This story is about police officers and what they do when no one is watching.
By now you know all about police from the papers, the news programs and social media. People are shot to death, strangled, forced into false confessions and perhaps even driven to suicide as a result of actions by cops.
Because the victims were African-Americans, the marchers protest and chant “black lives matter” and carry signs that often read “Police are the enemy.”
We were not born yesterday. We know there are bad cops out there, just as there are corrupt legislators, fraudulent businessmen and (sigh!) dishonest reporters. Evil exists.
“If it bleeds, it leads” is a cynical truism of television news.
Reponses to “Are you afraid? Are you frightened?” always get 10 seconds of air time.
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But good is what most people are — there is not, however, much jingling coin in that piggy bank.
That’s why this story should be told.
Last week, a commander in the Park Forest Police Department heard of a widowed mother in desperate need of help. She was raising a year-old child and caring for a young granddaughter she plans to adopt. She had little money and few friends and was being forced out of her Park Forest home. There seemed no way she could move to a better place some 10 blocks away.
The police commander could have done the routine, directing the woman to a social service agency or charity which might or might not be able to help.
Looking at the 41-man police department roster, Commander “X” (he declines to be named) set out a sheet asking for volunteers to help him move the family. Three officers who signed up knew they would do so on their own time. They would move the family before beginning their own work shift. One officer pitched in after appearing in court in the morning and before beginning his afternoon tour.
The police were not alone. A neighbor of the woman helped with the move; a police corporal who worked the night shift donated his pickup truck, and the local U-Haul operator chipped in with a moving van. For eight hours on Sept. 1, furniture, household goods and all the paraphernalia of life was dismantled, put on trucks, taken to the new house, then taken down and reassembled. By 4 p.m. the woman and her family were secure in their new residence.
“These are things we do on a daily basis,” another police official said. “Last winter, one of our officers spent his own money to buy gas for a motorist stranded during a snow storm. We’ve done everything from repairing bad water heaters to sweeping up broken glass after an accident.”
None of the officers helping the woman wanted their names mentioned. Publicity was not their reason to get involved. A department press release about the incident stated that the work of police personnel, neighbors and businesses was a “reminder that when it ‘takes a village,’ Park Forest is consistently that place.”
Veteran police officials will tell you their job is more difficult and recruiting for police work has become a challenging task. “Police are the enemy” is a cheap slogan with sometimes costly results. In the last three weeks, Louisiana State Trooper Steven Vincent was shot to death while trying to help a motorist, Texas Deputy Sheriff Darren Goforth was assassinated while filling his car with gas, and Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz was shot and killed during a police chase.
This is a story about what police officers do when no one is watching. It, too, needs to be told.
Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist and can be reached at [email protected]