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When the Lord was creating police
officers, he was into his sixth day of overtime, an angel appeared and
said,
"You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."
And the Lord said,
"Have you read the spec on this order? A police officer has to be able to
run five miles through alleys in the dark, scale walls, enter homes the
health inspector wouldn't touch, and not wrinkle his uniform."
"He has to be able to sit in an undercover car all day on a stakeout,
cover a homicide scene that night, canvass the neighborhood for witnesses,
and testify in court the next day. "
"He has to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black
coffee and half-eaten meals. And he has to have six pairs of hands."
The angel shook his head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands... no way."
"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord, "it's
the three pairs of eyes an officer has to have."
"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.
The Lord nodded.
"One pair that sees through a bulge in a pocket before he asks, "What's in
there, sir?" When he already knows and wishes he'd taken that accounting
job."
"Another pair here in the side of his head for his partner's safety. And
another pair of eyes here in front that can look reassuringly at a
bleeding victim and say, 'You'll be all right ma'am, when he knows it
isn't so."
"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "Rest now, and work on this
tomorrow."
"I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model. This model can talk a
250 pound drunk into a patrol car without incident and feed a family of
five on a civil service paycheck."
The angel circled the model of the police officer very slowly, "Can it
think?" he asked.
"You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the elements of a hundred
crimes. It can recite Miranda warnings in its sleep, detain, investigate,
search, and arrest a gang member on the street in less time than it takes
five learned judges to debate the legality of the stop... and still it
keeps its sense of humor."
"This officer also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with crime
scenes painted in hell.... coax a confession from a child abuser...
comfort a murder victim's family... and then read in the daily paper how
law enforcement isn't sensitive to the rights of criminal suspects."
Finally, the angel bent over and ran his finger across the cheek of the
police officer.
"There's a leak," he pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put
too much into this model."
"That's not a leak," said the lord, "it's a tear."
"What's the tear for?" asked the angel.
"It's for bottled-up emotions... for fallen comrades... for commitment to
that funny piece of cloth called the American flag... and mostly for
justice."
"You're a genius," said the angel.
The Lord looked somber and said... "I didn't put it there..."
Author Unknown
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