I'd like to propose a Wednesday meme, called "War Story Wednesday." All cops have "war stories." The public has them, too, regarding their own experiences with law enforcement.
One of my war stories won a "One Minute Writer" prompt of the day, regarding a police encounter. I'll use it to kick off "War Story Wednesday." An officer shared this experience with me when we had a moment to chat during one of the busiest tours of the year. It occurred in the late 1980s.
One Fourth of July, a fellow officer responded to a fireworks complaint - a resident said the guy next door was shooting off fireworks in his backyard. The officer found a man barbecuing in the buff. She asked him if he'd like to cover himself up. He said, "No." She explained the fireworks complaint, but he said, "Do you see any fireworks here?"
Before the officer turned to leave, she said, “Don’t burn your meat on the barbecue.”
I'm suggesting that others who would like to share a war story to join me on Wednesdays, by either posting on your own blog, or entering it in the comments section. I will update the post to include links. A story can be one you experienced, witnessed, heard from another cop, a legend, etc. These gems may be humorous, sad, uplifting, heartwarming ~ a spectrum of emotions.
Titles or no titles, short or long ~ let's share some great tales.
If you'd like to read some police war stories, check out:
Truecopstories.com (don't miss the Featured True Cop Story, "Big Fat Turkey")
Spread the word ~ on Facebook, Twitter, etc. My Twitter name is @katcop13.
I can never think of such good lines until well after prime time.
ReplyDeleteKathleen - What a wonderful idea! I would love to read some of those stories, even though I'm not in law enforcement. I think it would be terrific!
ReplyDeleteCharles,
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the truth? I'm not so quick with those great lines until after I've had time to think about it. I almost fell over when she told me. You would never expect this kind of remark from this somewhat shy officer. I told her she should have called me down to the scene ~ negative emergency, but to respond, just to get the look on my face ~ I told her I would have done it to her!
Margot,
I think most of the war stories would appeal to non-law enforcement folks as well. They certainly have their share of stories, too. I have so many, and so do my friends, so I figured this would give them a home. All cops have them ~ but just about every profession has them, too. It may take a while to catch on, but I'll be plugging away every Wednesday!
This is a great idea! I hope it takes off. I tried to attach an excerpt from my book, "Street Cop," but for some reason I couldn't get it to work. Here is the link where you can read a couple of chapters for free. http://www.amazon.com/Street-Cop-David-Spell/dp/1608996964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283382223&sr=8-1#_
ReplyDeleteHi David,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by ~ I do hope that it takes off, too. As you are already aware, there are an abundance of stories out there ~ and you've written a book full of them! Congrats on the book, that's wonderful. I've been following you on Twitter.
Congrats on your new blog, too. Now you can join me on Wednesdays by writing a short war story, and I will update my post to include your link so that readers can drop by.
Best wishes,
Kathy