Escape Pod Dreams - 135
Created | Updated Oct 28, 2006
Escape Pod Dreams, the 'Law' 'Enforcement' Issue
Thou shalt not, and we will make sureth that thou dassin't!
There is a junior college nearby where you can take Corrections and Peace Officer courses. The local ghetto denizens refer to the police as either the 'Poh-Leece' or the 'Laws'. Many of them possess only one identity card with their photo on it, an OFFENDER card from the facility they were recently released from. By 'ghetto denizens' I do not mean any particular colour, race or cultural cul-de-sac. The neighborhood I live and work in is an actual melting pot of religions, cultures, fashion faux-pas, musicks and skin tones. There are mixed-race and mixed-culture couples, children of all unions and a large number of people with large cross necklaces buying condoms and blunts. I am on intimate terms with many of the local police officers and the ladies at the Police Department's non-emergency number, which I prefer to call because the 911 operator is for the county and not the town. The 911 operators also seem, as they are volunteers, not to be as astute as the police operators. Anyway, I know people who are in the corrections line of business, also, cooks and guards and office staff. They are a lot more like civil servants than the cops. I also know a couple of ladies who work in the middle position, who are sheriff's deputies at the Bell County Jail. What separates the corrections people from the deputies at the jail is the custodial function and the level of training. The corrections people are not peace officers, while the deputies are. The jail deputies are separated from the police by the fact that they don't carry weapons, on duty or off. At the bottom of the feeding list are the security guards at the local hospital complex, who wear badges, suit jackets and radios, but carry no weapons and have no legal authority. I was once a guard in Austin. I didn't have a radio. Just a flashlight, an ugly uniform and a notebook.