I\u2019m writing this from Tucson where it\u2019s raining today. \u00a0Our four-day drive brought us through California just ahead of that devastating storm. \u00a0The rain was either behind us or north of us as we traveled. \u00a0With a house that\u2019s been left unoccupied for several months, there were a number of maintenance issues that had to be addressed as soon as we got here, but everything is now under control.<\/p>\n
When we\u2019re on the road, we stay in touch with what\u2019s going on back home, and so we\u2019re aware of the tragic death of Pierce County Deputy Daniel McCartney who was shot while responding to a home invasion call. \u00a0His three sons, ages\u00a04, 6 and 9, will grow up without the presence and with only the smallest memories of their loving father. \u00a0Once again, a whole community grieves the loss of a local hero. \u00a0For many of us, his flag-draped coffin will be the only memory we have of a man who swore an oath to serve and protect and gave his life in doing just that. \u00a0Most likely, one of the next times we will see his name mentioned will be when it is added to the statewide Fallen Officer Memorial.<\/p>\n
I write police procedurals. \u00a0The cops I know best are fictional ones. \u00a0Some of them have been part of my life for decades and for any number of books. \u00a0When they strap on their weapons and\u00a0\u201cbullet\u00a0resistant\u201d vests to go about their pretend duties, I always worry about them. \u00a0In Downfall one of my K-9 characters saved the day but then very nearly didn\u2019t make it.<\/p>\n
Years ago, in an effort to understand what it means to do the job in real life, I participated in a Bellevue Citizens Academy. \u00a0In the process, I was part of a\u00a0\u201cshoot\/don\u2019t shoot\u201d scenario\u2014and you may have read a Joanna Brady book entitled Shoot\/Don\u2019t Shoot that grew out of that experience. \u00a0Doing that exercise taught me far better than mere\u00a0words the split-second reality in which cops are forced to make life and death\u00a0decisions.<\/p>\n
Yesterday was National Law Enforcement Day, and so I\u2019m writing this today as a thank you to all the men and women in blue who kiss their families goodbye each day and then go off to work without knowing if they\u2019ll ever be coming home again.<\/p>\n
As for the family of Deputy McCartney? \u00a0You don\u2019t know me, but you have my heartfelt condolences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m writing this from Tucson where it\u2019s raining today. \u00a0Our four-day drive brought us through California just ahead of that devastating storm. \u00a0The rain was either behind us or north of us as we traveled. \u00a0With a house that\u2019s been left unoccupied for several months, there were a number of maintenance issues that had to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[177,176],"tags":[178,179,180],"class_list":["post-1526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law-enforcement","category-service","tag-daniel-mccartney","tag-pierce-county-sheriff","tag-service"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3nsBA-oC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1526"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1528,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526\/revisions\/1528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}