We’ve all seen them.

The news broadcasts that profile all police officers as bad people who shoot innocent people with no reason. The videos of people recording themselves getting pulled over because of they think the officer is profiling them. In this generation, we’re forgetting how to respect authority and instead decide to blatantly turn our back on it. The media only sees one side of the situation. They won’t tell us the actual situation or why that officer was forced to pull the trigger. The only thing most people see is a trigger-happy cop who didn’t think about all his options. I’m here to tell you how all of this looks from the perspective of a cop’s daughter.

Being a cop’s daughter means you hear people say terrible things about cops, but you bite your tongue because you know that no matter what you say, they will keep throwing uneducated rebuttals at you.

Being a cop’s daughter means you watch your parent work 100 hours a week and not get the appreciation they deserve.

Being a cop’s daughter means you listen to your parent tell stories about all the terrible things people say to them on a daily basis and you can’t do anything to stop it, but you see that your parent is a lot stronger than you’ll ever be.

Being a cop’s daughter means you hear your parent leave in the morning, but you don’t know for certain that they’ll come back, so you hug them a little tighter the night before.

Being a cop’s daughter means you lose friends because they don’t agree with police officers and their role in society and they know you support police officers and you don’t take kindly to hearing unjustified poor opinions of them.

Being a cop’s daughter means missing important days sometimes. Your parent may not always be able to make it to awards ceremonies, Thanksgiving dinners, and Christmas mornings. You know they try their best and that they’re there with you in spirit, but it’s not easy missing all the memories you could be making.

Being a cop’s daughter means you know that your parent would literally take a bullet for you if they had to. That kind of love is hard to find, but you know that your parent is always your first protector and if you ever need anything, they’ll be the first to respond.

Being a cop’s daughter means you soon realize that people don’t know the meaning of respect anymore- especially members of your own generation.

Most importantly, being a cop’s daughter means that you were raised by your hero. My Dad has and always will be my hero. I watch him put on a uniform every day that puts a target on his back. Over the years, the war on police officers has only gotten worse and my respect for my dad and the men and women he serves beside has only grown.

The next time you judge the actions of an entire force of men and women who protect us every day based on a one-sided media story, think about the fact that those people have families who worry about them. Honestly, if my dad is ever in a situation when he is forced to pull the trigger, I hope he does, but I know that he wouldn’t unless he had no other choice. Not all cops are trigger happy, there are a lot of good ones out there that would take a bullet for any one of us.