The Price They Pay Quotes

“The next significant incident would change Steven forever: an apartment building fire. Steven and another officer arrived to the sounds of the screams of parents desperately trying to find their children. They ran inside believing there were three children trapped; they scooped them up and ran outside with a feeling of elation and relief. They had saved the children from certain death. The feeling was short lived. A frantic mother approached them, “Where’s my daughter?”

Steven and the other officer tried to reenter the building but the fire had become too intense. All they could do was watch in horror as a partial wall of the building collapsed, revealing the child’s location. They could see and hear her, but they couldn’t save her. Her screams were mixed with the screams of her mother. Eventually her screams were silenced and she was no longer visible. Her mother continued to wail in pain, others dropped to their knees and sobbed while the first responders choked back their own tears and finished their jobs, the emotion overwhelming. Every person on the scene was altered that day. A piece of every one of them became part of the ashes.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“It was at that moment Stephanie became acutely aware of the paradox of the police wife.
She must be humble and grateful; she had a role to play for Jason and his profession. Although what she was feeling inside was contrary to what was expected, in a way she belonged to society as a movie star belongs to their fans. She stood for hours shaking hands and hugging well-wishers, hearing generic statements that were meant to ease her pain but couldn’t, making decisions to appease the people who wanted to grieve with her, and all the while the line of mourners kept getting longer.

Stephanie wasn’t ungrateful. She was numb. When you live your life simply and are suddenly thrown into the spotlight, it becomes difficult to manage, understand, and cope. Being the center of attention because of a death brings a chaos that most people will never experience. Stephanie shared her husband, her grief, and her family with the public at the most private moment of her life. She knew that it was her responsibility as the wife of a public servant. For that, they thanked her.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“Society needs heroes, but most policemen, firemen, and soldiers don’t want to become heroes; they want to be men and women doing their jobs. They want to be supported and understood.

Unfortunately, they find the most support and under-standing when death comes in the line of duty. With death comes the onset of the hero label. With the hero title bestowed, everyone seems to know Jason. They won’t ask for permission to speak at his funeral. They will simply do it because they know the person in the coffin would not be there if it weren’t for a position that required them to give their lives for others. People who didn’t know him spoke as if they did, and, while society was claiming its newest hero, Stephanie wanted to grieve alone. More than that, though, she wanted Jason back.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“Trying to find the proper care in a civilization where only a small part of the population will ever understand what you are going through is a burden many first responders are saddled with. PTSI, injuries, and politics weigh heavily on the officer, yet we continue to turn a blind eye to them. We have made officers into robotic super heroes that aren’t allowed feelings, intellect, or human error. They have been ostracized by society and stripped of their basic human behaviors.

We also have yet to admit there are husbands, wives, children, and parents actively involved in these officers’ lives hoping to help them cope with their trauma. Families who do more than make sure they get enough sleep, a hot meal and fresh uniforms in the closet. The faces of the families are yet to be seen.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“You can practice all you like; there are no rules out on the street. No one is going to stand where the instructor tells them; you can’t stop and look at your position. You’ll be dead. If you’ve never been in a shooting, don’t decide what should have been done. It’s do or die. You won’t see or hear anything but the beating of your own heart and the prayer you are saying to make it home.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“Mario loved his job, and he was fair but firm. “It’s easier to cultivate trust and informants if you find balance; you can’t be a pushover or a hard ass all the time. A good cop has the right balance; he knows when to tone it down and when to be a tough guy.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“Some people are lucky enough to find their passion and spend their life pursuing it. Whether it is photography, accounting, sports, or law enforcement, they immerse themselves in the occupation that suits them. They refine their craft and look forward to a lifetime of going to the office knowing they love what they do and there are no regrets. When a life is irreversibly altered in a way that prohibits a person from continuing along their beloved path, they may feel depressed, angry, or like the shell of the person they once were. When the life is intentionally altered by someone else, the person can be left in a purgatory of sorts, hoping in a child-like fashion that things may somehow reverse themselves and they can return to the profession they loved so much. Mario is the epitome of a man whose dream was stolen, and he hasn’t quite found a way to accept or believe it.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. - James Baldwin”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“During early wars, combat occurred during the day, then at night warriors would return to the camp fire to eat and discuss their actions with fellow warriors who would listen and empathize (Grossman & Christensen, 2008). Critical incident debriefing teams are made up of trained peer supporters who share a common background with the traumatized officer. These peer supporters are prepared to move an individual or group of people through a step-by-step process allowing the participants to tell their story and make connections with other’s stories. These debriefings are organized discussions that take the participants mentally back to the time of the traumatic event and allow them to talk their way through their physical and emotional responses. The benefits of a critical incident debriefing are those who attend find a connection between their perspectives, can fill in gaps in memory, and can support each other. The goal of a debriefing is to allow the participants to move incrementally through the critical incident and release strong emotions that may be suppressed (Kates, 1999).”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“The prognosis for an officer with a traumatic physical injury is improved by early intervention due to personnel who are increasingly more skilled during each step in the process. The same situation applies to psychological injuries. Officers who receive the best psychological care the soonest are those who have the greatest long-term improvements (Artwohl & Christensen, 1997). Immediate intervention at the scene is vital, followed by more advanced care to ensure stability and to determine the next phase of appropriate assistance. Then finally, definitive care to put things back in order to manage the long-term effects of psychological injuries. Officers facing a traumatic stress injury resulting from a single incident, or officers reaching a breaking point from cumulative strain are in desperate need of some basic psychological first aid. This initial intervention commonly falls to the first responding unit or supervisor to arrive and find an officer in need. Nationwide most law enforcement officers lack the understanding to provide traumatic field care for psychological injury. While officers are trained with multiple options on how to deal with members of the public who have been traumatized as the victim of a crime, those in law enforcement rarely discuss how to take care of each other. The goal of the immediate response is to limit the chances of a temporary injury becoming a longer lasting wound in need of more serious care. On-scene psychological intervention is consistent with the model used when initially dealing with a physical injury, such as a gunshot wound in the field. One-on-one intervention should last no more than a half hour and result in the officer being assured his/her physical and mental responses are normal and they are not alone (Kates, 1999). This initial intervention will be rudimentary in nature, but, if handled properly, it sets the groundwork for all future interventions.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“It is estimated that up to one third of police officers who face a traumatic event will develop some level of post-traumatic stress (Dowling F.G., 2006). Despite this high number of psychological casualties, law enforcement agencies nationwide fail to support and train for a psychological injury that can last far longer than the physical injuries received in combat (Blum, 2001).”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“While devastation created by nature, such as wildfire, tornadoes, and hurricanes, can be far reaching and cause cataclysmic losses, the trauma that haunts our dreams and is the most feared is man-made. Acts of violence and depravity committed by one human being on another are personal in nature and leave those affected by them asking the questions, “Why did it happen to me?” or “Why did it have to happen at all?” With the advent of technology, the general public can view a new atrocity every day on the nightly news somewhere close to their community.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“We need people to understand society needs law and we, as a society, have chosen those laws. We agreed to live by those laws but we don’t want anyone to enforce them. If and when they do, we want them enforced selectively. This mentality is not fair to the people who are tasked with enforcing those laws. It’s not fair that one first responder is a hero and another is a demon. It’s time we find a balance; a balance both society and peace keepers can live with.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“By reading this book you will enter purgatory, a place most people don’t know exists. We generally see two types of police officers: the living and the dead. We honor the dead and cherish their memory. We vilify the living when they don’t meet our expectations and hail them when they save our lives. What we forget are the officers that have found a resting spot somewhere between the living and the dead. Some of them still wear their uniforms and are fringe participants; others have lost the ability to wear their uniforms and are forgotten about entirely.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“So, why does this happen? How is it that individuals brought into the profession and identified by pre-employment testing as mentally healthy, end up mired in addiction at a rate nearly three times the national average? The answer typically lies in the physical and psychological injuries officers suffer during the course of their everyday duties and the profession’s internal resistance to helping its own.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay

“First things first: studies show policing is hard. At a minimum, they prove many LEO’s struggle to cope with what they are exposed to. For example, research indicates that while 8.2% of the general population suffers from an active alcohol or substance abuse addiction, up to 23% of public safety personnel, including law enforcement officers, are engaged in the same struggle. Furthermore, due to the constant exposure to violence, conflict, death, pain and suffering, coupled with the extremely stressful and draining nature of their work, police run a significant risk of experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries (PTSI)/Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Lastly, research by Dr. John Violanti in 2004 indicates a combination of alcohol use and PTSD produces a tenfold increase in the risk of suicide. This small snapshot of research paints a grim picture on how policing can negatively impact those that take up its calling.”
― Karen Rodwill Solomon, The Price They Pay