With all the negative press regarding law enforcement officers, I’d like to share a note from 5 years ago when I gave shout of praise to one special officer my life.

The police officers I know have huge hearts, although those big hearts aren’t always visible to all. Mostly we see their tough exteriors not the soft and sweet interiors.

This special officer is my son who is a LEO in Colorado. At the time of this event he was a detective and part of his job is handling elder abuse cases. He had been sent some information on an elderly lady who officers met due to an arrest they made at her residence. When the officers were there they noticed the lady had a rotten floor in front of her doorway and passed this information to him wondering if someone could help her get it repaired.

He made some calls and got a donation from Home Depot and he went on his own time and made the needed repairs her stairs and her floor.

As he got to know the lady, he realized she had been living in this home in Colorado for 44 years and for the past four years without a furnace. 

So he made some calls and located a company to donate a furnace. Because she had no furnace, her pipes had frozen and she also had no water. He also located a company to donate that repair.

Her roof leaked, he found someone to fix her roof.

There were relatives (ne’er-do-wells) that had been taking advantage of her over the years and had left junk all over her house; he organize teams of volunteers to help clean it up.

Then he organized donations for new carpet and new appliances.

All this was done over a month’s time – he worked on his free time and his days off to help her.

We hear all to often about the “bad cops” (the less than one half of one percent). That means for every 5 bad cops there are 995 good ones, generous ones, caring ones… ones that go above and beyond to help the helpless, give a strength to the weak and elderly, and put their lives in the line of fire to protect strangers and members of their communities.

Law enforcement is a tough job. Everyone should walk their walk a few miles to fully understand the challenges and rewards.

PS: I did not get approval to tell his story. He’d never seek accolades on his own. I’m claiming Mother’s privilege.