My wife is a deputy sheriff currently assigned as the Housing Sgt. in the county jail. On 4 January, she went into a cell to deal with a whining inmate. Basically the inmate was mad for losing his free time for not making his bed. She had him sit down on his rack, and explained to him the rules of the facility and that if he didn't like it.....don't come to jail.
As she laid the paper work on the desk, he jumped her. Her housing officer was there in 10-12 seconds, the response team in less than 30. In that amount of time he had given her 14 stiches in the head, too many bruises to count, and a discussion.
While she was out of work (2 weeks) several people called to find out when she was resigning. Her standard reply was "Resign, **** I just got my butt kicked, it's not like I lost an organ or something"
We talked a lot. She and I (power industry) accept more risk in our day to day life than the vast majority of people do, and it's that assumption of risk that in part makes us go back, that and the committment and responsibility we feel towards our team.
Don't get me wrong, policy, procedures, and safety manuals all need to be followed but sometimes things happen.
She has recovered and has been back in the jail since mid January. She has faced her attacker, and will do so again in court.
I think it all comes down to the fabric of the individual, and the lessons learned they can apply going forward. If she had decided she just couldn't do it anymore I would have been just as proud of her, as I am for her climbing back on the horse.
I understand and agree with the post "That's who we are"
