From Bangor, Maine...

Bangor Maine Police Department shared their post.

1 hr · 

My buddy sold cars. When I was on patrol, he always had good coffee and a clean bathroom at his dealership.

Do you ever wonder why cops go to certain places regularly? Sometimes it's not for doughnuts. Sometimes it's because the desk sergeant told them avoid coming back into the station without good reason. And sometimes the desk sergeant does not think the bathroom is a really good reason.

True story.

Back to my buddy; every time his phone would ring he would say things like, "Ahhh, another opportunity," or "It all starts with a phone call."

It's not typically like that when my phone rings. I don't think of it as an opportunity, probably because I have nothing to sell you.

Today was different.

Antone's call was forwarded from our dispatch center. He asked for "the guy that writes the Facebook page." Antone told me that he has put off this phone call for the last couple of weeks, but he said he did not want to put it off any longer.

Antone advised me that he read a post I wrote before Christmas which spoke of the things you don't need to tell the police when you see them. I remembered it, it was shared nationally and fairly extensively.

I was surprised by the success of the post it because I thought it was just a simple explanation of things you don't need to say.

My thoughts run about as deep as the renegade coffee that slips out of the top of your to go cup when you take it from the hand of the guy at the to-go window. It rides around the crevices of your plastic coffee cover like a dollop of mercury. A liquid-solid, until you take the sip you are craving. Suddenly, it's only a liquid.

Yes, it's the coffee that has been predestined to splash on your new paisley tie, maybe your favorite top. While it's shallow, it can wreck an excellent fashion decision.

Antone told me he was a black man from Connecticut. He said that he came to Maine to take a cooking job this past summer and he was concerned about what we would be like. He meant the cops.

He had heard derogatory things through media reports about how we felt about black men, not us specifically. He meant white cops, but he also knew he was traveling to one of the most predominantly "white states" in the United States. He wasn't talking about the snow- FYI.

Antone ran into Bangor Police Officers on different occasions and he said, "I remember eye-contact was made. I felt like I was protected and that I had no reason to feel different." Antone told me that every Bangor cop he ran into would ask him how his day was, or just say hello. It surprised him. He said he never felt like a suspect, he just felt like a man saying hello to a cop.

Antone went on to explain that when someone shared the Facebook post (embedded below) he laughed and then realized that the way it was written was exactly how he felt when he spent the summer in Bangor, Maine. He thanked me and he thanked our police officers.

Antone said, "that post reflected the mentality of cops doing the right thing." He shared that in his hometown there are several police officers who would only stare at him if he went out of his way to say hello. He also said there were some that were more friendly.

Antone said he would move back to Bangor if it were not for, "all that cold."

It's nice when people like Antone call for no other reason than to tell you that your police officers reflected exactly what you purport yourself to be.

I miss Antone and we never even met.

Keep your hands to yourself, leave other people's things alone,and be kind to one another. All we have is each other.

We will be here.

TC 01-05-2018