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ON THE JOB NEWS EYE ON EDUCATION DISCIPLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING JUST HANDED DOWN MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEMS Commentary: Angels and Cops Signs that the force is with us By Jim McBride Chief J.T. McBride retired in 2010 as the Chief of Police and Academy Commander at Lakeland Community College in northeast Ohio. He has been contributing articles to LAW and ORDER magazine since 1975, and can be reached at chiefjtm@aol.com. R ecently, the national news media blistered a former FBI agent who claimed she saw angels at the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Penn. in 2001. Who���s to say she didn���t experience the presence of angels there? Some of my New York and New Jersey colleagues claimed they experienced something serene and spiritual at Ground Zero. Do you think they just made those stories up? I have been in law enforcement for more than 40 years. I frmly believe that guarding angels exist and that they are defnitely real. If it wasn���t for them, and the guidance they provided, I probably wouldn���t be here today and neither would other offcers I know. Cops like to tell great stories, and I can tell you some good ones about deputies, city cops, rangers and troopers who claim they too owe their lives to their guarding angels. Can I prove the existence of angels? No. On the other hand, I have learned through experience that ���proof��� comes in many forms. Does the opinion of that former FBI agent count? For her, the horror at the crash site had spiritual overtones. Does my opinion count? I believe I have been ���saved��� or protected by angels on several occasions. I am still here writing stories and books most likely because my purposes in life have yet to be completely fulflled. What about the hundreds of people I have met who openly share their belief in angels, especially at times of catastrophic disaster. On repeated occasions I have heard offcers (and frefghters and nurses and soldiers) tell very similar stories. ���A little voice told me to slow down.��� Or, ���A little voice inside me said get out now!��� And, more importantly, they always say THAT is what saved my life! So where 10 LAW and ORDER I December 2012 did those ���little voices��� come from if not from their guarding angels? Legend has it that we each have an angel assigned to protect us throughout our lifetime. Who is to say we don���t? But people die! Yes, they do. Death is a tragedy no matter what the circumstances. But could that be people are taken because they���ve completed their ���assignment��� here? Might it be the ���job��� has been handled, as our colleagues say in New York, and it���s time for that person to return to the glory from which he or she came? What���s wrong with believing every life has a purpose and every human being has a spiritual presence standing by to help when most needed? What���s wrong with acknowledging one of the most powerful angels in the realm, St. Michael the Archangel, is the patron of all police? Angels don���t belong strictly to Christianity. Angels can be found in the traditions and cultures of many other religious groups including Mormons, Muslims and Jews. It���s time to acknowledge the spiritual aspect of American law enforcement and the role angels play in the life of our police. LaO Post your comments on this story by visiting www.lawandordermag.com