During my professional career, I have known some really outstanding law enforcement officers who spent part or most of their careers as narcotic officers. Matt O'Connor was a California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agent who also served as president of the California Narcotic Officers Association and as president of the International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association. Al Stewart, a very dear friend of mine with the San Bernardino County (California) Sheriff's Department who also served as president of CNOA, and who was shot to death when, while off duty, he went to the aid of some officers who were under attack by gunfire.
There was John Nelson of the Los Angeles Police Department who, based on his former USMC elite Force Recon unit, founded this nation's first SWAT team, the model copied by the FBI and all the other agencies that formed SWAT teams. Charlie Jackson who was the director of a tri-state (New York-New Jersey-Connecticut) interagency narcotics task force and became Assistant Director of Security for the National Football League. Rick Sander of the Houston Police Department, one of the sharpest persons I've ever known, who created and taught the first officer survival training courses in Texas.
There was John Blackburn, my former partner when we were with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, who went on to become the director of a large multi-agency task force in Colorado, and later a professor at Arizona State University and full-time consultant to the Maricopa County District Attorney's office. John was also appointed by the Governor to head the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, a very prestigious position. Sheriff Ben Clark, our boss and close friend, who was a nationally recognized law enforcement innovator and inspired me to emphasize the human relations factor in my courses whenever appropriate.
And then there is Frank Miller, who served for over 34 years as a narcotics officer with the Houston Police Department. I first met Frank at a Texas Narocitc Officers Association meeting. Subsequently, he enrolled in some of my criminal justice courses. He was one of my most outstanding students ever. He gives me some undeserved credit as a teacher and I am honored that he considers me to be one of his mentors. The truth is that I learned much more from Frank than he learned from me. Frank spent the latter part of his career as an instructor with the HPD narcotics division, imparting his vast knowledge of drug enforcement investigations and tactics to officers within his agency, as well as to many officers from other police departments. Jeannine, Frank's lovely cancer-surviving wife, was also a Houston police officer, serving as a juvenile investigator for 25 years.
Why am I writing about Frank and Jeannine? Because a deep tragedy has struck their lives. Last week they were notified that Ryan, their 19 year old son, was killed in action on September 14th while on patrol in Barwanah, Iraq. Ryan, a third-generation Marine who planned to follow his parents' footsteps as a Houston police officer, lost his life just before his Marine Corps unit was scheduled to leave Iraq and return to the United States. Shit - what a bad roll of the dice. In their grief, Frank and Jeannine are very proud of Ryan, knowing that he made the supreme sacrifice while serving his country.
I am so sick and tired of hearing athletes, rock stars, and others referred to as heroes. Heroes are people who risk life and limb while trying to protect or save the lives of others. Public safety officers are heroes when they enter a burning building or confront a dangerous criminal. Even soldiers do not become heroes until they engage the enemy in combat. Heroes are made on the battlefield, not on the football field. Ryan Miller serves as a shining example of a true hero.
Despite their grief, and unlike Cindy Sheehan, Frank and Jeannine have not turned against their country. Cindy Sheehan has dishonored her son, another true hero, because her radical left-wing crusade has given aid and comfort to those who killed him and who also killed Ryan Miller. I did not personally know Ryan because I only saw him several times when he was a little boy. But like his parents, I too am very proud of Ryan. To hell with Cindy Sheehan and her ilk! God protect our troops and public safety officers!! God bless the Miller family - Frank, Jeannine, Meghan and Brandon!!!
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