when a cop cries...

One of the county officers was asked to accompany a neighboring county on a death notification here in our county. The officer called for an ambulance over the radio, and he sounded like he was crying, well, trying not to. Apparently the person did not take the news well. I can't imagine having to go to someone's door and tell them a loved one has died, and on Christmas yet.. .. what a sad day .... puts a damper on my Christmas spirit for sure.. and it makes me appreciate my family all the more. we also had a death earlier in the shift, 74 y/o male, just died, wife couldn't do CPR.... OK, I am officially bummed!!! Times like these makes me wish I worked at Wal Mart or something Brianna

leave it to Josh, one of my co-workers to make me laugh when I feel like crying. he just got a new cell phone (which are not allowed on deck, but I don't care, he isn't using it at all) and he downloaded some new rigtones, so he plays "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" kind of a sick joke, but still it made me laugh! I work with some good guys!! (some jerks too, but let's concentrate on the good guys) brianna

Yeah, that has to be one of the toughest parts of the job - death notifications....especially when someone reacts so emotionally so as to bring on their own need for medical attention. It's good that you have people in there to make you laugh. I am able to create my own ring tones and I like sharing them too. Cell phones aren't allowed in our comm center either but I never use my cell (even rare outside of work) so I just leave it on. Recently I added the theme to the Jetsons and Underdog. I miss Underdog....he's my hero! Dina

We have to have a warped sense of humor in our line of work or else everything we did, we would take to heart and it would drive us crazy. My husband, thankfully, understands why we make jokes about some of our calls, but his family and most of mine think I'm cruel or gross about joking about some of these things. I completely understand what you were going thru. We had 2 murders this past weekend. One on Christmas eve, and one on Christmas day. Neither have been solved yet. I was so depressed, and kept wondering what their families must be going thru. But one guy was shot in his car in the head and wrecked. When things finally calmed down, some of the officers were trying to make jokes and get everyone's mind off it. And they were making cracks like "he never knew what hit him" and stuff like that. I kept telling them they were "so wrong" for doing that, but I eventually ended up laughing with them in the end. Thank god for freedom of speech and these guys who crack us up in the worst of situations!! Sherri