Guest post: ‘Same As It Ever Was’

[WSB]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some time back, when we learned that Community Police Team Officer Todd Wiebke – who is the Southwest Precinct’s main point person on homelessness-related issues – was publishing informational/observational posts on social media from time to time, we requested that the posts be shared with WSB, too. This is the first one we’ve received; he’d taken a break from writing anywhere recently, we’re told. It seems more like a forum post than a news story, so we’re publishing it here, as we often tell people the Forum is the closest thing WSB has to an op-ed section:

“And you may find yourself…Living in a shotgun shack…and you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” … Talking Heads

Why do I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? Everyday is turning into the last day. I talk, I help, I warn, I tow, sometimes I arrest. I sleep for 6 hours, walk Archie to relax and then I talk, I help, I warn, I tow, and sometimes I arrest. Well, How did I get here?

I have not written for a while, for no other reason than I needed to stop. I love my job. I love being given the opportunity to help people. I love getting yelled at because somebody is doing something wrong somewhere and its my fault and I need to fix it. I love fixing it. At the heart of it all, I am trying to fix it. And I can’t.

So, I begin to think about it on the way home. Then I start to think about it at home. I even dream about it sometimes. I find myself changing the course of conversations into homeless rants. I am not as bad as once was, and I was able to catch myself this time. So I stopped. I stopped writing about it, I stopped worrying about it, and I tried to prioritize it.

I did not create motorhomes, or tents, or mental illness, or drug addiction, or crime. I am doing what I can while I can for as long as I can trying to fix it. What I did for the last couple of weeks was to turn it off. This is an essential survival skill for first responders.

If you have a friend who is a cop, listen to the venting, let them know you care, we start to feel like nobody really gives a rip as long as it isn’t happening in their backyard. Let them know that the social problems are too big for the police and that is going to take all of us to fix the problems, and thank them for being out there…it is not easy. And then ask them about the Mariners’ starting pitching, or their garden, or their dog, or their stamp collection. Remind them that being an officer is just a part of who they are.

Uncle B, we care, we are paying attention, and we love each other. I miss your guidance at work, and I owe you a hug.

And when that officer finds himself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, and wonders, well, how did I get here? It will be because of his beautiful friends.

The grind continues my friends. We need each other. I again thank you for the privilege of working in the greatest city with the greatest citizens in the world. As always, a reminder that we are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including weekends and holidays. Give us a call anytime.

Officer Todd Wiebke
Seattle Police Department
SW Community Police Team
(206) 386-9764
todd.wiebke@seattle.gov

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[anonyme]

Todd, thank you for your post, but more importantly, thank you for everything you do. We need a reminder from time to time that cops are people, too. As you pointed out, you don’t create the problems, yet you’re expected to fix every.single.one. I realize that many of the enforcement issues (which I admit to personally complaining about occasionally) are not the fault of police, but of politics. Please know that you are a valued member of our community.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by anonyme.

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[JoB]

Todd.. thank you for caring so much that you had to turn it off for a couple of weeks

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[JayDee]

Todd: Thanks for serving us. You guys helped me when my car was stolen in 2000, and I appreciated the professionalism of the officer sent to take my report. You are in the front line of every issue to hit us, and I thank you and your fellow officers. And how about those Mariners? :-)

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[22blades]

This is not the same city it was a decade ago… A year ago… Maybe even a month ago… There may be a multitude of factors at play as to why we find ourselves in a place of such “haves & have-nots”. The one thing I notice is that as a city, as a nation, we seemed to have lost the desire or ability to work on necessary social skills. I’ll sit in a Starbucks and watch people pick up their electronically purchased drinks with out so much as a hello. Our employers shuttle us in isolated busses to work behind secured areas. We text across the room. Our “lifestyles” and workplace dictate with robotic efficiency that we have no time to be civil with each other. This the new normal we our teaching our youth.

I try to hang on to those “small things”. Please, excuse me, what do you think?, good morning, Thank You, and last but not least, actually listening. I’m not a cop, but I wear a uniform with a bulls-eye for the public’s ire at times. Trying to do the right thing. The safe thing. However inconvenient it may be.

Thank you for your service and your effort to reach out to us, the public.

Sincerely, 22blades

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[JoB]

22blades.. well said. thank you

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