Top cop takes recruits down memory lane
When Chicago Police Supt. David Brown began his career in 1983, police officers hurriedly thumbed through map books to find unfamiliar streets.
A few years later, when they got computers, they were so big, there was barely enough room left in the patrol car for the cops.
Brown took a group of Chicago police recruits down memory lane Monday, but he also told them what hasn’t changed about the job.
“You have to have something most people don’t have — a courage and a bravery no one would volunteer for, especially now,” he said.
He called police work the “most noble profession.”
Brown spoke to 87 recruits. The police Education & Training Academy resumed training Monday, following a four-month break due to the coronavirus. The recruits have returned to the academy to complete their final six weeks of training. Among other things, the recruits are required to wear masks and gloves during any training that may “break social distancing protocol,” according to the police department.
“This country needs you,” Brown said. “It needed law enforcement in 1983, and they need you even more now. I know it doesn’t feel like that. It feels like they don’t need you. You have to live under a rock not to know there is this great effort to defund the police.”
Brown said the best cops he knows have “balanced lives.”
“Stay humble, stay human and use your discretion,” he said. “You stay alive, young ladies and gentlemen, and make it home to your families.”