Veteran cop: 'Time to bring us back as partners in the community'

I think people don't realize that police officers are no different from other members of society.

They have families, they go to the same supermarket, they go to the same church, their kids go to the same school - and people sometimes don't see that human side of what and who a police officer is.

The police officer, his or her family and others are all members of the same community.

And, quite frankly, some of that is on the police officers as well. They have this mentality of what a police officer should be and what a police officer should be doing, and sometimes that's in conflict with what we should be doing and how we should be doing it.

Even now, we use the phrases like "warrior," that police officers should be the warriors of the community. But it's becoming very clear that police officers have to become the guardian of the community, which is different.

There are times where you will have to be in the warrior role, certainly that's not going to change, but that's not a constant.

It's important that we properly define the police officer's role, especially in light of society's relationship with law enforcement. A lot of people have taken on this attitude this is not the profession to be in. That all is lost, the job sucks. And I think that is not the appropriate attitude for us to have.

There are things that have happened and we need to look at those events that have occurred, realize what happened, and look to correct them.

Look at what we are being faced with as a profession in terms of an opportunity. People coming into the profession now are coming in with a whole new perspective of what is happening in society and what is happening with law enforcement.

These are golden opportunities for us to change the face of law enforcement and how we do business. It's the perfect time to bring us back as partners in the community. It's not us versus them, it's all of us together to be successful. This is a noble profession.

I often say this to people on this job: "When you go to the call, when you leave, can you say to yourself if that were my mother, my grandmother, my daughter, would I be satisfied with how I handled that call?" If the answer to that is no, then you need to put yourself in check.

If the answer is yes, then you've done a good job.