Forward

I find that while writing this the stories get less fun as the timeline progresses. Then I sat back to realize this job had gotten less fun too. The department evolved, making for much of this change but mostly as a person progresses through various levels of supervision, the fun slows down significantly. I’m definitely not the 24-year-old new cop full of “piss and vinegar” as the saying goes. I’m 57 and a police captain. (I just realized in July of 2026 my badge number and my age as a captain were the same.)

I remember the first time I thought I wanted to be a cop with NOPD, specifically. A man named Henry Schmitz had two kids at the after-school care job I held. He worked security at Baptist Hospital. He’d arrive in uniform to pick the kids up and soon he started showing up in an NOPD uniform. I got this itch right then. Man, how cool! I still see Henry at the FOP meetings. Brings it back every time I see him. Doubt he knows this, but I’ll tell him at the next meeting, in September of 2023. (I did end up telling him at that meeting. We ended up shooting the bird at each other because that’s what cops do. All in fun, of course.)

That was in the early 80’s. I never thought much of being a cop after that year. Then, being frustrated with the job I had, AND after seeing a few recent police movies, I started thinking about it again out of the blue.  Also, I had graduated with a Business Administration degree and learned about pensions.  Not many jobs offered one, but this did.  You can’t beat a pension.  No matter what you put in, it doesn’t run out of money for you until you run out of life.  Not so with a 401K.

Well, maybe when I was a little kid…

I was just reminded, as I am from time to time, what a great career I had.  Cops are from all walks of life, all socio-economic backgrounds, races, sexual preferences, body shapes, you name it, but nothing erases all of that like this job does. 

One of my great friends (who I met on the department) just told me a story about another of my great friends from work that was one of the funniest things I heard in a while.  The story isn’t important because without knowing the characters, well, the story just sucks.

But that’s the point, isn’t it?  We are all a certain kind of funny… a certain kind of person who uses humor to get through what we need to.  Many people outside this group may find our humor horribly unfunny.  “Guess you had to be there” usually follows a story told to a non-cop.

I find many things funny, and I laugh a lot, but few things make me laugh to the point of tears than some situations we either found ourselves in or deliberately put ourselves in, and the story that follows.  Nicknames are born from these stories that last a lifetime.   Most times the name remains long after the story is forgotten.

If you are part of us, consider yourself lucky.  Stick with it through the B.S. because in the end, you’ll only remember the people you love here.  We will be forever your brothers and sisters like a fraternity x10.  I can’t imagine the comparative boring life I would have had without my time as a cop.

If you switch to another department, a bigger one or maybe something slower paced, we are all the same.  I have met cops from the largest departments in the country and world and from some of the very smallest.  It’s a good club. 

Here’s to you all, my brothers and sisters in blue (or green or brown…)  Keep it real… real fun.