okay, I need help here. does ANYBODY have a story about ANY police department, even a single

[niyad]

police officer, that is positive--that shows the "serve and protect" part of their job? I know (hope) that there are some out there, and I really need to hear about them. the rest of the news is just too depressing.

[RandySF]

1. You don't read about them because they are the norm.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. Police Officer Hailed a Hero After Pulling Sixteen Year Old From Burning Car

    A sixteen year old boy is still in the hospital after a devastating head-on collision on his way to school in Muhlenberg County.  His father says the only reason his son is alive is thanks to an off-duty police officer, who pulled the boy from the car before it exploded.
http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=498562

There are good and bad people in all professions. However, when public servants do bad things it hits us harder.

[SwampG8r]

3. i know one

his name is paul and i dont want to "out" him
paul has in all the years he has been on our tiny force been fair honest and reliable
he would be offended by the idea of a bribe he would be offended by the idea of going along with someones "story"
he has his own family in town too and he takes what he does seriously
so yes i know at least one

[Loudmxr]

8. I'll out mine. David Kleinfeld. He has done an excellent job on hate crimes. Burbank PD

Just a year on the job.

At the annual MLK Day proclamation presentation, which I received, I called the City Manager to the podium, make arrangements that it be given to him.

His job is to report the crimes and investigate them. My job is to comfort the victims. If they so desire.

I could not do my job without the dedication and persistence to making this a better community without his help. We make a good team.

A few days later the Chief, the Deputy Chief, and his Captain presented him with the proclamation. He was sooo surprised!!!

[TexasPaganDem]

4. Good police work!

Last week, the bank that I work at was robbed. A man came in with a crowbar, threatened to start beating people if he didn't get money, then left with a handful of cash after the teller complied.

One of my fellow employees got the guy's license plate number.

The police used the information to discover the car the thief used had LoJack; then called and had the car disabled. They then used the GPS tracking to locate the vehicle, and they were able to apprehend the thief and recover all the money, along with his weapon within 30 minutes of the robbery taking place.

The police were very professional, but also very concerned with our well being, making sure everyone was okay, and eventually joking around with us as they did a photo line up and brought us back the cash. They also have been stopping by two and three times a day, not just to let the community know that they are here, but also to reassure us that they are around if we need them.

They're a great bunch of guys, and I'm glad that they are around.

[murielm99]

5. Our former police chief has moved on to a larger city,

but he was a good guy and good with kids. I remember when the high school kids were doing a talent show. He was in one of the skits, pretending to be the cop Zsa Zsa Gabor slapped. It worked. It took everyone by surprise, and it was funny.

When my son was in junior high, he was de-tasseling for his summer job. He rode his bike to the library after work, so I could give him a ride home. I worked at the library. One day, he got caught in one of the worst downpours of the summer. He was soaked. He stopped at the police chief's home, where they let him dry off and gave him some clothes to wear. He trusted the chief enough to stop at his house when he was having a problem.

I wish he was still our top cop.

[madamesilverspurs]

6. Here ya go. . .

Last year when our local Occupy group first set up camp the local police were most helpful. They made sure we knew when our permits needed renewing, checked the camp often and asked if anybody had been hassling the campers; officers off-duty stopped by to chat, and both the police and the sheriff sent thermoses of cocoa and hot coffee. On one occasion the permit application had been misfiled (by the PD), and when they found it they brought the permit to us to make sure we had it in time. They have, thus far, exceeded expectations of professionalism and respect. And this is in the community where Ken "I don't wear high heels" Buck is the DA. Amazing.

[Zax2me]

7. Easiest request EVER -

Here you go - nothing over a couple weeks old.
Police officer saves woman in house fire
http://www.wlbz2.com/news/article/193662/3/Police-officer-saves-woman-in-house-fire

Daring overnight water rescue saves life of homeless man
http://www.necn.com/03/21/12/Daring-overnight-water-rescue-saves-life/landing_nation.html?blockID=674222&feedID=4207

Off-duty police officer saves pets from house fire
http://www.abc27.com/story/17171833/off-duty-police-officer-saves-pets-from-house-fire

Orlando police officer saves boy while on vacation
http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2012/3/21/orlando_police_offic

Quick thinking by teen and police saves Port St. Lucie man
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/mar/13/no-headline---tc_sl_save

Quick action by sheriff's personnel saves Palmdale man after engine falls on him
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_20280992/quick-action-by-sheriffs-personnel-saves-palmdale-man

Police Officer Hailed as Hero in Woodbridge Mall Shooting
http://holmdel.patch.com/articles/authorities-reveal-identities-of-cop-and-hostage-taker-in-woodbridge-center-shooting

[HipChick]

9. Here's one personal story..not much of a story..I will give credit where it's due..

I was one my way to work...my car broke down at a spot that cars would be blinded as to my location..so literally cars would come racing around the corner..see my car, realize that I wasn't moving, and slam on the brakes at the last min to avoid hitting me..

I tried to get out of the car which was tough, because there was fast traffic whizzing by on either both sides of me..I was pretty certain one or two things was going to happen...someone would back end me at a fairly high rate of speed, or I was going to get run over trying to get across the road..

After a while, I observed a car pulling up behind me, it slowed down to stop. It didn't look like a cop either...he got out his car, opened his trunk, and pulled out some flares and set them down around the cars. He walked over to my window, asked if I was ok...of course, I wasn't and had burst into tears at this point, and asked me if I knew what was wrong with the car,
I asked for some ID from him, because he was undercover, and for all I know - he could be a wanna be fake cop. He obliged, and I could see that he has county emblems stuff too, so that easied my mind a bit.
...then with a smirk asked me if I had gas in the car, because those sorts of cars don't break down often. It was an expensive, German sports car, and actually that morning, because I was running late, I forget to swing by the gas station. He then blocked off one of the other lanes, and helped me steer the car in neutral off the road, onto the shoulder. Then he told me to jump in my car, and he'd drive me to the nearest gas station, and get some gas, and drive me back to the car, we talked about cars in general, I kept apologizing that I was making him late for my general forgetfulness. I mean, he could have just left me there on the shoulder to call AAA or something, so to me he went out of his way to help a damsel in distress, when he didn't have to..so yeah...cops, generally I don't care for them..but there are good and bad in every profession

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Day to day that s what they mostly do

Serious.

Personally I worked side by side cops. I saw them risk life and limb to rescue people in fires.

A couple cops helped us during the floods with the refugees. They also got to enjoy mre's with the rest of us.

You know what? Most of the time their behavior, the good one, does not make the news.

[bayareamike]

11. I used to work part time in a local PD

to help pay the bills. I knew a ton of great, honest, jovial officers. Not saying that all of them are great, but being a police officer is a very demanding, stressful, and at times dangerous career. For what it's worth, I also knew a few officers who were not the best people. One in particular had a horrible ego; even the other officers didn't like him much but they tolerated him.

[chknltl]

12. sure:

A couple years ago a friend of mine was murdered. The local PDs cancelled all leaves and every single cop in the area went into overtime mode until the bastards who did this were caught.

Listen, before this happened my attitude was: "If you wanna be a Dudly-Do-Right sort of person, be a paramedic or be a fireman. If instead you want to be an asshole then go and get yourself a job as a cop". That was then.....

Now, after I saw my local Police Department, and all the other local Police Departments in action getting those f**kers who killed my friend, my attitude is, and will remain: "It's not what they do TO you, it's what they do FOR you that REALLY counts!"

It is too bad that it took me so long before I had my come to Jesus moment in my thinking. There are a lot of bad feelings
directed against those who put their lives on the line to do a job that they know will anger many who see them in the rear-view mirror, that will never change.

It's when you have to dial 911 desperate for a cop to rescue you, it's when they are first on the scene, pulling your loved ones from a burning vehicle, it's when they find and return your lost kid, its when they catch that son of a bitch who raped your daughter, it's when they catch the bastards that murdered your friend, that is when you will understand: It's not what they do to you, it truly is what they do for you that counts. For me, well my hat is off to them.


Oh and contrary to popular belief, not every cop is a bad cop, as a matter of fact, most of them are pretty dam good.

[HiPointDem]

14. Then they should get rid of the bad apples rather than close ranks around them.

[loyalsister]

13. Yes

Public info:

http://cfjcomo.com/officers.php?pid=0

During a public discussion about racial issues, he talked candidly and personally about his own experiences growing up as an American with Mexican heritage.

[Tunkamerica]

15. A cop pressured a friend of mine to lie against two of his friends by threatening him with telling

his parents he was drinking (we were young and his parents were strict christians). He was scared and young so he said what the cop wanted.

[great white snark]

16. Holy crap, is that the closest you could get to something positive?

Your local P.D. must resemble the cops from "Serpico"

[bettyellen]

17. it sounds like the kid screwed over his friends to save his own ass. convienient he gets to blame

someone else, LOL. if he screwed over two friends, i wouldn't trust his story.

[Honeycombe8]

18. In the news daily are reports of policemen getting killed on the job...

when simply responding to a 911 call or whatever.

They have to go to the worst parts of town, where murder is commonplace. They get killed every day. The pay isn't much. And they get drummed out of their jobs if they make a mistake (granted, their mistakes can have dire consequences).

That's all there is, standing between the normal population and anarchy. But it's a thankless job. I don't know why anyone does it.

As for me, I've called the cops a couple of times for attempted break-ins. It takes them awhile to get there (which is why I have a gun..you have to rely on yourself to protect yourself and your property), but they were professional and responsive, and I sure was glad to see them!

[nobodyspecial]

19. Just like you don't hear about the thousands of planes

that take off each day without incident, you don't hear about the millions of police officers who serve and protect each day. It's only the plane crashes that make the news. Although this amplifies the danger in many minds, statistically, you quickly see that the crash is the exception rather than the rule. It's the same with police.

[slackmaster]

20. Here is a video of a police officer doing something positive for international relations

&feature=player_embedded#!

[SwissTony]

22. Ever driven on an autobahn?

I was driving in the slow lane at 160 km/h and pulled out to pass a truck. Immediately, someone flashed their lights at me. I pulled back in and a few seconds later, a Merc passed me doing 300+. It's an experience driving on the autobahns.

France and Italy are pretty interesting too.

The cop's tongue was pretty colourful, but his message was clear. Obey the law of the land. And can I assume he let them go? He just disappeared from view.

[slackmaster]

23. Yes, he let the German guy go without citing him

I'd love to visit Germany some day.

[SwissTony]

24. Germany's brilliant

The Germans do have a reputation for being a bit stiff and formal. And they are, in some respects. But they are also warm and kind people.

[niyad]

21. thanks to all of you who replied with the stories of what we KNOW police officers are supposed to be

I know they are out there, every single day. it just seems that nearly every day in the news is a story about officers that are not those people.