Protectors of the Innocent

It was a cold, damp morning, around three A.M., when the call came out. It seems there had been a rape and beating of a small child, about six years old. The detectives were called in from their homes, where they had been sleeping. The officers were tired, groggy, and mad as hell at what had happened to the little girl. This is an awful tragedy that occurs all too often. Stories, like the one I just described, are played out weekly on the television show Law and Order S.V.U., where actors, playing Detectives Benson and Stabler, are the ones answering such calls. Let’s take some time and compare this television show to every day life and see how close it comes to reality.

First let me give you a little back ground. I am thirty-eight years old and either my dad or my brother has been a police officer during the entire time. Call-outs, like the one I described in the above paragraph, are as common as junk mail in your mail box. The detectives show up and immediately start gathering and processing information to help them build their case. They do this tireless, thankless job witho...