COPS ARE FUNNY – AND THEY HAVE TO BE
by Robert L. Bryan
My latest book, Dark
Knights, weaves together twenty years of funny cop stories to chronicle my
career from patrol officer to captain.
Writing this book was fairly easy because of the dearth of available
material to pick from. After all, there
is nothing quite like a cop’s sense of humor – or is there?
When I was almost finished with the book I
let a non-cop friend read a chapter to get his feedback. I know I am a bit biased, but I thought the
chapter I gave him was hysterical. I was
somewhat stunned when he told me that he found the story disturbing and
sadistic, but not the least bit funny So
how does this dark, non-mainstream, gallows
sense of humor develop? Do police
officers bring this anything goes propensity towards perverse humor with them
to the job, or is it a byproduct of the job?
The answer lies in the emotional and psychological challenges of being a
cop.
Being a police officer
is akin to constantly riding an emotional roller coaster, involving moments of
intense action followed by emotional crashes marked by exhaustion and
isolation. Cops see people at their
worst, operating in the chaotic and depressing underbelly of society. Domestic violence, drug overdoses, fatal car
crashes, child abuse, and an assortment of other criminal activities are on a
cop’s daily menu for consumption. The dangers cops perceive is not limited to
public interactions.
It is very common
in police culture to develop negative feelings and attitudes towards the
government and department hierarchy due to a perceived lack of support. Furthermore, there can also be a perceived
lack of support from the law abiding public, as well as a perceived media bias
against police officers. Even family
cannot fully comprehend the daily grind, social isolation and stress involved
with police work. This atmosphere
cultivates the “us vs. them” attitude present in much of the police culture.
To cope, cops put on
emotional armor through the development of a cynical, dehumanizing and
hard-edged sense of humor that is an attempt to insulate themselves from the
pain and suffering being witnessed on a daily basis. This attitude and sense of humor is not
callous. To the contrary – it is
necessary. Police officers have to
resist their natural revulsion to what they see and must do. Empathy must be
held back too, since it can divert too much energy from apprehending suspects
and restoring order. Developing gallows humor helps in this process. Through
exaggeration and irreverence, they break the connection between a terrifying
stimulus and an unwanted emotional response.
These tactics work very
well on the job. There is ample
empirical data that supports the physiological aspects of laughter as being an
excellent stress reliever. The delicate
balancing act cops perform, however, is separating the job and personal life,
and keeping the dark humor exclusively for the job. This is no easy task, as the usage of dark
humor becomes automatic and unconscious, causing problems in private life.
Soon, nothing is sacred. No working street cop, detective, crime scene
investigator or emergency worker can function effectively without denial,
suppression and black humor. Unfortunately, what works so well on the job can
adversely affect communications with loved ones. Emotional issues are
commonplace in relationships. Hiding normal feelings means not recognizing them
when they arise and not talking about them. Avoiding, dismissing or laughing them
off on a consistent basis means that many important issues may go unresolved.
BIO
Robert L. Bryan is a
law enforcement and security professional with over thirty-five years of
experience. Robert spent twenty years
with the NYC Transit Police and NYPD, retiring at the rank of captain. He worked a wide variety of patrol,
administrative, and investigative assignments, including police academy
instructor, narcotics division squad commander, and internal affairs bureau
squad commander. Prior to the NYPD,
Robert began his career as a member of both the United States Coast Guard and
the United States Border Patrol. He is
currently the chief security officer for NYC Transit’s division of
revenue. Dark Knights is Robert’s third
non-fiction book. C-Case, chronicles his
two year assignment as a squad commander in the internal affairs bureau, and
Conductor, traces the history of one of America’s most storied professions –
the railroad conductor.
LINKS
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