Sorry for the lack of an avatar; that’s a work in progress and will require the assistance of someone more computer savvy than I. Let me start this, my first posting, by stating the obvious: Mike Curtis, Joe Staton & Co. have breathed new life into what had been a moribund franchise. Faithful followers of this strip are deeply in their debt. Speaking from the perspective of a police officer (23 years and counting) in a medium-sized Wisconsin city known for its left of center politics, it’s refreshing to see a crime scene being processed in keeping with established forensic protocol as depicted in today’s strip. Interesting also to see the multiracial makeup of Tracy’s department (Asian-American beat cop, African-American K9 handler) I had some thoughts to offer in response to the latest eruption of vitrol from scuttlebutt99—not that I expect they will cause him (?) to reconsider. Yes, I’ve known cops who were heavy-handed and abusive, cops who reported for duty legally drunk, cops who were outright racists. We fired one prize package who had sex with his girlfriend while holding his loaded service weapon to her head. Then there are cops like Bob Etter and Stephanie Markins. Bob put in 30 years with the DePere (WI) PD before retiring to enjoy his grandkids. But when the small towns of Hobart and Lawrence decided to start their own police force, Bob couldn’t resist the chance to help build a department from the ground up. Stephanie Markins was one of the first applicants hired. One bright July afternoon in 2002, Bob and Stephanie were engaged in the truly heinous and provocative act of catching up on reports when their parked squad car was rammed by the driver of a supercab pickup. The impact turned the Crown Vic into a paperweight and killed Bob and Stephanie on impact. He was 55, she was 32 and engaged to be married. The pickup driver survived with minor injuries, of course. He was out to kill a cop—didn’t matter who. Any officer would suffice. Let us consider also Officer Jillian Marie Smith, 24 and proudly African American, who had been with the Arlington (TX) PD all of ten months when she responded to a domestic abuse report three days after Christmas last year. Officer Smith was taking a statement from the female victim when the boyfriend returned unexpectedly and opened fire with a handgun. In the final conscious act of her life, Officer Smith shielded the woman’s 11 year old daughter and sustained fatal gunshot wounds. Her killer gunned down his ex before turning the weapon on himself. Thank you for letting an old cop vent. I’ll hang up now and wait for scuttlebutt99 to set us all straight on how Bob Etter and Stephanie Markins and Jillian Smith were all card-carrying members of a racist conspiracy to victimize minorities.
Sorry for the lack of an avatar; that’s a work in progress and will require the assistance of someone more computer savvy than I. Let me start this, my first posting, by stating the obvious: Mike Curtis, Joe Staton & Co. have breathed new life into what had been a moribund franchise. Faithful followers of this strip are deeply in their debt. Speaking from the perspective of a police officer (23 years and counting) in a medium-sized Wisconsin city known for its left of center politics, it’s refreshing to see a crime scene being processed in keeping with established forensic protocol as depicted in today’s strip. Interesting also to see the multiracial makeup of Tracy’s department (Asian-American beat cop, African-American K9 handler) I had some thoughts to offer in response to the latest eruption of vitrol from scuttlebutt99—not that I expect they will cause him (?) to reconsider. Yes, I’ve known cops who were heavy-handed and abusive, cops who reported for duty legally drunk, cops who were outright racists. We fired one prize package who had sex with his girlfriend while holding his loaded service weapon to her head. Then there are cops like Bob Etter and Stephanie Markins. Bob put in 30 years with the DePere (WI) PD before retiring to enjoy his grandkids. But when the small towns of Hobart and Lawrence decided to start their own police force, Bob couldn’t resist the chance to help build a department from the ground up. Stephanie Markins was one of the first applicants hired. One bright July afternoon in 2002, Bob and Stephanie were engaged in the truly heinous and provocative act of catching up on reports when their parked squad car was rammed by the driver of a supercab pickup. The impact turned the Crown Vic into a paperweight and killed Bob and Stephanie on impact. He was 55, she was 32 and engaged to be married. The pickup driver survived with minor injuries, of course. He was out to kill a cop—didn’t matter who. Any officer would suffice. Let us consider also Officer Jillian Marie Smith, 24 and proudly African American, who had been with the Arlington (TX) PD all of ten months when she responded to a domestic abuse report three days after Christmas last year. Officer Smith was taking a statement from the female victim when the boyfriend returned unexpectedly and opened fire with a handgun. In the final conscious act of her life, Officer Smith shielded the woman’s 11 year old daughter and sustained fatal gunshot wounds. Her killer gunned down his ex before turning the weapon on himself. Thank you for letting an old cop vent. I’ll hang up now and wait for scuttlebutt99 to set us all straight on how Bob Etter and Stephanie Markins and Jillian Smith were all card-carrying members of a racist conspiracy to victimize minorities.