911

The police took twenty minutes to respond. It was sometime around 3 a.m. when I heard somebody fidgeting with the door knob. I woke up instantly. My girlfriend was terrified. Immediately I exclaimed, "who's there", as if my uninvited guest was going to respond. The next thing I did was grab the closest object I could find as self defense while calling the police. The dispatcher informed me that the cops would arrive shortly. Twenty minutes later, an officer responded and told me he would've come sooner but response time is based on the seriousness of a situation. I found this to be strange since I lived in a shady neighborhood.

My distrust for police officers goes way back. In the early 1980s my parents were harrassed by a police officer. While driving my mother to work, a police officer randomly stopped my father. Within seconds, as my mother recalls, the policeman became aggressive with my father and started pointing his finger in his face. My father, being the mild mannered man that he was, opted not to respond angrily. It was my mother who escalated matters by telling the officer what to do with his finger. Needless to say, they were both arrested. In court, the officer claimed that my parents threatened his physical well being so he responded aggressively...

Years later, my primary contact with police officers is on my college campus. Otherwise, I avoid them at all costs. Other than our Campus Police officers, I interact a great deal with the Criminal Justice professors who happen to be current and former police officers. Last year I started to enroll my tougher players in Criminal Justice courses figuring that they might relate to the subject matter. This was a brilliant move on my part because none of them have failed a Criminal Justice course yet.

Thuglife loves his Criminal Justice courses. Out of four Criminal Justice courses, he has earned a B- or better in every single one. In his college level English courses, however, he has yet to earn a grade higher than an F. I viewed this as odd since Criminal Justice courses require essays and writing prompts as well.

Thuglife: I got a B- in my Criminal Justice class, Coach! I can play again.
Me: Really? Weren't you just telling me last week that the professor hadn't emailed you any of the work yet?
Thuglife: Yeh.
Me: So you took a five week course and haven't completed any of the work, yet you have a B-?
Thuglife: Check online. I just talked to the professor. Check my grade online.

Low and behold, he was right. Without having turned in, or received, one assignment he earned a "B-" for the course. Last semester he earned an "A" with the same professor, and a "B" the previous year in another course.