My father has been a police officer since before I was born. I have grown up in a household where there are weapons hidden throughout the house in case of emergency. Most of our family friends come from the police department, so I got used to the dark humor that policemen have in order to cope with what they see and deal with during their work days. Whenever I am in the city that he works in, I feel safe because I know what seems to be half of the officers in that entire town, and they know me.
Also, I got used to having to hold my tongue when I would hear a classmate or an acquaintance talk about how much they hate the police or how evil the police are. I have even heard people talk about how if they ever saw a police officer, they would kill them first and ask questions later. Growing up with a cop for a parent taught me to not discuss what my father did with too many people.
A few years ago my mother got a job working at the same department. I am very proud of my mother, because she finally has a job that she loves and one that portrays how brave and strong she is. I feel the same way of my father, who is a true police officer; he is the one that isn't talked about in the news because while the news is talking about who shot who, my dad is out there helping people, which is why he wanted to be a police officer in the first place. They are both people I am proud to call my parents. I always have been, and I always will be.
While I am very proud to have parents in the force, one fact that I have never really been able to deal with is the fact that one of my parents could head out to work one morning and I could never see them again. There is a higher risk of them dying because of their profession, as well as the times that we live in right now. Everyone that is close to a police officer has to understand the fact that they may never see their friend, parent, sibling or anything else again. They work in a city that is pretty anti-police. There are increasing numbers of officer-involved shootings and officer deaths. I have never been able to, and will never be able to, cope with the fact that there could be someone someday who targets one of them and kills them. I would lose a loving mother or father, both amazing and loving people who joined the force to help make the lives of less fortunate people better. There have been people in their city threatening to kill any cop they see. I can't help but think about what would happen if that was my parent, how devastating it would be. I can only hope that the next time someone wants to kill a police officer, or any other person for that matter, that there is a family that will be absolutely torn apart about the death of their loved one.
