I cannot recall a time where I didn’t hate being a police officer’s daughter. I hated being brought to school in a cruiser. I hated the endless questions kids would ask about guns, tasers and whether or not my father has ever killed a person. I hated when my friends asked what my dad did for a living when I was younger. Most of all, however, I hate the time that I feel like I have lost with my dad because of the odd hours and long shifts that he works.

I cannot recall a time where I didn't hate being a police officer’s daughter then and my feelings towards his occupation haven’t changed. Yet, I will never apologize for the work that my father does because he is most successful person I know.

I am not naive or ignorant enough to say that the recent events do not have to do with very psychologically damaged police officers who have no right to a weapon or any higher power. I do not expect world peace, nor do I expect the brutality in the law enforcement field to disappear overnight. It has been going on for decades and decades, but we have the media to exemplify and show in raw detail the ongoing terrors of police brutality.

Does that mean that I think that any of it is acceptable or OK? Of course not. But as a daughter of a police officer, I see a whole new side to the job that many do not have the opportunity to see. As bold of a statement as that is, I feel as though I have witnessed enough to say it. While I have received taunts, both verbally and written, from people simply just because of my father’s occupation, I will never back down from defending his career. As much as I despise it ,most of the time, the stories of how he talked a young girl out of taking her own life and how he is the one who sits with children who are being taken out of their homes and placed into foster care for hours until their paperwork is done will never cease to amaze me. That alone gets myself thinking about why I can see this side of the job, but so many others will just see what the media displays. I cannot judge or ponder upon this thought due to the simple fact that those taking to social media about the recent events in the past week will never see it from my shoes.

I do not support the right to own legal weapons. I do not support police brutality or any other form of injustice in our society today. But what I do support is the strength that not only my father boasts, but the many others out there who have to deal with the constant pressure and slander that comes their way. I know that it was never my father’s dream job to become a police officer, especially when we live in a society where this terror is occurring. Yet, I do know that he has saved more lives than anyone could ever possibly imagine and has helped hundreds of people during the course of his career as an officer. While I educate myself with the current news and disagree with those officers who will never give the career a righteous name, and while I will continue my history of disliking the job for personal reasons, I will never not defend what my father does for a living. Through all of the media, the criticism that is directed at the police force as a whole and the constant anxiety of telling people what my father does for a living in fear of being questioned or lectured, I will still remain proud of my dad and what he has accomplished over the years in the force. While many see a man in a uniform driving up and down the highways with a radar gun, I see my parent in a bulletproof vest ready to take on whatever comes his way. I cannot stress enough how much I have resented being a police officer’s daughter for the several reasons that I have stated, but it doesn't change the fact that, for as long as I live, in my parent’s house. I will stay up every night just to hear the garage door open and know that he has made it home safely to unload the gun and taser and to simply just be my dad again, even if it is only for a few hours.