Hearts
Beneath the Badge Book Excerpt Tour
About the
Author
Karen Solomon is
interested in the feelings of law enforcement and whether or not they
have someone that will listen to them, most of them do not. Most
books on the market are written by the police officers themselves, in
almost textbook fashion relating protocol and situations with the
orderliness of a police report. Her books are different from every
book out there because the officers bare themselves to her; many of
the interviews end in tears because they have opened up something
that is very difficult to close. Karen Solomon is a graduate of
Eckerd College and blogs as The Missing Niche. Her writing has been
featured on PoliceMag.com and To Write Love on Her Arms. She lives in
New England with her husband, 2 children and 2 dogs. Proceeds of her
latest book, Hearts
Beneath the Badge, will be donated to law
enforcement charities.
For More
Information
- Visit Karen Solomon’s website.
- Find out more about Karen at Goodreads.
- Visit Karen’s blog.
- Listen to Karen on The Author Show.
- Contact Karen.
About the
Book:
Title:
Hearts Beneath the Badge
Author: Karen Solomon
Publisher: Missing Niche Publishing
Pages: 247
Genre: Nonfiction
Format: Hardcover/Paperback/Kindle/Nook
Author: Karen Solomon
Publisher: Missing Niche Publishing
Pages: 247
Genre: Nonfiction
Format: Hardcover/Paperback/Kindle/Nook
Hearts
Beneath the Badge is a unique compilation of interviews with
officers across the country. It's not about the crimes they witness
or the judgment they face; it's about them - Damien, Danny, Frances,
Ken, Pamela, Brian, and more. Their thoughts, their fears, their
proud moments and their heartbreak. It's about the people we often
don't see because we are blinded by the uniform.
They are among the hundreds of thousands that are unseen each day, the men and women that go back for more no matter the personal cost. They provide meals, rides, lifesaving breaths and prosthetic legs. Yes, even prosthetic legs. There is much more to them than meets the eye-or the news camera. By reading this book, you will open yourself to a world of people you may have forgotten existed. You will see the names, families and some of the faces of the police officers that don't make the news.
Hearts Beneath the Badge is a book about the good deeds officers perform. There is a pressing need for people to see more than just the officer's hearts; they need to see their souls. Society as a whole needs to accept police officers for who they are - mere mortals. In order to do that, they must look through the layers of the officer's lives and see the heartache and joy, the same heartaches and joy we all experience. Society also needs to know that, whether we want to admit it or not, there is a price to be paid for pursing the love of the law.
They are among the hundreds of thousands that are unseen each day, the men and women that go back for more no matter the personal cost. They provide meals, rides, lifesaving breaths and prosthetic legs. Yes, even prosthetic legs. There is much more to them than meets the eye-or the news camera. By reading this book, you will open yourself to a world of people you may have forgotten existed. You will see the names, families and some of the faces of the police officers that don't make the news.
Hearts Beneath the Badge is a book about the good deeds officers perform. There is a pressing need for people to see more than just the officer's hearts; they need to see their souls. Society as a whole needs to accept police officers for who they are - mere mortals. In order to do that, they must look through the layers of the officer's lives and see the heartache and joy, the same heartaches and joy we all experience. Society also needs to know that, whether we want to admit it or not, there is a price to be paid for pursing the love of the law.
90% of all sales will be donated to
National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, Safe Call Now, Concerns of
Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) and PoliceWives.
For More Information
- Hearts Beneath the Badge is available at Amazon.
- Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
Book Excerpt:
After ten months
of recovery time and undergoing the same number of surgeries, Steve was ready
to pick up his badge and go back to work. He returned to work in the middle of
a warrants round-up, which meant he could get right back in the thick of it
without thinking too much. He put the same gear on, and went out to do the same
thing he did when he got shot, with the same people.
Three years
after the shooting, Steve is able to laugh at himself. But he was able to laugh
at himself before the shooting, during it, and after. Nothing’s changed there.
Two months after the shooting, still wearing a tracheotomy tube, Steve was
buying his wife a Valentine’s Day card. The cashier, who happened to be an
artist, told Steve that his “necklace is the most interesting thing I have ever
seen.”
So what has
changed for Steve? The list is short, at least the one he admits to. No one
survives what he did without being profoundly changed. He admits he can’t play
his Xbox anymore. The action of the games is too stressful and triggers
subconscious fears, a reaction that is common in people who have been involved
in a shooting. Drinking is also out. Steve knows that even the best of people
can go down a dark road when their emotions are weakened by booze.
Each time he
looks in the mirror, he will be reminded of that day. He has a new normal, a
new level of acceptance. He also has a new level of patience, appreciation, and
love for those closest to him. We know life is fleeting, but until we feel how
quickly it can be taken from us, we take it for granted.
Until the
shooting, Steve thought he was a “tactically sound guy,” but now he emphasizes
the importance of training. Every officer should slow down, pay attention and
prepare themselves as thoroughly as possible. Every single situation is
different and every one of them can go horribly wrong. At the same time,
officers can’t think “this could be the one” – if they did, they would go
crazy. Now that he’s a Training Coordinator, he’s free to talk and preach to
his students about safety and training all day. Sometimes they wonder how much
more they’ll have to hear, but for Steve it’s never enough. You can never be
too prepared.
“I will be able to concentrate on my true belief – training to save lives,” he said. “If one life can be saved by what I
write or what I teach, then I have done my job. Hopefully, I can reach the
masses rather than the few; only time will tell. To me this is the good life;
this is an opportunity to provide those who desire a skill set to save lives
with their opportunity to learn. If you think about it, it was really the next
evolution of my re-branding, so to speak; the continuation of the change which
will be with me for the rest of my days, as it has been with so many before me
and many more after.”
If you ask Steve
about that day, he will tell you he was just doing his job. In that way, he’s
like many other law enforcement officers. They are just trying to get through
the day without getting injured so they can go home to their families. Danger
comes with the job. They all know it. When people call Steve a bad-ass or a
hero, he shakes his head. He had no way of knowing that a man would burst
outside, a gun in each hand, and start shooting. He didn’t intentionally run to
the line of fire; he was serving a warrant and the situation went south. He
wasn’t fighting to recover so he could go back out on the street. He was
fighting to get home to his wife and son.
And while it
might seem surprising, given Steve’s dedication to his job, he hopes his son doesn’t
go into law enforcement. Being in law enforcement means being away from your
family. It means making sure you are always aware, you just never know who you
will run into in the grocery store. The pay is not high and police officers
deal with those who have a high-degree of contempt for authority on a daily
basis. Steve made an interesting observation: “Being a LEO is going to be
similar to being a soldier coming back from Vietnam. It’s not popular, it’s
necessary and it will become thankless. People will dislike police officers
more and more.”
While Steve
doesn’t like to be referred to as a hero, there’s something he likes even less.
He likened it to a scene in Band of
Brothers. Captain Lewis Nixon was standing aside a jeep talking when a
stray bullet grazed his helmet and knocked him down. After getting up and
realizing he was okay, he said to those around him, “Don’t look at me like
that.” Steve doesn’t want people to look at him like that—the look they give to
someone who has faced death.
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