Thank you officer, don't let me down.
From Jean Sheridan
Afton
In the '60x you could get anything you want at "Alice's Restaurant." I've just recently discovered that today you can get anything you want at Wal-Mart. I know that for a fact because I got answers to those questions I recently posed in this forum right there at the check-out counter in aisle five. I couldn't believe it.
I never expect to find answers to the questions that plague me and about which I publicly rant on a somewhat regular basis, but here they were — straightforward, believable, verifiable and logical answers right out of the mouth of a Creston police officer. An officer who ended his explanation by saying that, "If you had questions, all you had to do was ask."
In that response was the unarguable implication that perhaps I could have called the department and asked all those questions about bond limits, my perception that there had been an unequal application of the law, and my suspicions in general about the police response to domestic abuse calls, and I wouldn't have had to put those questions out there in such a public forum. He was right, of course, I could have called and an officer, or the police chief or even the magistrate himself might have answered my questions, and I might have been satisfied and gone back to minding my own business down here in Sand Creek Township. (Well, that last part probably wouldn't have happened, but we can move forward on the assumption that it might have.)
I would have had my answers, but those answers wouldn't have spoken to the larger questions, the ones that are on the minds of almost everyone in Union County, the ones that no one dares to ask and no one knows how to answer — Where do we as citizens stand with our police force now and how do we get back to where we learn to trust again?
You went a long way toward answering those larger questions for me right there in aisle five. As a Creston police officer you will have to answer those questions over-and-over again for a very long time with every call and with every response, with everything you say and everything you do, both on and off duty. You know that, but also know this, if you are an example of those who will lead the way for us to re-establish confidence and faith, we are in good hands and we can come back. We will heal.
Thank you, Officer. Don't let me down.
