Growing up in a major city, the image of Officer Friendly seemed to be nothing more than a tall tale in my neighborhood. More familiar was the image of my neighborhood friends getting into trouble and having their names entered into the “system.” Although I developed into a talented athlete, I was by far the least talented in my neighborhood. Everyone else seemed to run faster, throw harder, and shoot a ball better than I could, but everyone else also seemed to get into more trouble. These were my friends, but they were considered a menace to society. I recognized them to be caring and considerate guys, but local law enforcement recognized them to be criminals. I came to the conclusion that although they were indeed good-hearted guys, they made bad decisions. These bad decisions have followed them for the rest of their lives.
The only difference between those guys and me is that they wandered off of the narrow path, and I did not. Since they did not get the opportunity to have a positive impact on society, I serve for them. I represent the dream. I represent the dream that a person can rise above his or her surroundings if he or she chooses to work hard and focus on a goal. So today I serve as one of the good guys who always remembers the talented ones whose decisions were the only part of them that was bad.
Learn more about Martin Police Department at: http://www.martindps.org/Police/mpdpage.htm