I’ve said more than a few times that one can be a tactically squared away cop AND still be nice to people. I’ve always tried to be both as much as possible. Sometimes failing in both areas, but one tries.
I was at the gym when a young man approached me and said “Your name is Haggard”, as a statement and question
I’ve run into more than a few people in the past that were angry at the cops in general, or me in particular. Doing things like arresting serious bad guys, and doing a couple of thousand high risk warrants, means you run into not nice people.
Somewhat guarded me say “Yeah, that’s me, do we know each other?”
He introduces himself as the son of a gal I used to work with when I did off duty security at our murder Dillons back in the day.
I immediately knew who he was, since I had to arrest both him and his brother several times over the years back then. He wasn’t a skinny teenager anymore, he was a well built young man. His mom never took issue with me, because she didn’t put up with nonsense. She worked hard at two jobs to provide for her family. She fought, unsuccessfully, in keeping her boys out of the local Blood gang. Older brother ended up seriously jammed up over a shooting and crack.
This was younger brother. He wanted me to know that he had a job now, a wife and kids, and was starting his own side business. He thanked me for not being an asshole in the past and treating his mom with respect. He really seemed to want to get across to me that he had changed, was doing well, and was proud of it.
I thanked him for taking the time to share that with me. It meant a lot. We shook hands, even though “OMG THE COVID!!” says not too.
Small victories.
We often have far more effect on people than we think, we just don’t always know it.
Never stop trying.