Between Law and Grace

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2009-04-06T11:41:00.001-07:00

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2008-10-25T17:29:00.001-07:00

Rookie Cop: Defined

2008-10-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

There are rookie ball players, of whom their teams have great patience with and hope for, and there are rookie soldiers, who are trained with great care to ensure their survival in battle. And then there are rookie cops who are unknowing clowns, dressed up for the sport and and hazing of senior officers, and entertainment of the citizens of the city. Again, this may not be true but it is the perception of the world the rookie cop exists in.

I don't know where the term rookie came from, but I know what it means to be a rookie cop. It means you're the dumbest, slowest, busiest, least respected, most teased, most naive and trusting person in town. You are willing to believe and trust everyone, including your supervisors and superiors on the police department. A good half of the humor on the police department is at the expense of rookie cops. Picture rookie cops as innocent as Adam in the garden of Eden. Wow, this is beautiful. I have a job that is exciting, pays the rent, buys a few groceries, and I get to help people. What a paradise. After a few nights on patrol, paradise begins to lose it's glitz, it's not that exciting, and people don't seem to want your help or your advice.

Your sergeant sends you to investigate the theft of tomatoes from someone's garden and solemnly advises you to take the camera and fingerprint kit along.

Someone calls you at the desk with a stuttering voice to report that he thinks he has just killed his friend for stealing his wine. This gets a quart of adrenaline to pump out of your rookie glands. You run to your supervisor, who tells you since you received the call, it's your case, and you run toward the cruiser, strapping on your gun, but there is a subconscious recognition of the red faces, suppressed smiles and mock seriousness of your comrades. You realize that you might need a back up and run back and ask, "Ain't anyone else coming?" with a still earnest and determined look on your face. This is when the laughter can no longer be suppressed and the room explodes at your expense, and the stuttering voice on the phone is mimicked by your training officer. The red face now is the one you shave every morning.

The term rookie finally wears off when you find out how gullible you really are, and learn who you can trust and believe, and who you can't. At this point, a police officer loses his innocence and gains a healthy cynicism that will serve him well throughout his career. You learn also that you really can and must trust your comrades with your life even though practical jokes are a part of life as a cop.

Christian View :: Hostility

2008-10-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

The word even sounds full of evil intent. Why is the world so full of hostility? Why hasn't mankind in it's Five thousand years of civilization (and millions of years of evolution as the textbooks would have us believe) done away with hostility? Why hasn't God, in his omnipotence snuffed it out? There seems to be no hostility missing in the world from the time Cain whacked his brother Abel and then lied to God about his whereabouts. History books contain the record of man's hostility toward one another and each days newspapers add more chapters to mankind's violent history. The Bible, one of the best selling history books of all time, is full descriptions of human hostility. Even God at times seems to be hostile toward His own creatures. (Can we blame Him?)

Haven't we rational beings had enough time to recognize and deal with our tendency to kill each other? Hasn't the accumulated wisdom of mankind provided a cure for our hostile nature? On the contrary it has shown that it apparently doesn't have a cure, or a remedy. Hostility has only seemed to grow worse as we have become much more efficient at killing and maiming one another, from clubs and swords to smart bombs, dirty bombs, atom bombs, car bombs, suicide bombs. We can find hostility in marriages, families, schools, highways, airports, and churches. The leaven of hostility has spread absolutely everywhere. If Darwin was right, then we have been successful in evolving into creatures who have adapted to our world by developing traits that aid us in eliminating competing creatures of our own species. Survival of the fittest looks like it will only have one survivor. Will we evolve to a point where the competition will all be eliminated, leaving one final survivor, the rest of us wouldn't have been voted off, but killed off. If this is the case, we are not evolving, but we are de-volving.

To counter Darwin's theory of evolution, I suggest at theory of de-volution and these are the facts I base my theory on.

Evolution assumes that man has evolved from the scum of the earth to sub-human creatures like lemurs, monkeys and chimps. He has gone through stages from being Homo erectus, homo habilis, homo neanderthalensis, to finally ta-da, homo sapiens (wise man). Man's trek through time shows an increasing intelligence, sophistication and wisdom, and today we are at the pinnacle (so far) of intelligence, sophistication. wisdom, and heading ever upward.

My theory of de-volution contradicts this upward trek. I would begin with man being created at the pinnacle of intelligence, sophistication and wisdom (wise man). From that point he has de-volved through subsequent lower stages into the creature we see today: the proud, hostile, demanding critter who can only be placated by ever increasing violent TV shows and sporting events, and is approaching a scum of the earth type existence.

Have you ever wondered how ancient civilizations could produce great pyramids, temples, coliseums, and Taj Mahals without modern construction equipment? Or that they could produce accurate calendars and chart the movement of stars and planets without having telescopes and degrees in astronomy? Have you ever tried to read and understand Aristotle or Plato and appreciate the profundity of their thoughts? And have you ever read the Bible, on which my theory of devolution is based? It says that God created man in His image and gave him dominion over the earth to cultivate and nurture it and to name the animals. God trusted man to be the caretaker of His creation. What an awesome responsibility, but we can plainly see that there is no one today who any one of us would trust to be caretaker of the world, no matter what kind of political promises they make.

The Bible points out that the beginning of de-volution was the point at which man and God lost their relationship.

Man used his gift of free will and chose to disobey the only law or rule that restricted his existence. Devolution began when man's eyes were opened to the existence of good and evil, and he gradually and habitually chose to do evil (those things benefitting him self in the short run) instead of good (benefitting many in the long run). This would be the principle of sin, which is the mechanism of de-volution. It has been mankind's defining and motivating force as we have devolved down from our lofty throne where God once trusted us to sit. Evolutionists must believe that the human race is getting better, but they have no reference to what is good, better or best, because they don't believe in a God who is good. Devolutionists believe that what was created good, has become bad, and worse, and it is based on a knowledge and reference of a God that is good and right and true.

The Bible shows us the remedy, the cure for hostility.

God sent His son, Jesus Christ to earth to bear the hostility of the world. The sum of hostility of mankind, past, present, and future was laid upon him and He suffered for the sin of the whole de-volved world. And from that point, it has become possible to reverse the course of de-volution. Faith in Christ melts the hostility out of us and replaces it with love. Yet many Christians still find hostility in their heart, and church people are still hostile to one another. Hostility still exists in Christian marriage and families. It doesn't have to be there, but it is.

Hostility is just one of those traits that we acquired through devolution. We also picked up several other traits that have served the devil well. Greed, selfishness, lust, idolatryand gluttony, to mention a few. Hostility must be controlled. If it cannot be controlled by the individual then other individuals must be given the duty to control it in a civilized society. They have been known as Centurions, soldiers, and police officers.

Meadville in the 1970's :: Racial background

2008-10-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

By 1974 Meadville had seen a lot of progress. A new city hall had been built, and with it a new police station and lockup. A new arterial highway was built along French Creek that nearly cut the town in half. It was called the Meadville bypass, and it has lived up to it's name. Now traffic can go through Meadville without stopping - making their way to the shopping plazas and malls across the creek in Vernon Township.

The by-pass also did another service to the city. It took out old, poor, rough, ethnic neighborhoods with mom and pop grocery stores, churches, taverns, small businesses and a deep sense of community and tradition. It spread the residents to various other parts of the city, where some could afford to live, and for those who couldn't afford to buy homes or rent apartments, the government built several projects for these folks to move into. Again, from a cop's point of view this was like scratching poison ivy. If you can put up with the itch in a small area and keep it contained it is a lot easier to deal with than if you scratch open the blister and spread it all over your arm, or leg, (or more sensitive parts of the body.) Housing projects all across the country have traditionally become a police nightmare, full of crime, violence, drugs, sexual assaults, and a breeding ground for juvenile delinquents. (at least that's what we used to call them. Now they are simply victims of their socio-economic environment and the community is to blame for causing the problem.).

Meadville has a small black population, about 12% I have heard it estimated. Many of these folks came from the south: Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia during the period during and after WWII when factories and the railroad were geared up for heavy production and transportation. Again, they were mostly honest, hard working, Godly people who provided a great resource and service to the community.

When the war was over, and peace broke out, people whose eyes were focused on Europe and the Pacific began to focus closer to home, and they realized who they were working with and living next to, and the color-blindness went away. Prejudice works both ways; it is a way of putting blame for your problems on somebody who is a different color than you.

By the 1970's the racial violence and unrest that had been plaguing the bigger cities had reached clear down to Meadville. The first couple of instances were ignited when a black man who was arrested and held for drunkenness hung himself in his cell at the police station. To the radical thinking of the times, this was seen by some as a lynching by the police department. It doesn't take much of a spark to ignite a big fire if there is enough dry grass and gasoline available. Groups of young people began to take to the streets and protest. It doesn't take long for a mob mentality to assert itself over individuals of normally good common sense. It doesn't take long after the first brick is thrown, or the first fire is set that common sense and reason are overcome by animal instincts, and the sin that we constantly struggle to keep under control gets loose and begins to harvest the crop that had been sown and watered for so many years in silent acceptance of bias and prejudice.

After the fires went out and cooler heads prevailed, the pot was set to simmer on the back of the stove until the next incident. One evening in the middle of town, at Diamond Park there was a classic meeting of two opposites. It wasn't just white vs black, but it was a white Motorcycle gang and a few outspoken proud black youth. The end result of this meeting was that a rifle was discharged by a member of the white motorcycle gang and the bullet entered a car occupied by proud black youth, and entered the head of a 14 year old boy and ended his proud young life. Even though the police acted quickly and the gang members responsible were arrested and tried, the police department bore the brunt of the backlash from the black community. Demonstrations, and protests (not quite all-out riots) were keeping the state and local police busy 24 hours a day, just to prevent windows from being broken, fires from being set, and cars from being randomly damaged. In December 1973 the local Elks club sponsored their annual basketball tournament at Meadville High School. The Meadville police were on hand to provide security as usual. There was tension in the gym not so much generated by the competition, but by the animosity between black and white fans who had come to watch the game. The tournament ended abruptly as did the general peace when several fights broke out between white and black students, parents, fans and innocent bystanders. The police did what they could to stop the fights and arrest the troublemakers, but of course no one was happy with the result. The sentiment in the black community was that the (mostly white) police department unfairly arrested and persecuted the blacks, while the white community blamed the police department for not doing enough to stop the violence from getting out of hand. Police officers usually find themselves in the middle of controversy for just trying to do the best job they can.

Long after George Washington had passed through hostile French territory, and David Mead built his first cabin along the creek, and fortified the community against the hostile western tribes, and Col. Crawford was burned at the stake by hostile Delaware Indians, I was hired by Meadville police department as a patrolman in July of 1974 to try to keep hostility under control.

(read Meadville, a Short History to understand the background here.)

A Police Officer's View of Meadville

2008-10-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

From a police officer's view, derived from the people he interacts with and deals with, we conclude that 40% of the population of Meadville seems to be old, retired and on fixed income who fuss and complain that they can't find any place to park, can't find their cars after they do park, and can't afford to pay any higher taxes to support a modern police department. It seems that there is another 40% of the population who are young, unemployed single mothers with their kids and unemployed boyfriends who live together, but never get along with each other. And this leaves 20% - the minority of the population of blue collar people who still have jobs, pay taxes, don't complain, and are working to make ends meet and to support the police department and the rest of the population. I know that the real demographics of Meadville are much different than this, but a police officer's truth is the reality he perceives.

Meadville is home to Allegheny college, a private liberal arts Methodist affiliated college which touts itself as the oldest college still existing under the same name west of the Allegheny mountains.

Meadville has seen prosperity come and go, and most recently it has been going.
One of the more striking things about Meadville is the large number of churches that can be found there, churches of all sizes, shapes, denominations. Meadville was once even home to the Unitarian Theological Seminary. I don't know what they taught there, but by the looks of Unitarian belief, they teach a whole lot, but they don't believe any of it.

Another striking thing along with the number of churches is the number of bars and taverns, of all sizes, shapes, and denominations. It is literally possible to stagger out the door of a saloon and into the door of a church. (and vice versa).

Meadville, Pennsylvania: A short history

2008-10-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

Let me begin this book like Jack Webb began each episode of Dragnet. This is the city, Meadville, Pennsylvania. Home to about 14,000 citizens and growing smaller each year. Most of the people here are good folks, hard working, honest, but some try to make a living by ignoring the law and trying the patience of their good neighbors. That's where I come in, I carry a badge, or at least I used to carry a badge.
On the map, northwest Pa. seems as though it would be a modern, thriving center of transportation and industry, located roughly a hundred miles from Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Buffalo, but in the past 30 years progress has bypassed the city and sidestepped Crawford county. Meadville is known as the birthplace of the zipper thanks to Col. Lewis Walker the inventor of the hookless fastener and the Talon mfg plant which used to be the worlds #1 zipper maker. Meadville is also the home of Channellock tools, Dad's Dog Food, and Sharon Stone. Meadville is a nice friendly place to grow up and raise children, but when the children graduate from high school and college, they move away and seldom come back. Opportunities to be rich and successful do not abound here, just the opportunity to grow up innocent and naive.
In 1753, George Washington made his way through Meadville (not then in existence) on his way up French Creek to Fort LeBouf to tell the French to get out of the Penna. frontier, which was part of the disagreement which eventually escalated into the French and Indian war.
Meadville is on the southern boundary of the snow belt. In 1789 a sturdy pioneer named David Mead and some of his relatives came from Eastern Pa, settled on French Creek near the confluence of Cussewago creek and built a cabin or two, and started a settlement known as Cussewago, later to be re-named Meadville. It is my belief that the settlers of northwest Pa. came in late May or early June and thought "what a beautiful place to live." They put their crops in and built their cabins and then by the time January, February and March arrived they had too much invested to leave, they had already eaten their horses, and at any rate the lake effect snow was too deep to go anywhere. Indians of the six nation confederacy used this area of Pa as hunting grounds and they were more or less peaceful. The only Indians living here when David Mead arrived was a displaced Mohawk named Stripe-Neck, and his family. The Meads and the Stripe-Necks lived together peacefully, but the real Indian trouble came when some of the western tribes from the Ohio-Michigan area moved in to cause trouble. (Ironically, even today trouble comes to Meadville in the form of gang members and drug dealers from Youngstown, Cleveland and Detroit.)
Meadville became the county seat of Crawford county. Crawford county was named after Col. William Crawford, a famous Indian fighter who chased the trouble-making western Indians out of the area so German farmers could move in and start farming. Col. Crawford was eventually chased down himself and captured by the Delaware Indians near Sandusky, Ohio where he was severely tortured, skinned alive, and burned at the stake, the whole process taking about 3 days before he finally succumbed. Col Crawford really never lived in Crawford county, and he didn't die here either, and we in Crawford county are thankful for that. We can also thank Col. Crawford because he chased the Indians far enough away that today the nearest reservation Casino is about 70 miles from here.

This book is Dedicated to :

2008-10-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Dedication: Rose and kids.

For my wife Rose, and my kids Jessica and Mark who put up with all the things I unintentionally brought home from work.

Forward :: Why I write this book

2008-10-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

This book will not be filled with shoot-outs, drug deals gone bad, or hair-raising car chases. It won't be filled with popular theology and religious platitudes either. I hope you will find it filled with the experiences and thoughts of normal people who were sometimes unexpectedly put in abnormal circumstances.
True life is something that happens to us when we don=t go out looking for it. We might not even recognize it when we see it. It comes at us unexpectedly and sometimes furiously. It comes along like a strong wind that blows off your hat before you have time to grab it, and then you have to chase it down the street and capture it without dignity or finesse and then gracefully put it back on your head hoping nobody saw you. I hope the reader will find that the more he reads, the more he will be able to see the humor in everyday life. There are already too many serious books about law enforcement and religion, but when you mix the two together it becomes apparent that life is not as grim as we think, and God's sense of humor is one of His great attributes that theologians never talk about.
To a person with a sense of humor, funny things happen all the time. You can't be a policeman without one. It is as much a part of the equipment as the badge, gun, and handcuffs. I have discovered that a pastor needs to have one too. There are too many good opportunities to laugh at ourselves instead of pretending to be religiously offended.
Many people have told me, "You ought to write a book, about all the funny or strange experiences you've had." I probably should have taken a lot of notes because they didn't seem funny or strange, or book-worthy at the time. But people always want to hear a good story, and seem to enjoy them, so here is the book. I know that there other people out there with stories much funnier and much more book worthy than mine, so..........write your own book