Column by Samantha Perry: Bullet

I don’t wear a bullet-proof vest to work. This sounds random, but there is relevance here.

Most of my days are spent in a safe office. I have a nice computer, air conditioning, heat in the winter and shoveled sidewalks when a winter storm hits.

I don’t have to worry about indiscriminate acts of violence. Reports of crime and mayhem blare at me from the police scanner, but most of the time I remain safe in my glass-walled workplace.

No guns allowed.

• • •

We do go to crime scenes.

Many, many crime scenes.

On those days much time is spent behind yellow tape as we wait for authorities to sort out the details and report the facts to us.

This is not a complaint.

Cops need time to do their jobs in the midst of chaos.

The last thing they need is an incessant reporter clamoring for a story when they are still working to determine the facts of a case.

Not that I haven’t been an incessant reporter at times, but I do try to hold back when specifics remain sketchy.

Real life is not an episode of “CSI.” Rarely are crimes investigated and solved within an hour – minus commercial times, of course.

• • •

Journalists with years of experience love to share stories.

I am no different.

The worst crime scene in my career was about 10 minutes from my house. It made a lasting sensory impression – in more ways than one.

After arriving home late on a Friday night I wanted nothing more than comfy pajamas and a meal. That didn’t happen.

Our late-shift reporter called and told me he had received a tip while doing police checks that something big had happened in Mercer County.

No details. Just “big.”

It took three phone calls for me to find out some of the details.

The county sheriff at the time told me he was on a scene “with three dead bodies.”

I quickly wrote up a story, transmitted it to our copy editor for a website update, asked her to tell the press guys we might be late and then changed out of my pajamas and back into a sundress.

Did I mention this occurred in mid-summer? A time when even these notably cool Appalachian hills become very hot.

• • •

Arriving on scene I pulled into a neighbor’s driveway and asked permission to park.

Exiting my vehicle, I walked toward the house – the scene – and did my best to manifest a calm and cool demeanor.

It wasn’t easy.

Windows and doors to the home had been opened, and the smell radiated through the humid July air. I recall one official on scene rushing out of the house to the deck, and retching over the railing.

Hours later, the EMS team that retrieved the bodies wore full haz-mat suits, including oxygen tanks.

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I won’t include more details, but I will relate that I had to wash my own hair three times before the smell of decomp was diminished.

• • •

But back to my earlier point.

In early August a Bluefield (West Virginia) Police Department detective spoke to the city board on behalf of the local Fraternal Order of Police.

Lt. K.L. Adams talked about a pay raise for officers – a raise more in line with what other Mercer County cops are making.

The salary adjustment was requested in June, and has been a topic of closed-door executive sessions of the Bluefield board of directors since that time. Another executive session meeting was held on the salary issue during the August meeting.

Adams said the salary adjustment issue was first brought to the board in June, and was a request that would match the new salary level that took effect for the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department earlier this summer.

“That went into effect June 1,” Adams said of the salary increase for deputies at the sheriff’s office. “I’m getting inquiries from our men about is anything going to be done in Bluefield about it.”

Adams said he knew that different proposals have been made, but said the city officers are wondering about a timeframe on a decision.

City Manager Cecil Marson said the salary increase plan was discussed in an executive session meeting last month, and would be discussed again Tuesday during another closed-door session on personnel matters. He said the board was looking at “one of the largest pay increases in the history of the city, deservingly so.”

However, as part of that process, Marson said the board also is looking at the salaries of other departments across the city as well.

Marson said he appreciated the patience of the officers “in letting the board and team work though this.”

No timeframe was announced at the meeting for a decision on the salary adjustment request.

• • •

I understand pay increases are not always easy.

And I also realize that other city employees may be disheartened when one department gets a raise and others do not.

I – and I am sure many others – would be happy to see all city and county employees getting hikes in their paychecks.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

So how do you single out one department over another?

With just a few questions.

Who wears a bullet-proof vest to work?

Who leaves their house each morning knowing they could face the end of a gun or knife or baseball bat or jacked-up meth head?

Who gets spit on, coughed on and slimed on by individuals with a known medical chart featuring an alphabet soup of hepatitis?

Not me. I work in a safe office.

But I will happily pay the price to keep top-notch officers on the job in our local departments.

I feel safe in my home at night and at my job because I know if 911 is called someone will respond.

Police officers deserve appreciation.

Residents should show it.

Samantha Perry is editor of the (Bluefield, West Virginia) Daily Telegraph. Follow her @BDTPerry.

Samantha Perry is editor of the Daily Telegraph. Follow her @BDTPerry.

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