To My Law Enforcement Brothers and Sisters: An Apology for Mallory Battle

[Sullivan Lee]

I'm a former deputy sheriff, and being in law enforcement is kind of like being in a fraternity or sorority. (I think. I wasn't ever in one, but I know there's hazing and painful initiation in both.) Even when you've moved on to other things, every law enforcement officer (LEO) is still your brother or your sister. Even after four years out of uniform, I still have to fight the urge to back up LEOs on traffic stops. I wave at every cruiser like they're my squad partner. And I cry whenever I read about a LEO getting killed in the line of duty. There have been a lot in the last year that hit close to home. Not, thank goodness, from my old agency, but from neighboring agencies – guys I didn't know, but might easily have met in training or in court. Guys I consider my brothers.

In Brightwing, LEOs die. Swiftly, anonymously, and for no good reason. (Not that there could ever be a good reason, but in the fictional world of course things work a little differently.) And it hurts me every time I read my own words. I want to stop the narrative and hunt the perpetrator down. I want to stop being an author, go back to being a cop, and do my duty in the pages.

But characters have to be in character. The two main protagonists, Lucy Brightwing and Edgar Battle, are no great shakes in the morals and ethics department, but they don't kill people. Edgar's brother Mallory, on the other hand, is a completely screwed-up sociopath who will murder without compunction, for fun if he has the leisure, or strictly for business if anyone gets in his way.

Yes, I despise him. But he's a heck of a character to write.

I want to make sure you know – particularly you LEOs out there – that I didn't take their deaths lightly. I was exploring – in a way, working through and purging – every LEO's biggest fear. The jump from LEO to writer isn't so great, really, because we have one thing in common – we're both constantly imagining complex and nuanced scenarios. In a writer, it is plotting a thousand possible books; in a LEO, it consists of mapping out every possible way we could die, and mentally preparing to avoid it. On every single call, we think, if if he has a shotgun I'll do this, if he has a knife I'll do that, if he has an syringe with an unknown substance I'll do the other.

The things we can prepare for rarely kill us.

The things we can foresee and rehearse don't frighten us.

What LEOs worry about are the things they can't see coming. The fake call that turns out to be an ambush. Pulling over to cheerfully help what looks like a stranded motorist, not knowing he just slaughtered his whole family and assumes you're there to take his freedom. The people with a grudge against law enforcement, who see a uniform as a target.

Because no matter how much we train, we still have certain assumptions about the world. LEOs expect a small percentage of people to want to kill them for a reason. They don't – can't – expect people to want to kill them for no reason at all, just because they're LEOs. You can't plan to be the initiation rite of a gang member. You can't plan for a sniper who picks you just because you're driving a cruiser.

You can't plan for Mallory Battle.

If I was still a cop, not an author, I'd arrest him. (And my LEO friends, you know he'd resist arrest, and then...)

But I'm an author, and so Mallory Battle exists in fiction as a warning of the worst that can happen.

Stay safe, my brothers and sisters. May you never meet Mallory Battle in real life. And if you do, please be ready for him.

In memory of all the law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty... in particular those who were killed in the last year near my home town:

St. Petersburg Police Department:

February 21, 2011

Officer David S. Crawford

Shot and killed by a 16-year-old while investigating a suspicious person call.

January 24, 2011

K9 Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz

and

Sgt. Tom Baitinger

Both shot and killed while attempting to serve a warrant for aggravated battery. Officer Yaslowitz was killed after the suspect convinced them he'd surrendered. Sgt. Baitinger was killed attempting to rescue Officer Yaslowitz.

Tampa Police Department:

June 29, 2010

Officer Jeffrey Kocab

and

Officer David Curtis

Both shot and killed after stopping a vehicle for having no visible plate, and discovering the driver had a misdemeanor warrant for writing a worthless check. It was later determined the suspect had previously killed three other people, and believed he was being arrested for that.

Please stop by the Officer Down Memorial Page, read their stories, and remember the noble men and women who gave their lives trying to keep us safe.

http://www.odmp.org/

XO

Laura

[Mark Young]

I am sure this was difficult to write, Sullivan. As a retired cop, I can understand your conflict over this matter. During my career working gangs, I made a number of trips up to Pelican Bay State Prison in California to interview lifers, as well as other prisons around the state. Some of those interview related to inmates who either killed officers, or orchestrated the of officers. They were always quick with an excuse for what they did. Or they blame it on someone else. Most often, the LEOs were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And you and the survivors are left with trying to figure out the why. It never makes sense.

 

One case still bothers me. An Aryan Brotherhood member killed an officer in my jurisidiciton as thegangster was about to rob a bar. When we caught this killer, the news was flashed on the televisons inmates had up in Pelican Bay where this killer was paroled from. They whisled and cheered like they'd just won tht Super Bowl. They were cheering over the killing, not the capture. This is the mindset that officers may have to confront every time they stop a car or answer a call for service. It took us years to find out why that gangster was at the bar, on the date in time. Now, he is sitting on death row.

 

Wish you well on the writing.