They Would Stop at Nothing

I had been praying for many months for God to show me how, and if, I was to share my experience with others. But being a very rational person, I did have to ask myself why would I re-visit one of the most traumatic experiences I had ever been through? I have that answer now. I believe I have a personal testimony of God’s sustaining power in trying times, a power that is available to all believers. I feel that I cannot share that traumatic period of my life with you unless I also share with you much more than that. I want to tell you who I am as a person, my failures and accomplishments, and also what has made me into the strong person I am today. That will be done through a glimpse into my childhood, which will be a painful thing to share. Don’t get me wrong, I love the life I’ve been given. My childhood wasn’t the best, but I wouldn’t change a thing. It is my sincere belief that if I had not experienced the upbringing God purposefully placed me in, I would not have been the strong woman that God would use later in life. I think it is necessary for you to feel as though you know me, that you understand who I am, and the reasoning behind the actions I took against my employer to defend my career of 28 ½ years. My case was about discrimination in pay based on sex, retaliation by upper management within the police department, and eventually leading to constructive discharge. I defended my career because it was solely about right and wrong; it was about truth. Up until this point, I had done a good job of convincing myself that this could not still be happening to the females in our work force of today, but it is. Only a few months ago, I ran across a headline which only bolstered my resolve that my book needed to be written. It was an article about the FBI agreeing to pay more than $22 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by a number of their female recruits. They alleged to have been routinely harassed during training, even to the point of unfair dismissals. When first reading about this I was shocked. But then my thoughts quickly changed and I realized that things were not any different. After a few days of allowing it to sink in, I felt more inner peace and reassurance that I was going in the right direction. It seemed like God was continuing to still put things right smack dab in front of my face. Although my personal experience was as a female police officer among mostly males, I am sure discrimination goes on within various other careers. Think about it, so many women are now serving as firefighters or in one of the branches of our military. Those would be the top two places where I personally believe it would be the most difficult for them; but I don’t think it stops there. What about that female that has her heart set on being a plumber, an auto mechanic, a fighter pilot, an electrician, or even a “handywoman” instead of our well-known handyman? I mean honestly, the list could go on and on. Sadly, discrimination based on sex is still very much prevalent in our work force of today. Everybody knows it, but we just don’t want to talk about it. Because of that very reason, you are holding in your hands what began in my heart, truly, only as a desire to see where God would lead me. Well, as I said earlier, it all began that day in the office, that very different day. “My case” and I got reacquainted, and I am looking forward to introducing you to Detective Sergeant Trochum, a small-town girl whose biggest dream was to become a police officer.