Belief

Why did I jump into the FOP with both feet? Well, I saw what the FOP stands for: the betterment of the lives of cops and their families. It offers assistance where needed, defense from all foes foreign and domestic, and improves society overall by making public safety officers more professional and cohesive. If any one of you ever called me at 2:00 AM (and some of you have) and needed help, I would not hesitate. This has been my work ethic since I first became an officer in this organization, and it won't change until I shake this mortal coil.

I wrote a column a few years ago, reflections on my first trip to Police Week in 2000. It was the evening of the last day, and everyone was pretty exhausted. I was helping Danni Rogers take her booth down (Brodin Studios always has a sales booth out there), when I sat on the curb to take a break. My wife sat down with me. On the other side of the curb, there was a guy wearing an FOP t-shirt. We struck up a conversation - he was a cop from Terre Haute, Indiana. We spoke for about 15 minutes, exchanging stories and laughing pretty hard. He said that he and his delegation had to drive home that night, so we stood up, shook hands and wished each other a good life.

As my wife and I headed back to our hotel, she looked at me and said: "you know, you have never seen that guy before, and you'll probably never talk to him again, but you two were carrying on like you were brothers". I just looked at her and said: "we are brothers".