It Was the Best of Days! It Was the Worst of Days!: An Honest, Raw and Real Account of Policing. Welcome to a Normal Day in the Life of a Police Officer!

By Dee Simpson

It Was the Best of Days, It Was the Worst of Days is a compilation of short stories by 13 past and present Police Officers. This is followed by Dee's own life experiences of having Police deliver the tragic news of her father and brother dying in two separate traffic crashes 82 days apart when she was a child, and her own career ending due to a life-altering experience. It delves into the depths of describing a good day on the job and a bad day on the job, and how each one dealt with the highs and lows of being a Police Officer. This gripping reading will draw you into the lives of these Police Officer's and that of their families and take you on a journey as to how the job has affected them and where they are today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Mar 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228874492

Dee Simpson

Dee Simpson was born and raised in the Wheatbelt town of Moora, Western Australia. Her passion to protect and help the community saw her join the Western Australian Police Force in 2005, where she served almost 14 years reaching the level of Senior Constable. Dee is now wanting to share her experiences and those of past and present Police Officers through her first-of-a-kind book. Here Dee explains what it is really like to be a Police Officer, and the trials and tribulations experienced in their professional and personal lives.

Book preview

It Was the Best of Days!

It Was the Worst of Days!

An Honest, Raw and Real Account of Policing

Welcome to a Normal Day in the Life of a Police Officer!

By

Dee Simpson

It Was the Best of Days! It Was the Worst of Days!

Copyright © 2022 by Dee Simpson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-7448-5 (Hardcover)

978-0-2288-7447-8 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-7449-2 (eBook)

Warning: The content of this book contains graphic material that may cause distress in some readers. Topics include violence, suicide, sudden death, and car accidents. It is my goal to protect the privacy of everyone mentioned within.

Contents

A DAY IN THE LIFE

A BRIEF WORD ABOUT THESE STORIES

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 - JAY’S STORY

CHAPTER 2 - JASON’S STORY

CHAPTER 3 - JOE’S STORY

CHAPTER 4 - ROSS’S STORY

CHAPTER 5 - KELLY’S STORY

CHAPTER 6 - DANNY’S STORY

CHAPTER 7 - BRETT’S STORY

CHAPTER 8 - LAUREN’S STORY

CHAPTER 9 - RICHO’S STORY

CHAPTER 10 - BENNY’S STORY

CHAPTER 11 - LIZZY’S STORY

CHAPTER 12 - JACK’S STORY

CHAPTER 13 - HARRY’S STORY

CHAPTER 14 - MY STORY

CHAPTER 15 - MY CHILDREN’S PERSPECTIVE

POLICING AND THE 2020 WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC —COVID 19

REFERENCES

A DAY IN THE LIFE

I knocked on the front door as I slipped the blue protective gloves on my hands, but all was quiet. I waited only a short time as the call from St John Ambulance sounded serious, ‘one Caucasian male stabbing himself.’ That sounded serious to me.

I knocked again, slightly louder, but there was no response. I noticed a very thin strip of clear glass surrounding the frosted glass pane to the side of the door, so I peered through to see what could only be described as a murder scene in a horror movie. A male was lying on his kitchen floor, stabbing himself in his head.

OH MY GOD, I said in shock as I immediately reached for the handle hoping the door would be unlocked. It was. Oh, thank you, Jesus! I completely forgot about my partner, I had tunnel vision, and my main focus was to stop this man from killing himself. I rushed to the man’s side and stood near his right shoulder, making sure I kept a safe distance until I had thoroughly assessed my surroundings to protect my own life. It was a small unit, so it took seconds to establish the only thing that had the potential to harm me was the 30-centimetre kitchen knife the male had been stabbing himself with.

It was a sickening sight, watching someone drive a sharp knife into their skull. The tip of the knife hit the bone with a sudden thud again and again, and I knew it was up to me to stop him from further self-harming. I directed him in a gentle but commanding voice to put the knife down and told him, I’m here to help. To my amazement, he placed the knife down beside him on the floor. He still had a grip on the handle, so I directed him once again, let go of the knife; everything is going to be okay, and the second he released his grip, I stepped forward and kicked the knife away. The bloodied knife slid across the clean white tiled floor, leaving a smear of blood in its wake.

Thankfully, I had already gloved up, and I didn’t have to waste any time trying to fumble for a pair now while my adrenaline was rushing through my veins, causing me to shake. I reached for the man’s right arm, fully aware he had sliced open the length of his forearm from his wrist almost to his inner elbow. I placed both hands around his gaping wounds, knowing I had no other options, and I dragged the man from his narrow kitchen into a larger area of floor in the living room, some three or so metres away. He was a very large man but somehow, I found a superhuman strength and got him to a place where the ambulance officers could work on him to save his life.

Both ambulance officers rushed in on cue and began working on the man to stabilize him. I held his arm down to prevent him from attacking the officers and did my best to talk to him and take his mind off what was happening. Trying to engage the male, I asked him why he had hurt himself, and his response was, God made me do it. I felt instant compassion for him, and a short time later, he told me he had been trying to call the hospital, asking them for help, and when they continued to turn him away, he thought, I’ll show them. So, he had decided to stab himself. I looked at the phone on his kitchen table, and it was covered in blood, so I knew he was stabbing himself while on the phone to the hospital.

The man had made a mess of his body; there were stab wounds everywhere. He had stabbed himself multiple times in his abdomen, and there were handfuls of his intestines coming out. There were wounds all over his legs, and I could see the sinew, muscles and tendons in his forearm, which repulsed me and amazed me at the same time.

While the ambulance officers were working on him, a big blood bubble started to form from his chest, and they responded quickly, knowing he had penetrated his lungs and things were getting more serious. After what seemed like forever, the man was stabilised enough to be transported to hospital where it was later discovered he had also stabbed himself in his heart. I could not imagine driving a massive knife into my own body, piercing internal organs, muscle and flesh, and withdrawing the knife only to drive it in in another part of my body over and over again—what a desperate, harrowing thing to do. The poor man must have been so very numb to the world and in a deep world of hurt to want to be so violent to himself.

After they had left for the hospital and everything was quiet, and it was just me and my partner left in the unit, the overpowering smell of heavy metal hit me suddenly, making me want to vomit. It was the man’s blood, and it was everywhere. What started as a pristine, pure white kitchen was now a horror scene with every possible surface covered in thick, red blood. I photographed the scene in the likely event the man died. To my amazement, he miraculously survived. It was amazing how anyone could survive that amount of blood loss, but he did.

After finishing the investigation of photographing and collecting the knife and any possible evidence that may be needed in the future, I could not wait to get out of there. I felt a sudden wave of exhaustion and nausea and the overpowering smell of blood, and the horrific sight became too much. I took my bloodied gloves off and closed the door behind me, feeling for the person who would have to clean this mess up.

As I did my grocery shopping at the end of my shift, I walked around the shop in a daze. How could anybody around me even begin to understand what I had witnessed, smelt, touched that day? The metallic smell of spilt blood still permeating in my nostrils, the sight of red, raw flesh still etched into my eyes. They just wouldn’t, couldn’t understand, but that is, unbeknown to the average citizen, just an average day of a police officer.

A BRIEF WORD ABOUT THESE STORIES

These stories are not exactly the best or the worst day for any of these officers. They are examples of a day in the life and career of a police officer. Many of the officers I spoke to found it hard to remember the ‘feel good’ stories. Unfortunately, in many cases, these days are few and far between, and for some reason, we humans seem to find it easy to remember the bad times. Although the general trend was the bad stories, all seemed to blend into each other, and they still found it hard to recall any one story in particular. Some officers needed time to recall their stories. Some found it extremely hard digging into the depths of their memory banks. It was a place they preferred not to revisit, but they made the effort to do so for my book.

For all of you that helped me and willingly gave me your stories to write my book, I thank you! I have so much admiration and appreciation for each and every one of you, and I am so glad to have worked alongside you all during my nearly fourteen-year career in the Western Australia Police Force (03/2005-11/2018).

Forgive me if I sometimes say ‘we’ instead of ‘they.’ Once a cop, always a cop! It is a hard profession just to turn off from, even if you retire or resign. You will never entirely trust anyone as you used to when life was so innocent. You will never quite get used to feeling comfortable sitting in the middle of a busy restaurant instead of in the safety of the corner with your back towards the wall. And you just can’t stop looking out for that dodgy-looking character in the supermarket reaching for that expensive piece of steak, knowing full well he is planning on shoving it under his oversized jumper he is wearing even though it’s a thirty-eight-degree day. But I am not a police officer anymore, and it is not my problem. Easier said than done. Like I said, once a cop, always a cop.

I am an ex-police officer of the Western Australia Police Force (WAPOL), and I want to tell the story of what it is like for the girls and guys in blue on an average day. The names, exact locations and particular details have been changed due to the sensitive nature of some of their stories, but the stories and experiences are real. Of course, everyone’s perception can alter from one account to another, but this is normal. Each officer has their own unique story, and I am here to tell it. But first, let me explain a few things about the various challenges one must navigate as one enters the precarious world of policing.

The challenges of being a police officer are significant, and that is before they face the public. Walk with me for a moment.

INTRODUCTION

Firstly, there is the usual three-panel rostering system for the average frontline police officer consisting of nights, days and afternoons. And all within a three-week period with short changeovers thrown in for good measure. It is enough to challenge any bed-loving pillow-hugging person. To get from a night shift on a forty-hour week to a day shift the following week, you may be expected to do a short changeover. The Thursday to Saturday can be a 9:00 p.m to 7:00 a.m shift; the Sunday can be a 1:00 p.m to 11:00 p.m shift, followed by a 7:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m shift on Monday. Heaven forbid you should get overtime.

This constant change in shift patterns can wreak havoc on your body and mind, greatly affecting sleep. You might ask, where is the time for other things in your life such as family, friends, exercise, appointments, food shopping and healthy meal preparation, and general household chores? Well, sometimes there just isn’t time for that. And do not forget, you’ve just worked a weekend, again! So, most of your friends drop away as they get tired of asking you to join in on their regular social events. You know the ones I mean: birthdays, long weekends, New Year’s Eve, Christmas, the local fireworks, various towns’ and suburbs’ festivities, the ones you usually get rostered on to work.

Shift Work Sleep Disorder

Definition

Shift work sleep disorder consists of systems of insomnia or excessive sleepiness that occur as transient phenomena in relation to work schedules.

Symptoms

•Excessive sleepiness when you need to be awake, alert and productive

•Insomnia or the inability to sleep when you need to

•Sleep that feels unrefreshing or insufficient

•Difficulty concentrating

•Lack of energy

•Irritability or depression

•Difficulty with personal relationships

Sleep deprivation can have other impacts on the body, such as

•Prevents the body from strengthening the immune system and producing cytokines (a large group of proteins, peptides or glycoproteins that are secreted by specific cells of the immune system) to fight infection

•Increased risk of respiratory disease

•Can affect body weight. The levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin which control feelings of hunger and satiety or fullness can alter. Sleep deprivation also causes the release of insulin, which leads to increased fat storage and a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes

•Not sleeping enough increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The heart vessels heal and rebuild during sleep, and it also aids in processes that maintain blood pressure, sugar levels and inflammation control.

And Then There’s Adrenaline!

Adrenaline is very useful in anyone’s world and necessary to get your body into a ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ mode. Police officers are constantly being called on to rely on their adrenaline, especially in the ‘fight’ mode, as they are trained to respond to an incident, not retreat. After all, what officer will run and hide when they walk into a domestic situation to find the wife being beaten up by the drunk husband while the children are cowering in the corner?

The hypothalamus in your brain sends a signal to your adrenal glands, which release adrenalin and cortisol to increase your heart rate and blood pressure. This can go back to normal in short-term situations. However, most situations officers face are not a short-term fix, and when adrenaline and cortisol are constantly being released into your body, it can make you sick.

Some symptoms as a result of this are:

•Anxiety

•Depression

•Tension headaches

•Muscle spasm in the head, neck and shoulder area (it doesn’t help having to carry a loaded accoutrements belt strapped to your waist all shift)

•Weight gain or obesity (and you thought it was all those donuts and McDonald’s meals causing them to get fat)

•Digestive problems (greatly exasperated by all the meals rammed down one’s throat in record time before getting called to the next job)

•Heartburn (often aggravated by weight gain and all those meals rammed down one’s throat before getting called to the next job)

•Stomach ulcers

•Heart problems

•Sleep disturbances

•Poor concentration and memory (that was my excuse and I’m sticking to it!)

•Decreased libido and erectile dysfunction

•Low fertility

•Negative impact on one’s immune system

I have suffered many of these symptoms.

Despite these challenges, and believe me, I’m only just scratching the surface, the officer must still face the public.

Despite the absence of Workers’ Compensation (um, did I hear you right, you ask?!), and if PTSD, bullying amongst the ranks, cases of sexual harassment, fatigue, and stress from facing life and death situations that the average citizen would not be able to handle are not enough—then there’s the public.

Don’t get me wrong. Not all days are full of encounters with oversized green smelly ogres who want to attack the police and make their day miserable. There is the occasional kind citizen who stops an officer just to tell them they appreciate the hard work they do, and to thank them for their service. And yes, there is a good side to policing, too, such as the bond forged between colleagues and the camaraderie shared around the office. But that’s hardly going to give the public a sense of understanding and sympathy for all the hardships and challenges police face on a daily basis now, is it! And that is why I’m writing this book, after all.

To appeal to the average person’s heart and sympathetic nature so they can have a full appreciation and understanding of the various difficulties faced by police officers everywhere.

While an ordinary law-abiding citizen appreciates and respects the police and the uniform, to be honest, we don’t spend much time with those people of the community (oops). The good citizens are not out there committing road rage or stealing liquor from the liquor store as they throw a full bottle of alcohol at the head of the attendant. They are not pushing the elderly lady over as they run past, violently grabbing her handbag as they do or sticking a needle in their arm only to end up on the floor convulsing while frothing at the mouth, eyes rolling back in their head.

But then again, even the nicer members of society can’t help themselves at times.

Just about every copper lives on coffee. Call it our ‘legal’ drug of choice. It is the thing that keeps us going and what we look forward to each shift.

I remember walking out of a coffee shop once in between jobs taking a hard-earned five-minute break to use the toilet and grab a soul-reviving coffee, only to hear someone behind us say, Don’t you have better things to do than drink coffee all day? Seriously?? What do people think we are? Robots? I was beginning to think so!

As it turned out, halfway between the coffee shop and our fifty-metre or so walk to our patrol vehicle, we got a call over the transportable radio calling ‘URGENT!’ My partner and I ran towards our patrol vehicle even though we didn’t know what our URGENT job was. We flung open the doors, jumped in and slammed our coffees into the centre console as the directions for the job were being dispatched to us. Just as my partner threw the vehicle into reverse and swung the front of the vehicle around to face the direction we