaplains, of which I am a member. There were some refresher courses offered, five hours worth, almost non-stop. Really good. Lots of good guys there. There was a chance for some networking. I met a Catholic Deacon, also a chaplain, stationed not all that far away from my own parish. There was a Jewish DOC guy. I sat next to a Presbyterian minister. There were police with three and four decades in law enforcement and are now interested in becoming chaplains.
There was a lot of useful introductory review which I was able to follow and agree with, having done many hundreds if not some thousands of hours of ride-alongs. Well done. Obviously the presentation stemmed from broad experience.
We then moved on to death notifications. The “Things not to say” module for death notifications – including death notifications for families of fallen officers – was actually pretty humorous, but necessary, in that you’ll always get the guy who will say something that is likely to get him punched in the nose. Yes, there were a list of platitudes to make sure NOT to say to anyone, ever. Goodness!
After this there was a stress management overview especially helpful in these anti-police times. A myriad of things just to notice but, again, balanced by a great deal of experience, were presented. Great.
This was all so very refreshing, being among the like-minded. Next time we will meet in the brand new conference center of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department.
Yesterday’s post about FTP (F*** THE POLICE) etc. was best removed as there are developments. Any Justice Department, FBI, SBI, DEA hacks who want to take a look at that post, be my guest. It’s not erased. It’s in “Draft mode” at the moment. There are people all y’all will want on your radar for any crazy foreseeable times to come. The perps are totally powder kegs with short fuses. All the pictures are still in that post, still in the archives of the blog. Go for it. Quite damning, really. It’s just that I didn’t know how damning those pictures were, and how they implicated certain people whose established names and locations come to mind now that a certain timeline of events were established. LOL. Truly: LOL.
Have I already been singled out by said perps? From all indications, absolutely. Whatever. I’m with the ICPC and I can’t stand idly by while assassination threats are made by idiots. Not just graffiti. There’s a lot I’m not saying. Just. Wow. Hah! LOL. Idiots are such totall idiots. But, it needs taking care of, badly, you know, because they ARE idiots.
After putting that post up I had trundled off to see some law enforcement, asking that I be allowed to take pressure off certain powers that be by my painting over some very specific threats. The only reason that wasn’t allowed was because, by law, paint cannot be left on the roadway, and the DOT would have to clean or replace the signs as only they know how to do. The DOT should charge the idiot haters the cost of cleaning, etc.
The fact of it is, the crime was basically solved in my meeting with the Sheriff and the DOT was called and put into action so very quickly that by the time I passed by the scene(s) of the crime on my way back to Andrews the DOT workers were already removing the graffiti. I thanked them for their quick work of it, and the response from these gentlemen was unforgettable:
“Thanks for that, sir. I mean we have other things to do. We don’t have time for this kind of crap. The guy who did this ought to be hanged.”
I laughed and thanked them again. The one guy was really upset, and is not the kind of guy you want upset with you. So… that would be an agreement. LOL! That made my day. Perfect. Hah!
But more than this, during that meeting up in Robbinsville, within just a few minutes the Sheriff had signed me on as another chaplain, signing all sorts of forms and such. They have a chaplain who is part time LEO as well with an incredibly awesome CV. But two is often better than one, at least for me as I hope to learn very much from him and the entire Sheriff’s Department. With me having signed my life away on those forms, we then talked a bit more about some some law enforcement matters. Mum’s the word on all that. Hah! What a great morning. What a great morning.
Moral of the story: Go ahead and do something. I’ve sometimes ranted about the seemingly useless “If you see something, say something” advice, but this time everything was put into action literally within seconds. That’s totally cool, restorative, really. Yay!