SPPD

Each cohort of the Saint Paul Police Department’s (SPPD) training academy designs their own t-shirt. This is the one from the academy Mark was in. I am proud of his participation in it. He worked long and hard to get there. 

He already had a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and several years of experience as a Child Protection Worker and had to start over where a high school graduate would start to become a police officer. There were several years of basic law enforcement skills training with no promise of employment. We were all excited when he subsequently was selected for the SPPD academy. The other students referred to him as the old man. But he stayed focused and he met his goal.

You may know that I did an earlier blog here about my Black Lives Matter t-shirt. The beauty of it all is that there is no contradiction. If you throw out the stereotypes of people who wear such shirts, the sentiments are very much in concert.

We also have a thin blue line sticker on the back window of our van. The police are indeed a thin blue line between us and total chaos. I love the SPPD and their current chief. The Saint Paul department is widely recognized as the best in the state, Minneapolis included.

When they were doing the background investigation to approve Mark’s hiring, a fellow came by to talk with Charlene and me. One of his questions was why we thought Mark wanted to be a police officer. I told him that Mark had always wanted to drive fast and make a lot of noise. There is more truth than joke in that explanation. But I did tell him the rest of the story. Mark wanted to be the friendly cop on the neighborhood beat that everyone knows and loves. The one who settles disagreements and makes peace. 

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9