By Arthur Moore

I suspect outside of people seeing them on detail they really do not know what they do in a day. I sort of don’t either. But what I can say is how much they can do for us that we are not aware of.

I do a lot of work with the elderly and sometimes have to call on the police for help. And these people do show up and quickly do help with the problem with great expertise and compassion. Don’t get me wrong, I expect that maybe there are a couple of bad apples here or there.

I am realistic. My most recent experience is that when doing a wellness check on a lady I found she had taken some pills to commit suicide. Since she was breathing I called 911 while opening the front door then went back up to take care of her as the person who answered the call had me speaking to someone to tell me what to do for the person.

Since I had been through a number of these I knew what to do but I let them do their job. While answering her questions two or three police cruisers showed up. Had I been an onlooker I would have said it was overkill. But no, they sprung into action. One was moving stuff so the emts could get on and out while the others were asking questions and checking on things. The emt showed up shortly. All this with 25 minutes. They got her in the ambulance and on their way in a very short period of time. Answered the policemen’s questions.

A couple of days later they called me back to let me know about services and such if I needed them. This particular person was in another city but I can assure you I have been involved in other suicide attempts here in Somerville and all were handled very quickly and the people were taken to where they could get treatment in a quick and orderly fashion.

The police were excellent in the care of the person and in no way mistreated them. Do I want to defund them? Hell no! I think they should get more funding. They have to think fast and handle many situations quickly. Long before any other department could possibly get to the scene of the problem.

I am appalled at the treatment of the police and if people persist in screwing them over people won’t want to do the job. Heck, I am surprised that anyone would want to take this abuse and risk their lives and limbs to help us.

So think before you do something stupid. One day you will need them and hopefully they will not ignore you and give you the treatment you asked them to do. So think before you do something stupid you will.