Perspective of a peacemaker

In any business, you start at the bottom.  Sometimes you cannot rise from the bottom. Sometimes what’s going on where you are, though considered the bottom, is too much fun, so you stay a while. When I first got into police work, I was assigned the footposts, pounding a beat alone. It was there I learned about peacemaking.

I was attracted to that life because I liked wearing a uniform, and I thought pinning on a badge, carrying a gun, and driving fast cars was very cool. It is. But by starting at the bottom, I learned that to be a good law enforcer it is best that I first learn to be a good peacemaker. Walking a footpost alone I could decide what I wanted to be busy with.  I could spend my days fighting tough battles, or I could disrupt the evil doer’s activities without breaking a sweat.

One post I maned was a downtown bus terminal. Buses picking up and dropping off bus loads of passengers. At peak times there was a crush capacity of humanity in the station. Every imaginable character all at once. But in that sea of faces and figures the people I was interested in meeting boldly stood out.

I would be as noticed as possible by where I positioned myself, and I would make eye contact with the potential victims: young women looking lost; before the predators: way older guys ready to help a damsel in distress, could whisk her away before she knew it. Those guys were obvious, they would be poised beforehand. I would make contact whenever I saw them and then ask endless questions to either unsettle them or make them want to leave.

Pickpockets and con men. The pickpockets and con men I encountered were not at all skillful, just aggressive and intimidating. A would confront B, a stranger, with some quick story about helping him pay some debt, and please give him a few bucks, now, he really needs it. Shocked and intimidated, the victim usually gave in. When I spotted one of those guys casing a mark, I would approach them from behind and say “I’ve been looking for you, show me some ID.” I would do that from several feet away, also giving them a clear escape route, so I wouldn’t be ploughed over when they ran.

I saw a woman approach an older fellow, get all friendly and touchy with him, then reach in his pants pocket and run off with his loose cash. She quickly melted into the crowd. The guy did not want to make a report, and I didn’t press him. I did warn him to not linger in some areas, or some raptor may swoop down.

I was supposed to shoo away loiterers. But if someone had been sitting alone for a while, minding their own business, I wouldn’t disturb their peace. I noticed a young girl watching me from across the room one afternoon. I made eye contact and gave her a respectful nod. She approached me and told me she didn’t want to go home. I connected her to the appropriate services.

Pounding a beat is considered the entry level in policing.  It is, but it’s also not the low end of peacemaking. Some officers make a career on the foot posts, because of the potential for being peacemakers in the immediate every day. Isn’t being able to be a peacemaker the high end of any endeavor?

Hat tip to Joseph Wambaugh and his novel The Blue Knight.