A long term member asked me via PM and I thought it might be a good idea for a thread just to get some positive stories out there. Consider this another "roll call stories" thread but specifically for positive Christmas related stories. I can think of a funny one, but it's not really in line with the goal so I'll sit on it (and I think I already posted it in roll call stories anyway).
Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.
I have one Christmas-time story that is the antithesis of "uplifting". But I'll avoid that and focus on one that seemed to impact a stranger in a positive way. Going back a few years to my old agency. I was a new patrol officer working a graves shift around Christmas time...as is expected for the new guys. This particular Christmas graves shift was snowy. I mean howling wind and snow. One of those nights where there isn't a single in-progress call. Dispatchers are code 4 checking guys just to make sure someone's still awake. And I'm just cruising around town looking for ANYTHING to get into. Finally I decide to park across from one of the sh*tty gas stations and wait for the inevitable DUI to show up.Originally Posted by BehindBlueI's
While I'm waiting, I see a black female transient walking the sidewalk. I immediately recognize her as one of our "regulars". Mental health issues. Transient issues. Every cop who's dealt with her actively tries to avoid catching her calls. You LEOs know what I'm talking about. But it's practically a blizzard out and she's clad in sweatpants and a hoodie, so I can't ignore her. She'll be dead and frozen by morning. Our city had no homeless shelter. We had a "no camping" ordinance. It's a bad town to be homeless in during winter time.
I pull up, get out and ask her why she's out in the snow. Stupid question, I know she doesn't have a rational answer. I ask when she last ate anything. She says not since yesterday. Her demeanor is totally calm and matter-of-fact. No concern for the fact that she'll probably be dead by morning if she stays out there in the elements. I don't want that on my conscience, so I tell her to get into my patrol car and I drive her to the only place in town that is still open and warm...Mickey D's. I take her inside and up to the cash register. I knew she'd probably been trespassed from this location several times. I could see the employees cringe when she walked in.
But I knew she couldn't be refused if she was a paying customer. So I took her to the register and asked her what she wanted. She looked at me like I was crazy. I told her to just order and I'd take care of it today. She proceeded to order something modest and she sat peacefully in a corner of the warm restaurant. I paid for it...big deal it was like 7 or 8 bucks. But what sticks with me to this day is the reaction of the cashier.
This 18-20 year old girl working the register broke down in tears. I didn't understand at first, because in my mind I just spent a trivial amount to give this woman somewhere to stay for the night. But this young kid working the register was visibly moved by a common sense gesture of simple human kindness. That's the world we live in now...where our youth are genuinely surprised to see peace officers doing something positive. I don't claim to have all the answers (or any answers for that matter), but I'd ask my colleagues to seize upon any opportunity to be a good human being.
Well its Christmas time in the year 2020 and I didn't get fired, indicted, go viral or become case law so I think thats pretty uplifting. We'll see how next year goes.
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Understand the risks and benefits of that kind-hearted type of policing, but I agree. Good for you, Andre.
I worked four hours on Xmas morning so a guy who had a troop of young kids could be at home with them.Do you have an uplifting police related Christmas story?
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
Our LT is working Christmas so a sergeant with kids can take it off. I told him I would since my kid is old enough it's no big deal any longer, second shift means "Christmas morning" is done and over with anyway, and we aren't traveling this year but he said I always work Thanksgiving so he's got it.
Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.
Do these need to be things that personally happened, or can news stories be included as well?
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Given the spirit of the thread, media accounts are ok.
Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.
I posted this story a few years ago, but it's one of my favorites:
Many years ago, when Guerrera and I were either newly-married, or soon-to-be-married, we were invited by my in-laws to drive with them to Florida for Christmas vacation. My in-laws owned a conversion van, so we all dive together in one vehicle, and I had made this trip before. This particular year, however, the old van decided to die, and one day before our departure, my father-in-law bought a new van. Needless to say, we spent a good chunk of the drive from Wisconsin to Florida just figuring out how all the bells and whistles in the van worked. About Indianapolis, however, we ran into a white-out condition snow storm. We were able to crawl our way through the snow by tail-gating a snow-plow/salt-spreader truck.
By the time we reached our Florida destination, it was night, and we had been driving for 24 hour straight. We were in the process of looking for our lodgings when a cop car turns on its lights and pulls us over. My FIL was driving and greets the deputy, thankful that (this time, at least) he wasn't speeding. The deputy shines his light on all of us inside of the van and informs my FIL that he was driving without his lights, and the officer could not read our license plate. FIL is clearly befuddled as his headlights are on. Cop says that, in that area, gang members would drive without lights and use their lights to signal each other.
FIL informs the deputy that we just purchased the van two days ago and we had driven down from Wisconsin. He figures out on the spot that he was driving with only the running lights and not the actual headlights, flips the lights on and smiles in a "See, all good!" kind of way. Cop's eyes narrow and he says that he was inclined to believe us as FIL had a Wisconsin driver's license, and the fact that the black van was completely covered in road-salt, which was practically unknown in Florida. Cop lets us go with a verbal warning to make sure we drive with our lights on.
The next day, it's Christmas day, and we have no where to go, and no food for Christmas dinner. Of course, just like in "A Christmas Story," the only place open is a Chinese buffet. Our family sits down to a Chinese Christmas lunch, and who should walk in but a bunch of deputies on their lunch break, including the one who pulled us over. Deputy sees us (as the restaurant is empty other then us and another sad-sack vacationing family), walks over to us, taps our table, nods, and says, "Now I *know* you're telling the truth."
Merry Christmas to all our brothers on the Thin Blue Line.
"The victor is not victorious if the vanquished does not consider himself so."
― Ennius
Over two decades ago, a rich little shitbird was evading us on a warrant for months. Until he decided to come home and see daddy on Christmas. It was before bodycams, so the announcement was, "Police with an arrest warrant demanding entry, HO HO HO!" His present was a bag lunch and orange suit. I won't be working Christmas this year and jail isn't accepting most bookings for warrants, due to Covid. Maybe next year. One can hope.
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