Officers are people, too

By Abigail Goldman

Monday, May 12, 2008 | 2 a.m.

So you’re sentenced to life in prison in the Nevada Department of Corrections. Your cellmate is a guy named Zeke who reeks. The guards caught you sneaking a spoon out of the cafeteria, so now they’re evil-eyeing you everywhere. You got in a fight with some freak in the yard, and now you’re locked down 23 hours a day, counting cockroaches like sheep before sleep.

Randy Sutton has you right where he wants you.

The Metro lieutenant just released his third book, a compilation of true stories about life on the police beat, written by officers across the country, and he wants you, prisoner, to read it. He wants you to see that police — you remember them, those people who put you behind bars — are human.

In fact, Sutton’s going to make sure you get your hands on his book. He convinced his publisher, St. Martin’s Press, to donate and divvy around 50 copies of “True Blue, To Protect and Serve” to prisons throughout Nevada.

So here’s your gag-bad joke for the day: Sutton wants a captive audience.

“Everyone could get a glimpse of what is behind the uniform, behind the badge,” he said. “The person that is taking you into custody, the person that is in a confrontation with you, is not just a machine.”

And if inmates counting down their release date realize there’s a person wearing those polished police boots, then maybe the next time they encounter an officer, they’ll be less likely to get violent, Sutton figures.

Besides, he said, “You’re incarcerated, what else are you doing during your day?”

Nevada inmates are only allowed 10 books at a time. According to Nevada Department of Corrections Administrative Code, these books cannot describe procedures for construction of weapons, describe procedures for brewing of alcohol, describe methods of escape from correctional facilities, contain prison blueprints, instruct or encourage the commission of gang and/or criminal activity, or be sexually explicit.

And don’t worry, Sutton’s book is none of these things, so it will be stocked in prison libraries.

But for if you’re an inmate who has better things to do than read, like lift weights or sharpen shivs, here’s a Cliff’s Notes version of the lessons you can learn from police officers turned true-life authors. Each token of insight is paired with a quote from the book, to illustrate the principal. Quizzes will not follow. Mindless hours behind bars will.

1. Cops make mistakes.

From a California police officer:

“Death is legally ‘pronounced’...and it’s best to make sure the person is totally dead before you ‘pronounce.’ Sometimes cops or firefighters jump the gun, and a person literally wakes up in the morgue.”

2. Cops carry a lot of grief.

From Randy Sutton, author:

“I had once tried to dissect this feeling and had decided, one long evening over a lot of beers, that a change happens in cops when one of their own is killed. It’s a grief without a name or a border, a pervasive sadness that sinks into your soul so deep it can never be exorcised.”

3. Cops don’t like their bosses, either.

From a Homeland Security agent:

“It was really a way for Jim and me to do what we liked best ... stay out of the office, stay away from our obnoxious boss, and have some fun while we locked up gangsters ...”

4. Cops can become addicts.

From a Missouri police officer:

“I used every type of substance I could think of to try and fill the hole that was in my soul...I drank until I thought was no longer possible. My life went on this way too long.”

5. Cops are like you and me.

From an Illinois police officer:

“There were about seven cliques of guys on our watch, each messing with the others. We had hunters, drinkers, lovers, bikers, boaters, skiers and dogs.”

6. Cops have a hard time opening up.

From a New Mexico police officer:

“Too often we can’t admit that something bothered us, got us down, made us helpless. We don’t want to be looked upon as soft by the other officers ...”

7. Cops admit they can be cranky.

From an Indiana police officer:

“I recommended that charges be filed against the bus driver. I admit it: I was angry and wanted someone held responsible.”

8. Cops can be clumsy, and accidentally firing a gun in your cruiser is a deafening mistake.

From a Reno police officer:

“From time to time, a shotgun would be replaced in the (car) rack with a shell still chambered, and someone would pull the trigger accidentally ... patrol cars where this had occurred could be identified by jagged holes in their roofs, missing or extremely disfigured light bars, and ... officers (inside the vehicles) who responded to any questions with ‘What?’ ”