National Police Week: Supporting Law Enforcement

National Police Week is May 11 – 17, 2025

By: A.Z Williams

As someone who has been in public safety for 35 years, I appreciate the acknowledgement and homage paid to my profession during the week. Johnston County is one of the most respectful and appreciative communities toward law enforcement that I have ever worked and lived in. Most of us serve the Badge for love of community and the greater good of society. If there is a choice between good and evil, I’m choosing good every time. I believe most cops feel this way.

What else can explain choosing a profession that embodies routine frustration, placement into harmsway, awful crime scenes and exposure to hatred and aggression? Fortunately, the disdain for law enforcement comes and goes; however, the threat of danger is constant. The job is 365 days a year. Aside from vacation and training, there is no time off. A Baltimore police officer does not get down time nor does Raleigh or any other domestic police agency. Crime and the evasion of crime are constant. The job is the job…24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The risk is ever present.

The size of the city, town or region matters little. Urban or rural, it does not matter. In fact, tragedy often strikes in the most unsuspecting areas (rural and isolated places not associated with stereotypical high crime communities) and thanks to American mobility and interstate travel, “trouble” frequently moves from community to community. As a result, officer injury and deaths can and do occur anywhere.

Valor, courage, strength and selflessness are still terms I link to law enforcement despite what seems to be, at times, a concerted effort to demoralize and yes, “defund” law enforcement activities. The silver lining is that the vast majority of Americans do not feel this way. I appreciate the gratitude that I receive regularly, thanking me and my officers for our service. The average citizen recognizes the difficulty of policing any population, let alone over 300 million and doing it under some of the worst conditions for moderate pay.

If not for dedication to the job and the communities we serve, who really wants to patrol at 3a.m.when most are at home and sleeping comfortably? Who, other than a police officer, is tasked with: (1) conducting a vehicle stop with three occupants at midnight in the middle of nowhere; knowing backup, if needed would never arrive in time to save you if things really gosouth or (2) calling someone out for misbehavior, then having that individual resist your authority physically or with harsh verbal attacks? Most people would not and do not sign up for such duty.

In grade school I remember student safety patrollers who monitored the hallways for running. No one liked them. It is human nature. I get it. We naturally rebel against authority: a parent, teacher, boss or therapist whose job it is to supervise, to call out wrongdoing. It’s a tough job…One that we as law enforcement officers all signed up for.

I would not have it any other way.

A.Z. Williams is a retired SBI Agent, an author and is currently the Chief of Police in Wilson’s Mills. Chief Williams holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from NC State University and is also a N.C Certified Public Manager.