Some of you reading this may already know that I had applied for the position of police officer at Miami University. I had to take the entry test from which they generate an eligible list of candidates. Out of close to 200 test takers, one had to score in the top 20 to be eligible to pass to the first round of oral interviews. I wound up ranking 9th highest and I just emerged from my first interview with the department.

Although I had never expected to even get to the interviews, this first interview with a sergeant and a couple of patrolmen was fascinating, yet subtly tricky. Obviously, I had to present myself in such a favorable and authentic light as one would in any other interview. There were various scenarios presented to me to ascertain my judgment and decision-making ability in a variety of situations in which an officer might find himself/herself . Your on the beat with your Field Training Officer in response to a burglary call at a closed supermarket and your FTO takes two sodas, gives one to you and starts drinking the other without paying. What do you do? (Report him to your supervisor). Say an old high school buddy runs a stop sign.......do you ticket him or warn? (Ticket). Then, your mother runs the stop sign.....what do you do? (Hey, she's my mom......she raised me). But your high school bud watches you and asks why you ticketed him (he's responsible for his own behavior and I do not have to justify my decision with regard to him). Your sergeant runs the stop sign.....etc. "So, you are willing to let your mother off with a warning and end the career of a fellow officer for a 55 cent soda?" Yikes. That's the gist of it.

But I feel like I did fairly well and I covered my bases where I felt cornered. We'll see. I've always had a respect for and fascination with police officers and their work. Whether or not I go any further is a matter of God opening up the doors further.

So I'm off to make a few basketball coaches mad and then get to pick up my new drum set. Protect the women and children and plug the canalways harboring your tympanic membranes.