batmanwsc

OK, so, the big explanation that none of you actually care about. For some backstory, I've wanted to be a cop since I was about 7. My father was a call Fireman my whole life, all my uncles and older cousins growing up were call Firefighters. I thought Firemen were the end all-be all, coolest guys around for most of my earlier years. Then one summer the Fire Department and Police Department had a joint beach party and holy crap, these guys were cool. After that all the Christmas parties and what-not were Police and Fire and the more time I spent around these guys the more I knew I wanted to be a cop. When I was about 12 my father got hired as a Police Dispatcher so after school I'd walk across the street and hang out with him in the station and got to know all the cops in town who are now all like uncles and brothers to me.

When I was picking my college I found the one nearby with the best Criminal Justice program available (#2 in the country). So I'm in college and I'm just eating up these CJ courses, I can't get enough of this stuff. Now, one of my favorite older cousins started getting tattoos when I was maybe 10 and that's what got me into it and the summer between my freshman and sophomore years I got my first 3 tattoos and was hooked from there. Well, my senior year rolls around and about 2 weeks from graduation I just kind of zoned out in my Homicide class one day. I'm sitting there, and I look around the room at all my fellow CJ majors and I realize something...I hate 90% of them. It dawns on me that all these shitheads were the high school heroes, football team, big man on campus douchebags who you just know at the end of high school are thinking "Hmm, I love picking on people, but how can I keep doing it after high school? I know! I'll be a cop!." So I decided fuck this, if this is the future face of police work, count me out. I couldn't spend 8 hours in a cruiser withany of these assholes and not end up shooting them myself.

So I get out of college and start working where I am now and I'm steadily getting more and more tattoos and I know I'm not gonna be a cop anymore so I make the decision to get ink on my forearms. Bear in mind that to this day these tattoos are my favorites. Well, last winter two of the Lieutenants come to me and ask me if I'd be willing to work as a summer cop and I'm like "wow I can't believe these guys want me, this is awesome." They know I'm all inked up and what-not but they've had a string of really shitty summer cops and they're sick of it and they've knon me for years, they know I'm a good kid and that i went to school for this and they were all kind of baffled when I strayed away from it after all this time but they want to give me a shot. So, the problem is, I can't afford it. It would have been a serious pay-cut and I couldn't just leave my current job for a summer and come back, so I had to say no. So one of them says well if you can't do it would you at least be interested in us sponsoring you to go to the reserve academy in a month so you can work details and what-not. So I say sure, what the hell, why not.

I go to the academy and I love it. LOVE IT. I have to drive an hour away after work 3 days a week, sit in class for 3, 3 1/2 hours, then drive an hour back home and get maybe 6 hours sleep before work. And it was all day Saturday. But, I can't get enough. I can't wait to get out of work every day so I can go to class. I don't care if it's boring shit like DOT regulations or the good stuff like qualifying with your firearm or Defensive Tactics, I love this stuff. I'm eager to give up my Saturdays for this. The friends I made in the academy are now some of the closest friends I've got. I graduate and now all I can think about is being a cop again. In the meantime I've had a couple interviews for dispatch and patrolman but none of them pan out ad I'm starting to get pretty discouraged.

Then a job opens up for dispatch in my hometown a few months ago, the same department that I grew up in basically, and just before Christmas they tell me I've got the job. Now, the only thing is, as a stipulation for being hired, I have to wear long sleeve shirts at all times when I'm on duty. Now don't get me wrong, I love my tattoos, I'm not ashamed of them or have any regrets about them. But, this is what I've wanted to do my whole life. This is my shot to get in the door, and dispatch is the best way to slide into a patrolman's spot. So, I say hell yes, I'll wear a fucking beekeeper suit if you want me to. So, I realize I've probably written this novel for no reason because nobody cares. But seeing as what this site is all about, I could see some of you possibly seeing me as a sellout, agreeing to cover my ink for a job and all that. But this is what I want to do with my life, and if I have to make that sacrifice and cover my ink to do it, then I'll do it every time. So there it is. I doubt any of you care, but I just wanted everyone to know where I'm coming from and how much this means to me.