DEC 2020 Blues Vol 36 No. 12 - 36TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

After effects are “The

After effects are “The AFTERMATH” The “action” of the event is always what everyone seems to remember and talk about. You know, the car chase, the shootout, the whatever it was. However rarely do we in Law Enforcement talk about what we went through, afterwards. For example, one Christmas Eve I was working for another Deputy so that he could spend it with his young family. I had no family at home at the time, so it seemed like a cool thing to do, right? Well, you’re about to see, not so much. The night was rolling along easy enough. Not a lot of calls for service and not a lot of traffic out to contend with. Then, as fate would have it, a Priority 1 call drops. “Family Disturbance, with a weapon. Male has a knife to the neck of his girlfriend.” Off we go. Oh wait. I was the only Deputy in that beat that night. The closest units would be several minutes away….Oh well, he’ll probably be GOA by the time I get there, anyways. As I exited my unit, the screams told me otherwise. He was still there. To speed this up a bit, this guy beats the fire out of me and a Houston PD Officer who also responded to the call. The complex was oddly enough, half in the City and half in the County. So, the residents always seemed to get some pretty good response times, from one or the other. Now this was pre-Taser and OC Spray days, so the SL-20, radio and anything else I could put my hands on was used in the fight. Same goes for the City Officer. Realizing this fella was twice our size combined, I think it’s safe to say we were both very happy to hear all the responding back up Officers and Deputies arriving. As the peak of broken equipment, blood, mud, beer and cops, we finally got the suspect in custody. I felt a numbness on my left side and couldn’t move my arm, hand or fingers. Someone stopped and looked at me and said, “You don’t look so good bro…You ok?” That’s about all I really remember for the next few moments. As it turned out, my shoulder WORDS BY REX EVANS had been ripped from its socket, tendons and all. My arm and shoulder were hanging down freely by about three inches or so. When I arrived at the Hospital, even the Doctor was like, “I’m not going to lie, this is gonna hurt…” You know you’ve done screwed up big time when even the Doctor is like “oh boy!” It was six weeks of home bound, workers comp, no extra job, no one really stopping by and only a phone call now and then from my fellow Deputies. My Sergeant at the time called me the most, and only to ask “So, when you coming back to work? I got people who need off!” Yep! That’s how that one went for me. The aftermath of an incident of any kind that is traumatic, or injury driven in nature, causes a wake on the still waters of life, I assure you. You find out quickly, the workers comp folks are not your friends. Repeat after me… Workers Comp people are not your friends! Good? Now just remember, If you get hurt on duty understand this, if you’re off for any length of time, it will be challenging and upsetting. You’ll find you’re more alone, like on some island, than you are surrounded by friends. In Law Enforcement, this has been some kind of weird anomaly. The Fire Service has always done better with Incident Command/Control and taking care of their own, than we have. That’s just a fact. We need to work harder, do better and for crying out loud, take better care of one another. Our profession has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. That’s right, the world. Why do you think that is? Exactly! Because we (Law Enforcement) get an “F” in taking care of each other. Somehow, someway we’ve lost the “Old School” ways of looking out for one another, helping one another and lifting one another up. We now see where its all for one and one for themselves and no-one else. Which is a terrible tragedy. We’re fighting multiple fronts in our effort to “Hold the Line”. If you ever studied history, multiple fronts usually don’t turn out so well for those who try it. Which brings me to the end of the whole “Aftermath” point. Just because you survive the initial event/incident, understand it can and in all likelihood will, remain a burden of sorts for you forevermore. Don’t fight it alone. Don’t. And if you’re standing there watching a fellow Officer go down in flames from the trauma of something, they are struggling with…SHAME ON YOU! We owe it to ourselves and one another to stand up for our fellow Officers and help lift them to their feet. Not to simply step over them and forget about them. You want to do something with your career in Law Enforcement? Like, seriously do something. Reach out and help a fellow cop who’s hurting. Who’s down and struggling. Hold the Line isn’t just some rallying cry when the heat is on…it’s what it takes after the fight when our sick, injured and hurting counterparts need us the most. If we fail each other here, how are we really helping each other anywhere else. The Aftermath of trauma HAS to be faced. It just has to. Have a unique story you’d like to share with the BLUES readers? Send it to: bluespdmag@ gmail.com. Please change all the names to protect the innocent and to avoid prosecution in the event that the statute of limitations hasn’t expired. 38 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 39