As time passes and we begin to work with the new sheriff and hear his plans for the new wellness bureau and hope his vision becomes a reality for all of our officers to be cared for moving forward, I began to reflect on some of the horrible treatment I’ve personally experienced in my career and how impactful some of the memories can be when officers are mistreated by disgusting supervisors.

Although I have more stories than space to write them all, I had one story from 2009 when my sister’s common-law husband was found unconscious in a parking lot and passed away a few days later when they removed him from life support. The 29-year-old father of my 9-year-old niece and 3-year-old nephew was taken from my sister and her two children without warning and without a chance to say goodbye.

My first thought was to get back to New York and look after my kid sister and help her grieve with her two young children while, at 28 years old, she would be raising the children by herself and, at the same time, making funeral arrangements. Once I arrived, it was clear that my sister appreciated the emotional and physical support during this tragic time.

I returned to work following the funeral and having only used three sick days, and I saw my captain walk into the sergeant’s office and close the door. My sergeant, sister sergeant and lieutenant were all there. I could hear the captain telling them that she wanted a statement of complaint filed against me for “abuse of sick time” because I used bereavement, and she found out that my sister was not legally married. I could hear my supervisors attempting to defend me, but this POS human being was demanding they file a complaint.

Soon after the back-and-forth conversation was over (hearing all of it through the door), the captain walked out of the office as if nothing was wrong and began to walk away. I was almost in tears from being reminded of the recent situation and my family’s loss and the haunting question that my nephew was asking, “Why won’t daddy wake up?”

I started following the captain down the hall, and I told her, “You are way out of line.” She turned around and immediately started yelling at me. I asked, “Why are you yelling at me? I’m trying to talk to you!” As she separated from me, she yelled, “I’m not yelling at you.” I told her, “You’re doing it again.”

I told her that I had heard everything she said in the office and that she was out of line. I also told her that I never used bereavement or put in for bereavement and that I used sick time to take care of my sister’s mental health and care of a family member.

I let her know that I never said I was using bereavement, but this is how she treats someone who just had a death in the family?

This woman had zero class. She was a disgusting supervisor who abused the courts (judge shopping for her son); abused the jail staff (used officers to lure her son downtown so she could “Legal 2000” him); abused the Metro detectives when she committed battery domestic violence on her son in the presence of several officers in front of CCDC; and abused her power when she used an officer to cover windows in the hallway of CCDC so she could bring in a birthday lunch for her incarcerated son. The list goes on! But the point is that, hopefully, these days are long gone, and our officers are treated with some respect by our leadership. The days of acting like a tyrant and the pissy attitude of “Do as I say, not as I do” are long gone. We still have a few assholes who need to go or need to have some karma follow them home a few times, but overall, the agency is headed in a good direction, and I’m hoping it will continue for many more years. Our officers deserve to be respected, and it starts within our agency by showing them they truly care.

Thank you for your membership, and please be safe.