Friday, March 13, 2009

Recidivism

A tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior.

In the twenty five years or so since I left the employ of the NJ Department of Corrections to find my fortune in the milieu of police work and EMS I like to think I have grown in many ways. Even beyond my over forty food tumor I think that through hard work and the judicious examination of life's lessons I have become a better person. Occasionally I wonder what happened to the hundreds of inmates that I had come to know in my four years in the service of the State of New Jersey. Frankly, most of the convicts I knew are still locked up even after these long twenty five years.

Yesterday there was a bank robbery in Franklin. After a high speed chase and running gun battle through two towns I was sent to the scene of a shooting where three suspects had sustained gun shot wounds. Imagine my surprise as I gazed upon a fellow lying on the ground with several extra holes in his extremeties and was able to say, "hey I know you. You used to lock on 6 Left." He smiled and said "Hey Officer Ski." Heartwarming isn't it? If nothing else it should give you confidence in our society's ability to rehabilitate criminals.

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