THINGS THAT GNAW IF I LET THEM...

People who makes much noise over a simple thing like a valid parking ticket that might cost $20.00... Or an expired registration that is twenty days out of date...

People who raise a great noise over having their vehicle towed from an illegal parking situation when the violation is a plain simple violation of posted signs and markings that say violators will be towed... or of blocking someone's driveway...

People who think they can park anyplace, even in the travel portion of the roadway, and feel they should be immune from being charged with a traffic infraction...
People who drive a motor vehicle after consuming alcoholic beverages...
People who complain loudly and vocally about the war and the deaths involved but say absolutely nothing against the deaths by Drunken Driving...

People who drink alcoholic beverages or consume mind altering drugs to excess but  get upset when caught in the condition of being inebriated, impaired and less than in control of their faculties...

People who see themselves as wronged and violated when all evidence in the situation shows that they were wrong and got caught at it...

People who see Peace Keepers in general as not too bright servants of the people to be disdained and abused, disrespecting those who are the thin line of defense between evil and good for the welfare of all of our people...

People who show this attitude toward law enforcement specifically, as even worse in  description... (stupid and moronic to use some of their words... and the myriad descriptive terms they use towards us that are unprintable here)...

People who have no regard for rules and laws when they do not suit their ideas and desires...

Professionals who believe they are above being censored when they indulge in rowdy or illegal behavior and are arrested ...


This list could go on depending upon which tour of duty you or I might be experiencing at the moment.  Whether I am serving as a chaplain watching crowds to head off behavior before it gets out of hand... Or to provide a safe barrier between law enforcement officers handling a situation or an arrest and the nosey crowd... Or as an enforcement officer enforcing laws and codes to keep streets and highways safe to use for all drivers... Makes no difference to some people.  Some nights it is a few people... Some nights it is most of the people.  I am sure most of you have experienced the same and worse.

These problem people have no thought nor appreciation for what an officer goes through just for their safety... It might be a flash flood from heavy rain... It might be danger from traffic as rubber-necking individuals at some emergency scene, crash or fire are trying to see what is going on off the road instead of paying attention to where they are going and who or what is in the roadway.  Recently we had one lane of roadway blocked by emergency vehicles well marked with flashing lights and the traffic lane blocked... A driver in a rush almost ran down a State Police Captain who was assisting with traffic control... He did an amazing job of handling the situation that could have cost his life in a split second.

Another time we had both lanes of a divided highway blocked in one direction and filled with emergency vehicles tending a large fire... A driver going in the opposite direction was looking at the emergency scene and not where they were going... They crashed into the rear of the vehicle ahead... Then we had three lanes out of four blocked and still had to take care of the emergency, the traffic and the crash investigation tying up even more officers at the same location.

If we speak too sternly we are judged as being wrong by the person at fault.  If we are too pleasant we are considered as getting too much enjoyment out of their difficult situation.  The line of professionalism in all of these described situations is as fine as a tight rope and just as difficult to walk.  Great care must be exercised in all of these situations to get the job done well and convey the best possible impression throughout the process.

Even a desk job can get very stressful and difficult.  Today I served desk duty because of personnel problems among the desk officers available.  Early morning is quiet.  Mid-morning begins to be active.  Late morning through early afternoon gets hectic.

Three external phone lines... Numerous internal phone lines and an intercom... Walk in people with needs... Having to operate the electronic locks on entrance doors and the Magistrate's door... Handle computer messages from units and  dispatch... Handle  arrest warrants and Emergency Protective Orders, some of which should be handled immediately... Add to all of this an alarm that starts sounding but no one you ask about it can tell you what it is nor how to take care of it... No one knows what it means either.  Then the alarm quits... The electronic door locks will not work... and the building is empty of most  administrative personnel except myself and the Precinct Commander...

Can you believe Stresssssssssssssssss....? Then an officer on light duty showed up to assist with the phones, people and the computer.  Building Maintenance showed up and diagnosed the problem, temporarily repairing it, and went to get a new piece of equipment... was back with it and had the repair done in very short order.

Successful Stress Management is a must in the profession of peace keeping.  Whether you are on a foreign battlefield... In the Comm Center receiving and dispatching calls for service... In the midst of a highway emergency... Dealing with people who are upset and irate... Or with some citizen who is determined that you must handle a problem that has upset them, something they may have seen... Even though it may not involve them at all... But they still want to dictate to you how to handle the observed problem.

Stress Management is the ability to function professionally and well, even when you would rather choke the breath and body waste out of some individual who is a thorn in your efforts... A noise in your ears... And a distraction to your job process... Who will not listen but talks incessantly.

In 2006 there were 13,470 people killed in alcohol related accidents in the United States where one or more drivers of motor vehicles had a blood alcohol content of 0.08, the rate at which most States determine that the driver is impaired and under the influence of alcoholic beverages.  That is twice the number of the population of the small town where I grew up... in one year!  Yet what we hear about is the death count from the war in Iraq over a period of several years that is not yet 25% of the Driving Under the Influence Death Count in just one year.  Something is very wrong with the priorities when we hear so much about one and so little about the other.

Something is very wrong when people like to do their own thing no matter who it hurts or kills... over 13,000 in one year is far out of hand.  All of my life I have seen and felt the suffering caused by over consumption of alcoholic beverages.  All of my life I have heard and seen an attitude of tolerance toward the alcohol problem... Sometimes even hearing it joked about.  Comedians love to use it as a laugh getter.  Consuming these beverages is glorified in most of our movies and entertainment programs, illustrating one more time that the attitude is very askew and out of order.

Understand, please, I am not against a drink if you want to have a drink or a beer.  I am against the high cost of our overindulgence in this nation.  It is killing people on the roads... It is taking away from work abilities costing in relation to the economy which affects all of us... It is poisoning our young and some are dying from binge drinking (consuming too much alcohol too quickly and overwhelming the body systems that cannot process it fast enough to preserve life)... Why are people not as upset about the deaths, injuries and economic costs of overindulgence in alcoholic beverages as they are about the war in Iraq?

Why are people not as upset over the loss of law enforcement killed in the line of duty during the first 6 months of 2007, the highest rate in a very long time, as they are over the war in Iraq?

What is out of kilter?   Can we bring it back to where it should be in relation to our people and our nation?  An attitude change among the people could make a difference... But until that happens we are left to do what we can to effect a change through education and enforcement.

Stress is injuring and killing us... (and will until we personally learn how to handle it)... 

People are injuring and killing us... (and will continue until we learn all we can learn and do all that we can do to keep ourselves safe as we do the job)... Alcohol is debilitating and killing us... (I know this from personal costs of the life of my father and the debilitating of my oldest son)... (and it will continue until we change our attitude as a nation to put a stop to this awful destructive power that is out of control among us)... Sometimes the person who is out of control in the use of alcohol is us, Peace Keepers.  I am not against it's use... I am against it's abuse.  I have seen it cost too much death and loss as it is overused and abused, both to the citizens and to us in peace keeping.

Often on my way home from resort duty I will observe and report a suspected DUI.  Often there are no units available to come to where I observe the vehicle and I have to put out a BOL and hope they get caught before they crash and hurt or kill someone.  I cannot make those arrests when I am working as a chaplain in a chaplain vehicle and my general arrest powers ended when I was forced to retire in 2005.  I operate within a very limited scope now and then only when on duty in uniform.

As I see things in relation to all that I have written tonight, the only answer that is obvious to me is for all of us to do our utmost to alleviate the problem with education, but principally with enforcement.  We must continue to be vigilant in order to make a difference.  Even if we cannot do all that needs to be done, if we each do what we can

we will make a very marked difference.  I know that courts can be a problem but we must still do all we can to take the problem off the roads when we can.  My motto is "Do the best that you can do and leave the rest to God or whomever else is responsible."

I know many of you personally.  I know that many of you have the same work ethic.  I know that having all of you and each of you making whatever effort the you can is what keeps this nation alive and productive.  God!... You are a marvelous bunch of people and I am proud to even be among you.  Thank you for who you are and for what you do for all the rest of us.   My Commander-In-Chief and I will be eternally grateful for all that you have done and are doing whether at home or on foreign fields.  My past few weeks of duty have been very successful because I have a great set of people to work with in the Communications Center of my department.  We commonly call them "Dispatchers".  I learned long ago that they are my life line as I am working and that if I need any help, most of the time it will be them sending it... Thank God for all dispatchers... and for all other support personnel... without whom we could not operate as we do.

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"  Continually be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary.  Take the best of care of you as you care for others.  Take special care of the spiritual needs of your life and being.  It ALL needs to be strong for you to be successful.

As it has always been... So it still is...

"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN."  Sun tzu

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!

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...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers, 
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE ALUMNI,
RETIRED Police Officer, Certified Police Instructor,
Community Services Officer
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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