Editor’s note: The following is a piece written by current Oktibbeha County constable and former sheriff deputy, James Lindsey. It was originally run in 2003 in the Starkville Daily News, and is republished here in its original form with Lindsey’s permission.

I am a deputy sheriff with the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department and have been for the past 25 years. The reason I am writing this is because recently my wife and I were in a local restaurant in Starkville having dinner. I was off duty and in plain clothing.

There were three young people sitting nearby. They were talking about the police, really downing us and saying some pretty bad things that I can’t even repeat.

As they got louder and really talking about law enforcement, they began to get other people’s attention.

I thank God that my wife was with me because my frustration was building very fast and she saw it. My wife led me from my dinner very quickly.

But after I thought about this I started thinking how many other people think of law enforcement as these three people did. Well, for you people that don’t know about law enforcement work, I want to share just a very small part of what we do and what we go through.

Maybe next time you go out to dinner you can talk about something else, or something you know what you are talking about.

We ask ourselves why. Why do we do it? Why risk our sanity, pride and health to pursue a career in this thing called law enforcement? It is because we have been the product of unjust personal experience. Or maybe because we love our law enforcement job.

Perhaps it is because we have seen the injustice of this society thrust upon those undeserving sheep, seeking only to provide a decent life for themselves and their families. We do it because we see the tide.

We see the enormous tsunami of predators roaming the streets of our city and county.

We see that every man, woman and child should have the right to walk down the street without fear. People should have the right to get in their car, put their card in the ATM, or sleep at night without fearing the wolves will come and devour their innocent soul.

We have chosen this life. We don’t know why, but the job has scarred us for life. We do not seek recognition. We do not seek riches or a pat on the back for a job well done-Just respect.

We do because it is right. It is a just and noble cause. It is something that we feel in our souls has to be done. We do it because God puts us in places and jobs that he wants us to do. I know God put me in law enforcement for a reason and I plan to fulfill his requirements until he wants me to step down.

Someone has to take a stand. Someone has to bear the scars for the society we serve.

We have to proclaim to innocent families and ourselves. No one is going to hurt you when I am here. No one is going to take your innocence from you.

Our job reminds me of the fable of the sheep, the wolf and the sheepdog.

The sheep have the luxury of leading lives innocently, unaware of the danger the wolves pose to them.

We stand as the noble sheepdog without fear or thought, placing our lives in harm’s way to protect the lives of the sheep. It is inherent in us to stand and face the fear that others run from.

We have not chosen a monetarily rewarding career and it certainly does not bear well on our sanity, but it does do one thing. It affords us the opportunity to walk with our heads held high, to be proud of our accomplishments and go home each and every day knowing that we made a difference.

Law enforcement is a job that I am often told by a citizen or a friend that they don’t see how we do it. They will say I would not have your job. Sometimes jokingly, I will tell them I would not have theirs either. But someone has got to do it.

Law enforcement is not your everyday routine job. We have to go through very tough and stressful training for this job.

I have been a deputy sheriff with the Oktibbeha County Sheriff Department for the past 25 years and elected county constable for the past 22 years. I have experienced a lot, some very bad, some good.

I have done a lot, new things still happen to me everyday,  I still learn something everyday. The job is never boring. It is not a job for someone that is afraid or fearful if so your law enforcement career will be very short.

Law enforcement is a job that sometimes we have to make our decision within a second, and hope we make the right one. It is a job that never gets rained out, we never get snow bound, it’s never too cold or too hot. We have to go.

It is a job that you spend  a lot of time away from home and your family. It also puts a great deal of strain on your family.

I know I have left my wife and two daughters alone lots of times when they would ask me to do something with them or go somewhere. Someone would call or something would happen and I would have to leave.

I feel I’ve neglected my family through the years, and I now regret not spending more time with them. I am sorry for that but so thankful they understand the life of a law enforcement office. I thank God for letting them understand.

We have a very difficult job, everyday we put ourselves in life threatening situations. A person never knows our feelings are what we might have on our minds. That’s why you see us law enforcement officers very moody at times.

We also spend a lot of time alone. Citizens look upon us as a bridge between the law and individual freedom.

We ride the highways and the dark country roads at night all alone which is very lonely, and never knowing what the next call will be. It could be our last one we will ever make. That’s why a lot of prayers are said sitting inside a patrol car.

We are friends to some, an enemy to others, a husband and a father, and we love people just like you do.

Our home is usually surrounded with secrecy from our neighbors, our office is mobile, self contained, our education is founded in experience in reality, called the impossible. Our best friend is often an object-a dependable support that stays by our side hoping we never have to call on this friend for help.

When confrontation and conflicts arise, the law enforcement officer must enter their domain to justify the law of freedom. On a call we have to be trustworthy and  give dependable guidance.

This may be dealing with a good person, a bad person, alcoholic, drug addict, murderer, rapist, a fight, family disturbance, traffic accident, a person in anger, mental deficiency person depressed and suicidal, child abuser.

We never know who we will be dealing with but we are trained to enter into these types of situations and we all hope for the best, even down to a traffic accident when you have mutilated bodies thrown from a vehicle or trapped inside.

Two accidents I will never forget and still cause me problems. One involved a small child screaming and crying for her mother who laid dead beside her in the vehicle.

Another accident involved a burning car and a person trapped inside screaming for help and to hear his last cry for help.

These are things that will always stay inside you. They are memories that you take to bed each night that most people couldn’t even bear.

Can you imagine looking into someone’s face when we have to go knock on a door and tell them they have lost a child or loved one in an accident.

A police officer has a time he has to weep. He has to talk to someone about his life to condemn, and to hear a prayer from someone that really cares.

My wife knows when I walk in the door at home by my looks and by the tone of my voice what kind of person she has got to deal with. Thanking God  again she understands.

So much of what a law enforcement does is so difficult to share with anyone, even a spouse. When we spend our days looking at dead and mutilated bodies particularly when they’re children, it’s not the kind of thing you want to bring home with you, but it often follows you where you go.

One other reason, our work is even necessary to do with the changing nature of violent crime itself. We are all aware of the drugs we now have in our area, that we are continually fighting everyday.

The drug related murders that have plagued our city and country and the gun crimes that have become an everyday occurrence.

I can remember when most crimes, particularly most violent crimes, happened between people who in some way knew each other. These days are gone.

With all the stress and pressure we try never to fully desensitize ourselves building up immunity against anything that’s less than horrible.

In law enforcement your family has to be intact and your marriage is  solid, then you can put up with a lot of what you face at work. But if there are any weaknesses at home, various stressors can magnify and cause us even more stress and problems in our law enforcement lives.

My wife and I spend as much time as we can together and we are the best of friends, but we very seldom talk about my job and what happens.

One of the statements that was made that night by the three people about the police officers was calling officers uneducated fools that like to drive fast cars and carry a gun. The other I can not even repeat.

See, they don’t realize all the hard training we have to go through, the schools we have to attend, the laws we have to study and keep up with and all the time we spend in court. Our schooling is never over as long as we are in law enforcement.

I have seen very educated people that could not pass the test and make it in law enforcement. I have seen some of the best fiscal condition people that could not make it through our training.

So please next time you talk about a police officer you need to know what you are talking about. You never know-a police officer could be sitting close by and it’s very possible you could get told and reminded of what we do.

If you think it’s easy, try it. You might even like it. But don’t be surprised or disappointed if you  don’t make it through the training.

I am so grateful and thank God that I can say I am a man that has the courage and braveness to put my life on the line 24 hours a day for your protection, like all other officers do. You know it hurts to be called dogs, pigs and be cussed to your face and stand there and take it.

If you really want to help please pray for us we need your prayers and love to help us get through a tough job.

James Lindsey is the Oktibbeha County Constable for District 3.