Serve and Protect

Serve and protect, serve and protect. Uphold the law, for the good of law-abiding citizens. I wear my badge with pride. I wear my badge with honour. Protect and serve. That's what I signed up for. I stalk these streets, keeping the peace. Ensuring that the good people are safe from the riffraff that is becoming more of a problem with every day that passes.

Sex traffickers, drug pushers, pimps and ladies of the night. Gang warfare and the blight of the city, pickpockets. I know there's a lot of sympathy for the homeless and I try to share that sympathy. It's my job to serve and protect, keep the peace, clean the streets.

They are a nuisance, though and make the place look like an untidy, uncivilised refuse centre. I never beat them, but it's my job to move them along or to direct them to the nearest shelter. Let the state deal with them. I may not agree with the state and their funding choices, but what am I going to do? The liberals would not agree to a full-scale cull, would they?

Friday nights. That's when this city is at its worst. Especially when the sun goes down, the moon comes out. At around 10 pm. The freaks and demons come out to play and prey on anyone who dares to venture into the dark. The uniform and the badge, though, serves as a reminder for these folk to avoid me, unless they want to find themselves on the other end of the long arm of the law. So, I have no fear of danger, I am what danger fears.

I have worked hard to earn the respect of the vast majority of the people. I refuse to take bribes, though. If...however, someone offers me a gift for my services, I will accept. I'd never want them to feel disrespected by not being grateful for their thoughtfulness. It’s a different thing to a bribe though, as it’s not transactional. I will still continue to do my job, whether I am gifted something or not. If that makes you uneasy, you should consider what other police with less scruples do.

Many look at the uniform, the badge and just see all the negativity. Thanks to many bad decisions and many bad people being given a badge, a uniform and even a gun, the reputation of good, hardworking cops like me has been drenched in the muddiest pools of blood, sweat and junkie piss. Many criminals see me as the enemy. They see the badge, the uniform, my nightstick and gun and think, enemy.

When really, I just want there to be order. The world, the sick sad and diseased world we live in, needs order and justice to be meted out more effectively. Those criminals that align with me, enjoy healthy business.

Serve and protect, serve and protect. That's my mantra. The woman I am walking behind, following, is safer with an upstanding man of the law, with the uniform and badge, behind her. I've got her back, though she will never know it. The fact that she's turned down onto Hanover Street, tells me everything I need to know. I need to follow her. Stealthily. I don't want to unnerve her.

Does she not know that Hanover Street was the scene of a recent spate of murders? All women, all on their own. Nothing good can ever come of a woman walking down there at night, not one as pretty and slight as her.

She'll be fine. This is what I signed up for. I'll make sure she is safe and secure...that no-one else can hurt her.

Ever again.