While this is certainly a deviation from my normal person finance niche, I feel like I needed to say it. I intentionally waited to post anything police-related until things were at least somewhat settled from the nation’s recent (justifiable) upset. You’re going to be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks what happened to George Floyd was in any way, shape, or form justifiable, and I’m no exception. It was horrific and infuriating. However, the fallout from it has caused some our nation’s heroes to be unjustifiably villianized.
Today I interviewed Kelly Wince of United for Blue because I sincerely think that we’ve lost the human aspect of each other. It’s so easy to make blanket statements about a certain group and I just wanted this to serve as a reminder that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt and that the overwhelming majority of people are beautiful, lovable people who want what’s best.
I hope you enjoy.
How did you meet your husband?
I met my husband in 1989 at a club on base at Port Hueneme, CA. I was there with my girl friend and he showed up with a bunch of the guys from his command. They just got back from a six month tour in Antarctica. That night I knew I he was the one. He was in the Navy, a Master-At-Arms. He retired 20yrs later as a Chief Master-At-Arms.
What made him decide to become a cop?
He knew since he was a little boy he wanted to be a Police Officer. As he grew up he had several friends who joined NYPD, which was his dream job. Until we retired from the Navy in Virginia and he was accepted on Metropolitan Police, District of Columbia
How are you feeling about your husband’s job given the current climate?
I am one of the lucky ones. My husband actually retired from the job two years after having a massive heart attack while he was working. But we have many friends who are still there. We constantly worry about their safety. We know they are great at what the do. MPDC is considered “The Best of the Best”, with training and handling the job they are given. They go out there and deal with people on their face and throwing things at them, yet they stand tall and don’t bat an eye. They go home tired, exhausted and beaten down.
What are some common misconceptions about police that you would like to address?
The biggest one is obvious, not all Cops are bad Cops. Studies show that it is less than 1% of Officers.
All Officers are racist.
Officers don’t care about your color when they are responding to gunshot calls, accidents, domestics… etc They are there to help you, it doesn’t matter what color you are. They will do everything they can to save your life, even if it puts their life in danger. Officers come in all colors, religions and backgrounds.
Most Officers are (Pardon the expression) A-holes.
They just want to pull you over to make “Quota”. No, they pull you over because you are speeding or traffic violation. An officer does not like being on the side of the road with other cars flying by. It ranks as one of the highest fatalities for officers. Officers don’t want to have to come to your house and arrest you in front of your children because you just beat up your spouse. You were locked up for a DUI because you were drunk and a danger to others and yourself on the roadway, not because the Officer didn’t have anything better to do that night. Most of the Officers I know have huge hearts and give back to their communities during their off time. They care about the communities they serve.
What was your husband’s reaction to the murder of George Floyd?
My husband’s reaction was disgust, he watched the video and said it was wrong. Like everyone else he was calling it murder. He also said it has set back Police/Community relations 20years.
Here in DC, City Council impulsively passed legislation to cut funding from the cops. Do you see this being commonplace throughout the country?
This is going on everywhere now. Here in Richmond they are doing the same thing. Other cities are already slashing funding to officers. It’s sad because people think officers are highly paid, I don’t think people realize what these officers actually make. Especially for the job they do. By slicing funding it will cut into so many areas of Law Enforcement, including additional training that so many people is needed.
What do you want people to know?
I want people to know that our Officers really care about their communities. I want them to realize that they are just like everyone else, except the job they do is dangerous and can cost them their life in an instant. They have families like everyone else that they need to go home to at the end of their shift. Our Officers see and deal with things that only happen in other people’s nightmares. Law Enforcement has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. A total of 70 have been reported this year already, 228 in 2019. This is not a profession to Law Enforcement Officers, it’s a calling.
Growing up, I was surrounded by members from the Strongsville Police Department, many of whom my mom grew up with. I was taught to respect them because, even though they are small town cops, they were still in a dangerous field. I learned so much about the inner life of police families from this interview and I hope you did too.
