Poem: Dog Watch Shift

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Calling all police poets! Police1’s poetry column highlights some of the inspirational, moving and funny poems authored by our readers.

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While the city goes quiet and the lights burn low, officers are still out there — rolling through empty streets, listening to a crackling radio and making decisions no one will ever hear about. That work is easy to forget. Right up until the moment it isn’t.

In “Dog Watch Shift,” Chief Ramon D. Gonzalez, a Marine Corps veteran who has spent 20 years in law enforcement and now leads the La Joya (Texas) Police Department, puts words to those hollow hours after midnight. This isn’t poetry about glory or headlines. It’s about showing up. About holding the line while the rest of the world sleeps. About the responsibility officers carry, shift after shift, whether anyone notices or not.

Email your original poem for consideration to night police car lights in city - moody close-up with selective focus and bokeh

Fitness & Health

Poem: More Than the Badge

A veteran chief reflects on the hidden weight of the badge and the importance of caring for yourself before the job consumes you