The Beginning

You know how if you know a cop, you always want to hear the cool work stories. Well it ain't much different in the old Shackleford family. Every Holliday or bar b que, I hear "hey Shamus, tell us a good one". And if I'm in the mood, or been having a good time and feel chatty, I'll spin a yarn or two.

Well, one day a friend of mine said, "Shamus, you are a funny sonovagun. You ought to do a blog thingy". And I said, "Nah...I could get in deep shit over that". Well. I'm about to quit the cop job, after 14 years, so I figured what the hell, why not start that blog I been kicking around for the past few years. See how it goes.  So here we are......

A little background before we get started.

My name is Shamus. I am a dude in his mid 30's at a crossroads in his life. I am watching my dream career fizzle out and disappear right in front of my eyes. There is not too much I can do about it now.  What's done is done.

The suck part of it is, I did screw up. But in this case, I screwed up at the wrong time, in the wrong way, in the wrong place.

Well, if you like a story of how an aging dude picks up the pieces and moves on, buckle up.  This is gonna be a bumpy ride...

Let's go back in time....... not that far back!

I was hired by a suburban police department in 1998. I started the academy in the fall, and it lasted six months. To say it was fun, would be telling a huge lie. It sucked. I have never been challenged more in my whole life. Mentally physically, and I matured a lot in those six months.

I was 22 years old. I had some community college under my belt, and was a volunteer fire fighter for a neighboring county.  I had seen death and broken bodies before, and was sorta used to the whole public service scene, just from a different point of view.

When I was hired I was a fresh face. No military experience, no real life experiences other than the VFD. I still lived at home until the first weekend I was in academy, when I moved out with the girl who is now my wife.

Oh, I was over weight too.  Well I learned something rather quickly the first day. Drill instructors do not like over weight recruits. I was tortured for six months straight. These two knuckle heads, who neither of them did 20 years on the department either, used to come up to me each morning during inspection.  One would stand on either side of me and say, "Shackleford. I just love the sound of that name. Frank Sinatra should have wrote a song and called it Shamus Shackleford". Let me tell you. That shit got old quick.

Well fast forward, I graduated in the spring of 1999. Still 22, still young, still overweight, but about 25 to 30 lbs less overweight. Proud to say, I even passed the final physical agility test and was awarded the PT ribbon.

My career was less than stellar from the beginning. I was picked on a lot. Rookie hazing type stuff. Now, don't get me wrong here. This ain't a feel bad for old Shamus thing I got going on here. Just a little taste of what horse shit young cops have to go through. Especially if they are a little bit different.

I had a lot of senior officers I looked up to and took the time to show me the right way to do things, and was good to learn from. I also dealt with the typical high school mentality and the cool kid bully horseshit too.

In my close to 14 years I have had great times, and really shitty times. I have been recognized for some really great things I have done, and been busted..or suspended..several times.

In this blog, or story, I want to share with the world, and hopefully pass on some knowledge to younger guys and girls, the unedited side of American Law Enforcement.   I am going to chronicle some stories for y'all. Of course, I’m going to change names, and places. I will have to leave stuff out, and because this is supposed to be entertainment, I am going to keep most of it on the lighter side. No one wants the details spelled out of a gruesome evil done to some kid. I don't want those memories either.

I am also going to talk in real time about my transition from being a Police Corporal in a suburban Police Department into whatever new career or adventure that I move along into.

If y'all want to ask questions, and have any comments feel free.  If it seems that that takes off, maybe we will have an, "ask Shamus" post day.  Who knows, I'm new at this.

So sit back, grab a beverage, maybe a snack, and enjoy the ride.......