It's Always Nice to Get These Kinds of Emails

The internet, social media and email all make us extremely accessible.  I sometimes get to work in the morning and, before I can even choke down my first cup of coffee, am greeted with an email from someone not particularly happy with the outcome of a contact with one of our officers.  Whether the message had some merit or the sender just needed to vent, these emails tend to ruin my morning.  But I understand this comes with the job. 

Fortunately, I receive alot more positive comments than I do negative ones.  When an officer is singled out by name, I forward the email to the entire department and the officer's supervisor is free to use those comments when that officer's next performance evaluation comes due. 

Here's a cut and paste from an email I started my morning with today:

"I am sending this email to let you know about contact my husband had with your officer last evening. My husband was on his way home from soccer practice with a car load full of kids and apparently forgot lanes were mandatory and not optional so he made an improper turn into another lane.

Because of this he was stopped by Officer McClannan, who after writing him a written warning was kind enough to ask if there was anyone in the car that wanted some stickers. Of course my 1 and 3 year olds were ecstatic and very excited to get stickers and talk to the policeman!

I know that often times the public’s contact with the police is negative and you don’t often get a chance to hear the good “stuff”. My husband said your officer was very professional and kind while dealing with him and  then went the extra mile for the kids. I know how busy the officers are and he could have just got back into his car and went about his business but he took the extra time to interact with the kids.

It is him giving my children this positive view of the police makes me proud and just proves the reason I live in Papillion.

With kind regards

Kris __________"  

Now, I know what you might be thinking.  It's real easy to edit those cut and paste things.  But the only thing I removed was the last name of the sender.  Scout's honor.

The cup of coffee I was drinking when I read this one really tasted great.  I began to feel good about myself, thinking that I must be doing something right if we had these kinds of officers on the force.  But it really has nothing to do with me.  We don't conduct formal training on giving out stickers on traffic stops, there's no policy which requires our officers to be anything beyond civil when someone commits a traffic violation.  It simply comes down to the fact that Officer Kurt McClannan is a real nice guy who doesn't look at a minor traffic violator as a criminal and realizes that young kids in the car might be scared when a policeman pulls their dad over.  

Kurt doesn't fake niceness.  He spends alot of his off-duty time helping others, without bringing any attention to himself.  Fortunately for me, he brings that attitude to the job with him.  

After replying to the sender, I forwarded this one to the entire department, including Kurt's supervisor for use in his next performance evaluation -- just as I do with other thank you's I receive.  Only this time I'm also trying to figure out a way to include this into our formal training schedule.

Thanks Kurt -- for making us look great.