To Serve and Protect

I have wanted to be a police officer

Since I was old enough

To run around the playground

Playing cops and robbers

First it was a K9 cop

Then a SWAT officer

And I finally settled on homicide detective

But the core reason was always the same

I want to make a difference

And with every single person

Who tells me

"A single person can't make a difference"

It becomes that much easier to do so

I just have to convince one person

In my career

That police officers are not violent racists

Like so many people today believe

I have to convince one person

In my career

That I am a protector

Not a monster out to get them

And I will have fulfilled my dream

If I arrest one abusive boyfriend

Or talk one person off of a ledge

Or pull over one drunk driver

I may not have made a difference to the whole world

But I will have made a difference in the world of that person

You see

So many of my friends are convinced that police officers

Are all bad apples

That we all go corrupt in the end

People who share those ideals

Are the ones who

Fuel the war on law enforcement

Planning ambushes

Throwing bricks at our squad cars

Throwing Molotov cocktails over our shields

Throwing hate and slander and body cam videos that are cropped just right to the media

The divide between blue and community

Has opened wide into a vast canyon

Filled with distrust and hate

From the very people

Who are protesting about being hated

Let me put it this way

A group of people think that another group of people

Are all bad

Based on the actions of a few

Now am I talking about racists

Or people who don't like cops?

And I'm not even a fan of the term

Blue Lives Matter

Because I know that there are people

Who use it in retaliation

To other movements

My job as a police officer

Is to believe that all lives matter

My job is to protect everyone

Because every single soul matters

But you know what they say

A few bad apples spoil the barrel

No

We are not all bound

By the blue wall of silence

If one of my coworkers

Makes a bad decision

I'm gonna call him out on it

I will not swear to be silent

I will swear to protect

And it's kinda hard to protect

When people on my side

Are clouded by bad judgement

And shitty attitudes

The blue wall will come down

Brick by brick

Until every single one of us

Are held accountable of our actions

Because corrupt peacekeepers

Are not peacekeepers at all

They are the ones who turn all of us

Into symbols of hate

Instead of symbols of hope

They are the ones

Who make people run away from sirens

Instead of running to them

But I will promise you one thing

You don't have to believe a word I say

You can blow everything I've said off

You can curse me

Hate me

Wish me dead

I will still be there when you call

I will put my life between yours and danger

And let me tell you this

You can hate us all you want

But we all know what three numbers

You're dialing when the devil

Kicks down your door

And we will come

We will serve and protect.