DUTY...
Nothing can be more useful to you than a determination not
to be hurried.  -Henry David Thoreau

As I went on duty last night I was stopped at a side street corner by a young
man
inquiring as to why I was there and what did I do.  As I finished talking
with him I was approached by yet another person with the same inquiry... When
their curiosity was satiated there came three young women asking the same question...
and they were very happy to receive the explanation and went away rejoicing. 
These three passed me again, later, on my duty station and shouted thank you
as they passed.  Another young man came forth from the crowd to shake hands
and voice his thanks... This is something he does every time I see him.

Most of the supervisors and officers on duty last night in the area of my duty
have
been working every night straight through since the last half of last week...
that will work out to being more than ten days straight for most of them...
and they were worn and tired.

The holidays always take a great toll on personnel that I work with and this
holidaycovered five nights of consecutive duty for the chaplains.  We were
given a break on one of those nights and had to report several hours early for
the night of the 4th... On the 4th we were expecting the crowds to leave after
the symphony concert and the fireworks so we were expecting to depart much earlier
than usual.   The crowd did not dissipate as expected but instead
actually thickened on the resort strip and especially in the areas around the
night clubs where we get most of the activity that has to be dealt with. 
All chaplains were held over until the problem could be handled,cleared and
thinned out.   It made for a very long night for both officers and
chaplains.

Keeping walkways clear on nights like that is like stirring a stick through
a bucket of mud... you pass through and clear the walkway... then you turn and
go back through the opposite direction because the walkway is now blocked again
by others who stopped after you moved the ones before them and it becomes a
continuous effort for most of the time from 2300 hours until about 0300 hours...
and it requires constant attention... even requiring the blocking of auto traffic
from driving on the street because of too many pedestrians crammed into a space
too small to support their number safely.

This activity turns my thoughts to the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq. 
Our troops there are constantly trying to sweep the Insurgency out of towns
and villages only to go back through and find that others moved in behind their
sweep and the place needs sweeping out again immediately upon the heels of the
previous sweep. 
Though they are there and involved in mortal combat and I am here and seldom
face a dire threat to my life in this walkway activity... it is not unknown
for the threat to raise its head here as well. 

One night two chaplains and a Trooper were engulfed into a free-for-all involving
15 to 20 people that happened very close to them and actually flowed right over
them and surrounded them.  I was knocked into the traffic lane landing
on my back with the breath knocked out of me, right in front of a car that was
driving past.  The other chaplain received scrapes and bruises as did the
Trooper.  When help finally arrived we had three of the scrappers in custody
and shipped them off to the gray bar hotel.
One of them was moaning, "Oh God, I hope my mama never finds out I was
fighting with a chaplain!"

At other times there arises incidents which involve discovering concealed weapons...still
others involving felony traffic stops right in the middle of a very crowded
area...then we have to try and move the gawkers from the area in order to protect 
their lives in case a suspect starts shooting or does something requiring the
discharge of firearms.  Sometimes there is a violent fracas involved in
making an arrest and the crowd wants to get involved and we have to keep them
back in order to protect the officers involved in the arrest situation. 
Like all of law enforcement and like many battlefields... long periods of boredom
punctuated by moments of extremely dangerous activity... and having to be alert
and ready at all times... keeping the stress level activated and high.

All Peace Keepers face this kind of activity sometime.  Often or infrequent,
it comes to all who are actually on the field whether in homeland security or
in foreign lands. An adversary will push to see just how far he will be allowed
to go before retaliation comes.  North Korea is doing that now.

One night I was on duty in this same very active block when two fighting subjects

tumbled out of the door of a nightclub.  All you could make out was a very
large mass of humanity with flailing arms and legs.  They rolled across
a ten foot side walk and out into the traffic lane where a motorcycle officer
had just stopped in the lane...they crashed into him and knocked the motor over
into the roadway... and they were still fighting.  Several officers finally
got them separated and removed one individual but the second one would not cooperate
nor submit.  He was on all fours in the traffic lane... he had huge arms
and legs... the officers could not get him to move his arms and legs and they
could not move his arms and legs.

The sidewalk was jammed with people... they all wanted to stop and gawk. 
Officers started using side handle batons to strike his muscles to get compliance
and move the man from the traffic lane.  The crowd became ugly and started
shouting, "BRUTALITY!"  The chaplains formed a cup of protection
with their backs to the officers and facing the crowd.  One young man in
front of me was especially vocal, shouting loudly in protest.  I spoke
to him and asked if he had ever been required to deal with a huge drunk man
like the one being arrested... he had not... "Then you really do not know
what is required of the officer and what the operating rules of law are...?" 
NO... "Well, if you would really like to know, get out of the way... let
us do our job... and I will explain it to you when this is over." 
He agreed, stopped shouting and got out of the way.

When I finished explaining the requirements of the law and rules of arrest that
the officers must follow then he had a very different attitude and apologized
and thanked me for educating him.  He went away friendly instead of antagonized.
Communication sometimes saves the day when it can be established.

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your
job... it means doing the best you can with what you have where you are using
all your faculties to get the job done well and with good results conquering
evil and keeping or restoring peace... it does not mean to avoid duty and honor...
it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... 
it means that if the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil
as possible in the process.  That is my definition of being safe... doing
the best you can and leaving the rest to God or whomever else is responsible...
being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.] I represent, write for... and give
the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief), Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain
of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide). In Christ I live...
with Him and for you I serve...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,  VIRGINIA STATE POLICE
ALUMNI,
RETIRED Police Officer, Certified Police Instructor, 757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452