Cops Are Friends

Alright, I know you've listened to me go back and forth on my fear of this journalism class for the past two weeks, but I can wholeheartedly assure you that I have once and for all put that issue to rest. I now have absolutely no doubt that not only will I survive this class, but I will not fear it and I will get an A in it and my professor will like me by the end of this semester.

Seriously, my mood today is a 180 degree change from earlier this week. I remember the dread that washed over me when professor assigned the police story, and now I can truthfully say I love the cops! As I wrote earlier, all the police officers I've talked to, while they didn't really give me much information were polite and willing to put up with my random requests, especially given that I'm not even a real journalist requesting info, merely a student doing a class assignment (even if it the assignment is still an article).

But I finally got my crime trend story and the spokesperson I've been dealing with this whole week was more than happy to talk to me about it. It was so funny, I called him yesterday to see if he had any information for me, and he said no but that he might tomorrow. I asked him if it was okay if I called him back, and he was like, "Of course it is! If you want to be successful in this field you've got to be a pest. We don't ever discourage callers, it's our job to talk to you." It was absolutely great. And then today I thanked him for being so helpful and he said I'd make a great journalist and to call back anytime if I ever needed anything.

Then, moving on the the local cop I called to get a comment. He too was happy to talk to me and it turns out he graduated from my university. We started talking about football and were reminiscing about how my high school football team pretty much owned back when I was there. He asked about this journalism class and told me to call him if I ever needed anything and he'd "take care of me" I told him next week I had to do a court story and he was like, well I'm going to court for a vandalism case, you should come. And I was like SCORE! Not only have I finally completed this week's assignment but I've got a major head start on next week's too. And these two are supposed to be the hardest stories of the year.

Yeah, after I hung up with him I was pretty much on cloud nine. Earlier today I interviewed a professor for a story I'm writing and she and I bonded over our shared Indian heritage. It was great. So what have I learned this week? Well, a) Cops are nice. b) Calling people on the phone isn't scary and c) I can do real interviews. And, the best part of all - it's almost the weekend!