Officer Donoghue, circa 1959

THERE IS LIFE AFTER APD!
By Bill Donoghue, Sgt. APD, Ret.

LIFE AND TAXES

I had a visit this March from my young grandsons, who now reside in St. Louis , MO.   And I got to spend some time with all my grandchildren together, including my California granddaughters.  We had some fun together.  My two daughters, mothers of my grandchildren, are educators, one in the private sector and one in the public sector.  My sons-in-law are both excellent providers, one in retail food marketing, one in aircraft production.  I am certain all respect my career choices, most of which were in the public sector.  I make note of this because there has been a tendency to denigrate public service, and to tout the superiority of (unregulated if possible) “private enterprise” to an extreme.  I would suppose cops still sometimes hear the angry comment “I pay your salary” from unhappy, or angry citizens, whatever the beef.  And I suppose you’ll still have to bite your tongue not to respond by asking them: “How ‘bout a raise, you piker”.  You wouldn’t want to try that punch line around the “Ides of March” tax time, would you?   

How long has it been since we supplanted the “Ides of March” with the “Ides of April”?  Don’t get me wrong;  I haven’t been eager to pay any taxes before the April deadline, but I always put it off a little longer than I should, and if it was moved up to “Ides of May” I’d probably still put it off.  I know we need taxes to run our governments, city; county; state and federal.  I guess I might just sometimes feel I should be required to pay less; which must mean someone else should pay more.  Is that common, or just me?  Bottom line is:  It’s painful, we gripe, but most of us believe we should pay our fair share.

I guess, for extreme fans of privatization, I should readily accept that much of my life was spent at what those detractors might call the “public trough” (earnings from taxes); I prefer to characterize this more accurately as “public service”.  By 1954 I had already spent seven years drawing a salary from the U.S. military.  It was about two years, after separation from The U.S. Air Force that I left my job with a City of St. Louis surveying crew, to train at the St. Louis police academy.  I then expanded my law enforcement career to California , beginning in 1958 (first Downey PD, then Anaheim PD).  I don’t think there is any career, in the public or private sector, providing a greater opportunity to serve in a meaningful way.  It was definitely time well spent.

I worked as a senior investigator with an aerospace giant after Anaheim PD.  My employer then contracted for funding from the U.S. Government (funds from taxes) in the storied “Military Industrial Complex”.  My employer operated in a state of efficiency, not better, but comparable to my previous government employers, which I found commendable.  When the cut-backs occurred in aerospace, I utilized my teaching credential and taught ROP classes.  I learned to have new respect for those other public service greats, our public school teachers.  I have never felt any I worked with were “bureaucrats” (and there are bureaucracies in both sectors), but rather we all strove to be conscientious, hard-working, responsible members of society; performing tasks that are essential to that very society.  Keep up the good work Cops and school teachers and all you hard working, dedicated public servants. And, Oh Yeah…Pay your taxes on time!                          Thanks,   Bill Donoghue.