Great Wall of Popat e-bog

At a time when most women my age are planning for retirement and maybetaking up hobbies that are a little less aggressive, I decided to go into lawenforcement. Okay . . . . so doing what is expected of me is not my patternof life. I enjoy adventures and the more impossible that they seem, the harder I willtackle them. Basically, it boiled down to the fact that years before, I had missedmy window of opportunity to join the military. I had been a military brat and sojoining the service would have been my wish but I had been a young mother andhad to start work at a young age. I would never change the life I had with my fourwonderful children. However now I was 42 years old and they were all grown up. Ihad just found out, through a turn of events, that there was no age limit for joiningthe police department. As long as one could keep up with the physical and academicrequirements, then they were welcome to join. Additionally, I had felt that I was living on borrowed time since I was 15 yearsold when Id come as close to facing the vulnerability of being human as one can dowithout passing over to the non-living side. Soon after surviving, I had to face myown decision of moving on or finishing myself off. I made a choice and it was to liveand to be happy. I wanted my days to count. I wanted to serve others who had gonethrough similar experiences. I wanted to lead a life with my head up. At the time that I applied for the academy, I was a special education teacherworking with young adults who had aggressive and severe disabilities. I was runningan after school Gay, Straight Alliance diversity club and was a mentor to manystudents. I had devoted all my life to children and youth. I had been a troubled childfor a variety of reasons. I knew the pains that could come with childhoodmanypains to which children should never have to be exposed. I had always felt that Ihad to give back and try to be there for kids and others who could not speak up forthemselves. Doing this was a priority to me. In addition to my full time teaching job with my school district, I wasvolunteering in a couple of capacities with the local Police department. I had firstbecome a Victim Services Volunteer with them. Victim Services Volunteers are calledat any time of day or night to go out and provide assistance to those who have beenpa g e | 14Me l i s a Me lvictimized in some way. I never knew to what kind of call I would be going. It couldbe anything from a family member who had woken up to find their loved one haddied during the night, a parent whose young adult child had overdosed on drugs, or afamily whose home had burnt down. Regardless of the situation, the victim or victimsneeded support and resources. As a supplement to our 32 hour training, it was suggested that we do ride-alongs. I had never heard of a ride-along. A ride-along is literally when you ride along withan officer to get a taste of what it is like to be out on patrol. You have to sign a waiverindicating that you understand that there is a certain amount of danger involved butthat you do not hold the police department responsible. For a mix of reasons, I was rather nervous about riding along in a police car with anofficer. What made me most uncomfortable was the thought that I would have to sit inclose proximity with a stranger. I did not even know if we could talk as I did not knowif it was allowed. I feared it might distract the officers from their duties. Ever so muchinto training and wanting to learn all that I could about my new position, I scheduled aride-along. I figured that just like with everything else in life, I would get the hang of itonce I was there. I am very straightforward and like things to be clearly understood. Iwould have no problem simply asking the officer what was and was not ok. The officer with whom I was assigned to ride-along with was Officer Gabriel. Istarted out our ride-a