Post by Youn0469 on Dec 12, 2012 12:00:01 GMT -5
This is an absolutely great article. I love MPD so much and I am making every effort I can to be a part of this great organization.
I haven't talked much about it since leaving. Earlier this year I was a reserve officer with a local PD. It was one of the toughest experiences in my life because the PD was socially conservative and very small with a compliment of 16 officers. Even though I liked the prospects of being a reserve and doing a lot of non-sworn tasks that would give me great experience, I dreaded the big elephant in the room.
It was common for others to ask me if I was dating a girl or not. There were other less than tasteful biases within the PD that I was not comfortable with. It was a very cliquey department where I was under the microscope at every turn.
I left the PD, citing a need to focus more on school. It was tough to leave but I didn't see anyway else. For the last few months I've been reconsidering my career choices. It wasn't until my house was broken into and my neighborhood seeing a violent and fatal upswing in violent crime that I once again realized that I was on the right path before, I just needed to find a better avenue to go down that path.
I have worked closely with MPD officers from various precincts in my role as a security officer and as a private citizen and I have become friends with a couple lieutenants, both of whom are LGBT. I have had a great friendship with Rob, the gentleman featured in this article. He has helped me so much by being and ear and just a role model. I seriously hope to work with him one day, even more now that he is a lieutenant again in the city's 5th precinct.
There are still PD's out there that are less than welcoming to us, but I am so grateful for agencies like MPD that have seen the light and seen us as who we are, decent and honorable human beings.
minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/12/news/more-openly-gay-minneapolis-police-officers/
I haven't talked much about it since leaving. Earlier this year I was a reserve officer with a local PD. It was one of the toughest experiences in my life because the PD was socially conservative and very small with a compliment of 16 officers. Even though I liked the prospects of being a reserve and doing a lot of non-sworn tasks that would give me great experience, I dreaded the big elephant in the room.
It was common for others to ask me if I was dating a girl or not. There were other less than tasteful biases within the PD that I was not comfortable with. It was a very cliquey department where I was under the microscope at every turn.
I left the PD, citing a need to focus more on school. It was tough to leave but I didn't see anyway else. For the last few months I've been reconsidering my career choices. It wasn't until my house was broken into and my neighborhood seeing a violent and fatal upswing in violent crime that I once again realized that I was on the right path before, I just needed to find a better avenue to go down that path.
I have worked closely with MPD officers from various precincts in my role as a security officer and as a private citizen and I have become friends with a couple lieutenants, both of whom are LGBT. I have had a great friendship with Rob, the gentleman featured in this article. He has helped me so much by being and ear and just a role model. I seriously hope to work with him one day, even more now that he is a lieutenant again in the city's 5th precinct.
There are still PD's out there that are less than welcoming to us, but I am so grateful for agencies like MPD that have seen the light and seen us as who we are, decent and honorable human beings.
minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/12/news/more-openly-gay-minneapolis-police-officers/