Walk a beat in their shoes.

It takes a special person to be a police officer.

They tip-toe the razor’s edge everyday, seeing the worst and sometimes the best society offers.

In modern society, the police are increasingly called on to perform services for the population.

Police are a government-sponsored department that people turn to in times of trouble.

Someone smashed your mailbox, call a cop.

Someone molested your child, call a cop.

Husband came home drunk and shoved his wife against a wall, call a cop.

Unfortunately, police get the most criticism of any government agency.

Perhaps it’s due to being one of the very few government departments readily accessible 24 hours a day, responding to various types of complaints from various different types of people and cultures.

Officers accept an oath to protect and to serve.

That’s easier said than done in a society that’s not civil.

I’m not saying we’re under siege by criminals, but we do have problems.

Drunk drivers and drug peddlers are at the top of my list.

Picking out criminals no easy test

What makes patrolling the streets of Luzerne County difficult is the different social classes among the population.

I’ve written 10 times as many stories about crime happening in the poorer neighborhoods than I’ve written about crime in wealthier neighborhoods.

Take a drive around the county and see what I mean.

We like to control our space if we have the resources.

In middle-class neighborhoods, there are cul-de-sacs, large backyards with in-ground pools, long driveways and white picket fences.

In contrast, the poorer neighborhoods have older, dilapidated homes that are close to one another.

Social disease spreads.

If a neighborhood has boarded up buildings, abandoned vehicles and graffiti, this shows a community in despair and creates an aura of lawlessness that encourages criminal behavior.

A popular argument about those who complain about the high crime rate is to hire more officers.

That might help keep overtime expenses down.

A large police force won’t have an impact on lowering crime if the people residing in a troubled neighborhood have no regard for the lives or property of others.

A police officer’s presence on a street corner deters crime within that officer’s eyesight.

My first criminal justice class at King’s College was called “Introduction to the Criminal Justice System.” The professor on the first day of class gave us a sheet of paper showing two groups of people. One group had not-so-nice-looking people, and the other wore suits.

We were instructed to pick out the criminals.

Naturally, the class picked the wrong group, which was a group of undercover officers. The group of criminals turned out to be those involved in Watergate.

The instruction taught me that anyone can commit a crime. It doesn’t matter if they have a white picket fence.

About the Author

Ed Lewis covers police news for the Times Leader. Reach him at elewis@timesleader.com.

Ed Lewis covers police for The Times Leader. A graduate of Hanover Area, he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from King’s College where he also minored in political science. He interned for Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski in Washington, D.C., while in college, and formerly was an assignment editor and managing editor before finding his niche covering the very busy police beat. His hobbies include lifting weights, kickboxing, reading, carpentry, gardening, model trains and sports, especially football.

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