the things worth believing in

Amy Pfeffer, 27, of Chili, a three-year department veteran, was named the first-ever winner of the Rochester Police Department’s top cop award last week at the department’s annual awards banquet at the Hyatt downtown.

The award is to be given annually to one officer whose performance is above and beyond all other officers, said Rochester Police Chief David Moore. Officer LaRon Singletary said Pfeffer, a patrol officer based in the area of Conkey Avenue and St. Paul Street in northeast Rochester, was the first to receive the honor last week.

“She’s a very mature young lady and a model officer,” Moore said. “Amy is motivated and knows her job is important and worthwhile. Her work helps make this community a lot safer.”

Singletary said Pfeffer logged 254 arrests in 2008 – more than any other officer in the department by more than 50. The charges she filed ranged from felonies to drug arrests, and traffic tickets, he said.

“She also takes the time to talk to young people – to get out of her car and interact with them,” Moore said. As a result, Pfeffer knows a lot of teens – and their families – by name.

“People just want to be heard and appreciated,” Pfeffer said. “They really are good people, but have to make decisions based on their lifestyles.”

Pfeffer, who is a military veteran, was also a partner of Anthony DiPonzio and was with him on Jan. 31, when he was shot in the head on Dayton Street. Pfeffer was among the officers who rushed DiPonzio to Rochester General Hospital. Pfeffer held his arms and legs. Those officers – including Pfeffer – received the lifesaving award last week.

Moore said Pfeffer has an “all-around great attitude.”

“It’s a tough job, but I love it,” she said.

VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com

254 Arrests in one year! When does this woman sleep?

Man…if that doesn’t sum up what military service feels like at times.

Those who follow Rugby know that the New Zealand “All Blacks” perform the Haka, a traditional Maori dance, before they play. While the Haka was not exclusively a “war dance”, Maori warriors did perform a Haka before a battle in order to invoke the god of war and to discourage and frighten the enemy. It involved fierce facial expressions and grimaces, poking out of the tongue, eye bulging, grunts and cries, and the waving of weapons. If the Haka was not performed in total unison, this was regarded as a bad omen for the battle. Often, warriors went naked into battle, apart from a plaited flax belt around the waist. The aim of the warriors was to kill all the members of the enemy war party, so that no survivors would remain to undertake revenge.

In this video, the “All Blacks” are playing against Tonga; who themselves have a traditional “war dance” called the Sipi Tau. As most team sports like football and rugby are closely analogous to warfare it seems fitting to see these here.

PS: The comparison of football (rugby even more so) to war reminds me of the classic George Carlin piece comparing baseball and football.

I enjoy comparing baseball and football:

Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.
Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.

Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park.The baseball park!
Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.

Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything’s dying.

In football you wear a helmet.
In baseball you wear a cap.

Football is concerned with downs – what down is it?
Baseball is concerned with ups – who’s up?

In football you receive a penalty.
In baseball you make an error.

In football the specialist comes in to kick.
In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.

Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.
Baseball has the sacrifice.

Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog…
In baseball, if it rains, we don’t go out to play.

Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.
Football has the two minute warning.

Baseball has no time limit: we don’t know when it’s gonna end – might have extra innings.
Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we’ve got to go to sudden death.

In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there’s kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there’s not too much unpleasantness.
In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you’re capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.

And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! – I hope I’ll be safe at home!

KNIGHT, n.

Once a warrior gentle of birth,
Then a person of civic worth,
Now a fellow to move our mirth.
Warrior, person, and fellow — no more:
We must knight our dogs to get any lower.
Brave Knights Kennelers then shall be,
Noble Knights of the Golden Flea,
Knights of the Order of St. Steboy,
Knights of St. Gorge and Sir Knights Jawy.
God speed the day when this knighting fad
Shall go to the dogs and the dogs go mad.

Ambrose Bierce was the author of The Devil’s Dictionary, of which this is an excerpt. While plainly satire and cynical satire at that, the sentiment echos some of my thoughts on the overuse of the term “warrior”.

One thing I discovered when I became an LEO was the “law breaking disease”…I’ll make an analogy. People run red lights. Many are just “normal citizens” who made a mistake or just like running lights; but its amazing how many times Ive seen someone blatantly blow a light (screw traffic law) and when I stop them find that they have suspended licenses (screw showing up for court), a bag of weed in the ash tray (screw that law) and an open warrant. There are probably millions of middle class citizens who smoke pot but are smart enough to do it in their homes and not get caught. Most of my arrests for weed were of bumbass kids lighting up in public or driving around with it in their cars…or of people afflicted by the “law breaking disease”.

A little Stormtrooper humor.

There is just “something” about marching cadences. It may seem silly, but they make me nostalgic. Anybody with military experience probably knows what I’m talking about.

I still jog with running cadences on my i-pod.

Since I’m running a bit of a theme with these posts, I thought I’d add XMA to the mix. Once again, extremely impressive athleticism, power, control and flexibility, of that there is no doubt. However, like Wu Shu, I have to wonder about the relationship between those traits and combat effectiveness. It was mentioned in another post that people who practice these styles can probably translate these skills quickly into a combat effective application. I would have to agree with that, they have tons of physical skill and know the mechanics of punching, kicking and weapon skills. It should be easier to translate those skill fairly quickly.

However I am sure that some folks had an eye opener like I did when I started FMA. Its one thing to get fast and impressive with your hands and sticks, Its another thing when you actually start hitting things. Its another thing entirely when that “thing” is another moving human.

My intention here is not to judge these styles, I have no clue what these practitioners do other than what they present via video. But it does  make me think about the relationship between “style”, “art” and application.