#ThursdayThoughts Guest Post by Janice Cantore

Good Morning!

A cool front came through for us so hopefully it'll keep Irma away, but PLEASE join me in praying for God's protection, strength and comfort, for those already affected by her and those in her path. THANKS!

Today's guest is brand new to me and brought to us by Tyndale Publishing.

Janice Cantore is a retired Long Beach police officer who now writes suspense novels to keep readers engrossed and leave them inspired. Her twenty-two years of experience on the force lend authenticity to her stories. Crisis Shot is the first title in her Line of Duty series. 

Janice also authored the Cold Case Justice series—Drawing Fire, Burning Proof, and Catching Heat—the Pacific Coast Justice series—Accused, Abducted, and Avenged—and the Brinna Caruso novels, Critical Pursuit and Visible Threat. She also writes a blog about police work. 

Find out more about Janice by visiting her website.

Now lets see what thoughts Janice has to share with us....

Honor the Fallen

There is no bright side to the loss of a fellow officer in the line of duty. It’s more than losing a coworker; it’s like losing a family member, and it’s also a reminder of how dangerous police work can be. The saying “There but by the grace of God go I” applies.

The black mourning band worn across the badge is one way we honor a fallen brother or sister officer. It’s a small gesture, but it is a universal sign of respect and remembrance. During my tenure with the Long Beach Police Department, we wore the band for two of our own: one lost in a car accident, Karl Simons, and a second to an ambush, Daryle Black.

That law enforcement as a profession is dangerous is drilled into you very early in training. We studied a lot of in the line of duty deaths to see if there were mistakes made and to learn how to avoid those mistakes. But an officer can do everything right and, like Daryle Black, die in an ambush. Officers are highly visible; on patrol we want to be seen, so if someone is bent on doing us harm, they can find us.

For the past ten years, the average for line of duty deaths has been around 157 per year. Of course, not every line of duty death is a homicide; officers die from heart attacks, car crashes, etc. But last year, a particularly hard year for police, 145 died in the line of duty and 80 of those were homicides (63 shootings). A lot of officers were killed in very targeted attacks.

Whenever an officer dies and black elastic comes out, there is always the wish that something more could be done to honor him or her. A couple of women I used to work with took that wish to heart and came up with an idea. They expanded on the idea of generic black elastic bands, and HonorBands was born.

After a local officer’s murder, Julia Walling and Laura Tartaglione worked to find a way to give back and honor the fallen. So they decided to personalize the mourning band. Says Julia, “It took us months of trial and error but we finally came up with the first version of the bands. We sewed the bands and used a hand iron in my kitchen to fuse the numbers to the bands.”

They personalize elastic bands with the officer’s ID or badge number, and the black bands are donated to the officer’s department. It’s no longer generic; it’s unique. Fortunately and unfortunately, there was quite a demand and their concept took off and they found themselves with a lot of orders to fill. “We now have a work space, use a commercial heat press, new fusing material, and high school volunteers.”

It seems like a small thing, but it’s a lasting memento for an officer’s department, honoring their coworker’s ultimate sacrifice.  

Thank you so much for your post, Janice! My (deceased) husband served as a Deputy Sheriff and Police Officer for our town's Department. Although he did not die in the line of duty, I can see where these honor bands and this website can bring recognition and comfort to those who love and mourn officers who have.

Now tell us a little about your book, Crisis Shot can be found at Amazon and Tyndale.

Tess O’Rourke dreams of becoming the first female chief of police in Long Beach, California. As commander of the East Division, she is well on her way . . . until the night she responds to an officer-needs-assistance call and fatally shoots an unarmed teenager. Despite being cleared of wrongdoing by a grand jury, Tess is so hounded by the public that she takes a job in Oregon to escape the bad press.

Winning over the residents of Rogue’s Hollow might be more difficult than adjusting to her new role as police chief in the small, backwater town. Especially when her closest friend, the pastor’s wife, goes missing and the woman’s cousin is found shot. Tess finds an ally in sheriff’s deputy Steve Logan, but as they track down Rogue’s Hollow’s first murderer, she worries that she’s breaking one of her rules and getting too close to him.

Sounds like a winner, Janice! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Hope you enjoyed the post, friends and that you'll drop by each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.

PamT