Portland Police have served the community for more than 150 years.
| Annual Citizens' Police Retirement Banquet |
A Police Officer is a composite of what every person is - a mingling of saint and sinner, dust and
deity. Cold statistics wave the fan over the stinkers - underscore instances of dishonesty and
brutality because they are news. What that really means is that they are exceptional, unusual, not
commonplace, but buried under the froth is the fact that one-half of one percent of Police Officers
misfit that uniform, and that's a better average than you'd find among clergymen.
What are Police Officers made of? They are at once the most needed - and most unwanted. They
are strangely nameless creatures who are "officer" to their faces and a muttered obscenity to their
backs. They must be such diplomats that they can settle differences between individuals so that
each will think they won, but - if the Police Officer is neat, it's conceit, if careless, it's "What do you
expect of a cop?" If Police Officers are pleasant, they're flirts, if not, they're grouches. An Officer
must, in an instant, make decisions which would require months for a lawyer, but if hurried, it's
careless, if deliberate, it's laziness. An Officer must be the first to an accident, infallible with the
diagnosis, must be able to start breathing, stop bleeding, tie splints, and above all, be sure the
victim goes home without a limp or expect to be sued. Police Officers must know every gun, draw on
the run, and hit where it doesn't hurt. They must be able to whip two men twice their size and half
their age all alone without damaging the uniform, without being brutal and with no help from other
officers, because otherwise it wouldn't be a fair fight. Police Officers must know everything and not
tell. They must know where all the sin is and not partake.
Police Officers must, from a single hair, be able to describe the crime, the weapon, and the criminal -
and tell you where the criminal is hiding, but if the criminal is caught, it's luck, if not, "The cop's a
dunce." The Police Officer must chase bum leads to a dead end, stake out ten nights to tag one
witness who saw it happen, but refuses to remember. Computer records are run and reports are
written until eyes ache and fingers cramp to build a case against some felon who will "walk" because
of a matrix and "no room at the inn".
Police Officers must be ministers, social workers, law scholars, diplomats, chemists and pharmacists,
psychiatrists and counselors, tough - and compassionate. They must care enough about the
society they protect to do the job of two, three, or more for the price of one - because that society
expects it. Police Officers will never allow humanity's depths to corrupt their own vision of humanity's
dreams. They hold their hopes in the emblem of a badge.
This tribute, which John Sallsbury (KXL - 1916-1987) read at the 1987 Police Retirement Banquet, is based on a
Paul Harvey commentary. (Revised by the Banquet Committee in 1998 to reflect the more contemporary problems
faced by police officers.)
deity. Cold statistics wave the fan over the stinkers - underscore instances of dishonesty and
brutality because they are news. What that really means is that they are exceptional, unusual, not
commonplace, but buried under the froth is the fact that one-half of one percent of Police Officers
misfit that uniform, and that's a better average than you'd find among clergymen.
What are Police Officers made of? They are at once the most needed - and most unwanted. They
are strangely nameless creatures who are "officer" to their faces and a muttered obscenity to their
backs. They must be such diplomats that they can settle differences between individuals so that
each will think they won, but - if the Police Officer is neat, it's conceit, if careless, it's "What do you
expect of a cop?" If Police Officers are pleasant, they're flirts, if not, they're grouches. An Officer
must, in an instant, make decisions which would require months for a lawyer, but if hurried, it's
careless, if deliberate, it's laziness. An Officer must be the first to an accident, infallible with the
diagnosis, must be able to start breathing, stop bleeding, tie splints, and above all, be sure the
victim goes home without a limp or expect to be sued. Police Officers must know every gun, draw on
the run, and hit where it doesn't hurt. They must be able to whip two men twice their size and half
their age all alone without damaging the uniform, without being brutal and with no help from other
officers, because otherwise it wouldn't be a fair fight. Police Officers must know everything and not
tell. They must know where all the sin is and not partake.
Police Officers must, from a single hair, be able to describe the crime, the weapon, and the criminal -
and tell you where the criminal is hiding, but if the criminal is caught, it's luck, if not, "The cop's a
dunce." The Police Officer must chase bum leads to a dead end, stake out ten nights to tag one
witness who saw it happen, but refuses to remember. Computer records are run and reports are
written until eyes ache and fingers cramp to build a case against some felon who will "walk" because
of a matrix and "no room at the inn".
Police Officers must be ministers, social workers, law scholars, diplomats, chemists and pharmacists,
psychiatrists and counselors, tough - and compassionate. They must care enough about the
society they protect to do the job of two, three, or more for the price of one - because that society
expects it. Police Officers will never allow humanity's depths to corrupt their own vision of humanity's
dreams. They hold their hopes in the emblem of a badge.
This tribute, which John Sallsbury (KXL - 1916-1987) read at the 1987 Police Retirement Banquet, is based on a
Paul Harvey commentary. (Revised by the Banquet Committee in 1998 to reflect the more contemporary problems
faced by police officers.)
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| Chief Harry Niles being presented with a ball from Babe Ruth |
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Citizens' Police Retirement Committee
Portland Police EAP Office
305 NE 102nd Avenue, Suite 270
Mail Box 13
Portland, OR 97220
(503) 823-0091
(503) 823-0601 Fax
Portland Police EAP Office
305 NE 102nd Avenue, Suite 270
Mail Box 13
Portland, OR 97220
(503) 823-0091
(503) 823-0601 Fax