Hearts Beneath the Badge Book Excerpt Tour & Giveaway

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.
• Connect with Karen on Facebook and Twitter.
• 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

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.

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. 

Giveaway Details: Karen Solomon is giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card! Leave a comment on all the book excerpt blog stops and win 5 extra entries each time! a Rafflecopter giveaway