PAX Centurion - January / March 2016

Page 20 • PAX CENTURION • January/March 2016 617-989-BPPA (2772) Representing and providing counsel to members of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association since 1993 regarding critical incidents, criminal and departmental investigations, and civil rights matters. Many members have also sought our guidance and representation in a wide variety of matters, particularly personal injury claims on behalf of injured officers and/or their family and friends. We also provide representation in criminal and civil litigation, real estate and estate planning. We invite you to learn more about Byrne & Anderson, L.L.P. by visiting our website – ByrneAnderson.com JAMES E. BYRNE KENNETH H. ANDERSON ERIC S. GOLDMAN • JONATHAN E. TOBIN • PETER D. PASCIUCCO 50 Redfield Street, Boston, MA 02122 (617) 265-3900 • Fax (617) 265-3627 Learning compassion By Mark A. Bruno B eing a police officer in a major city like Boston has its moments. We learn – in the academy when we first start out – all the laws, rules, and procedures we need to follow. We learn how to deal with domestics, crowd control, psych patients, and many other scenarios. What we don’t learn is how to show empathy and have compassion for others. We often learn compassion quickly when one of our own succumbs to an untimely death due to in-the-line-of-duty, or by suicide. No one really likes to talk about it, but it is a reality for many of us. We take an oath and out on the street we go. Our lives become consumed by the task of being peace keepers. We make decisions everyday which will affect many individuals. The ability to revoke someone’s freedom can weigh heavily on the conscience of many of us. Sometimes justice is blind, but these are the laws that we all must abide by. This is the basic nature of our job. Many of us will go through our careers without ever having to draw our weapon, while some of us constantly seem to be on the edge of making that split-second decision. For the latter, it is what inevitably shortens our life span when we retire. The ebb and flow of the job where one minute you’re calm and the next your adrenaline is rushing.We chose this profession for many reasons, but for most, it has been to serve and protect.We see things as officers that most others will never see in their lifetime. The horrible car crashes with twisted metal and body parts spread out. The murder scenes in which the victimwas hacked up or shot beyond recognition.We become desensitized each time we respond to these scenes which would make the average person puke or pass out. It hardens us to the realities of how cruel life can be.We are wired differently according to many psychologists. The average citizen does not think or act like us according to these studies. What we do have is a softer side that most of the public rarely gets to see. We do actually care for people. Our acts of kindness go unnoticed most times. We may help an elderly person cross the street, or give a homeless veteran a meal or money to buy one. Many of us are charitable and give money to many organizations or individuals in need. The newspapers and media hardly ever report these good deeds, rather they expound on the mishaps. We are not perfect, nor do we profess to be. Every now and then, one of us strays and pays the penalty. But to paint us all with a broad brush is wrong. Mentally, the hardest calls most of us deal with are those involving children. We’ve been to domestic calls where you look at the children and see the anguish in their eyes, as they feel like they have no way out of their living hell. For some of these children, it is mental abuse, and for others it is physical or sexual. These are the pictures and stories that stay with us forever, embedded in our minds – a constant reminder of the dark side of society. We are also tasked with making notifications much like the military used to do when they notified families that their loved ones have died. The grim reapers of society knocking on doors at any given hour to relay bad news. Sometimes we escort them to the hospital because the news of a loved one dying has left them distraught and unable to function. It is worse when the loved one is young. Most of us have children and understand how hard this is to lose a loved one. All we can do to console these grieving individuals is hold their hand and offer our sincere condolences.You walk away with a saddened heart, but you learned to show compassion.