The following is the text of a Facebook post by Jennifer Somers Lanzen, shared with permission.
As a spouse of a law enforcement officer for 22 years and a mother of four daughters, I have deeply experienced the concept known as "hiding in plain sight." I don’t expect those outside the law enforcement community to fully grasp this unspoken rule, as it is challenging to explain, but let me try to give you a glimpse.
The Unseen Realities
We cannot disclose what our officer is investigating.
We cannot share details about critical situations we may be aware of.
We cannot post on social media about the truths behind certain cases.
We don’t wear anything that reveals our identity; cute bumper stickers are not an option.
We remain silent about what we know while observing protests and posts that criticize the very person we love, without the ability to respond.
We witness the aftermath of our officers' shifts, which may involve experiences like:
The Hidden Challenges
We cannot reveal that during their days off, they often train at the police department, attend court again, or remain on call. Many times, we attend games, concerts, family gatherings, holiday celebrations, and church events without our officer by our side, and we MISS their presence.
There are many layers to this "hiding in plain sight" experience, which can be isolating, lonely, frightening, and exhausting.
Our Quiet Commitment
What we truly want you to know is that we choose this life. Each day, we rise and do it all over again. Why? Because we believe in the greater good of humanity. We value law and order, desire safety in our community, and love our neighbors. We long for a beautiful world for our children to grow up in as well. We genuinely feel called to embrace this role.
There is a lot of loud noise right now. Even in my little community, it has become more and more necessary for many officer families to "hide" in plain sight.
When you do see us, we aren't looking for sympathy; we simply ask that you smile, offer a hug, say thank you, pray for us, and know that we may seem fine on the outside, but on the inside, we are tired of hiding.
As a spouse of a law enforcement officer for 22 years and a mother of four daughters, I have deeply experienced the concept known as "hiding in plain sight." I don’t expect those outside the law enforcement community to fully grasp this unspoken rule, as it is challenging to explain, but let me try to give you a glimpse.
The Unseen Realities
We cannot disclose what our officer is investigating.
We cannot share details about critical situations we may be aware of.
We cannot post on social media about the truths behind certain cases.
We don’t wear anything that reveals our identity; cute bumper stickers are not an option.
We remain silent about what we know while observing protests and posts that criticize the very person we love, without the ability to respond.
We witness the aftermath of our officers' shifts, which may involve experiences like:
- Responding to fatal crashes
- Handling suicides
- Dealing with underage drunk driving incidents
- Managing drug overdoses
- Domestic violence intervention
The Hidden Challenges
We cannot reveal that during their days off, they often train at the police department, attend court again, or remain on call. Many times, we attend games, concerts, family gatherings, holiday celebrations, and church events without our officer by our side, and we MISS their presence.
There are many layers to this "hiding in plain sight" experience, which can be isolating, lonely, frightening, and exhausting.
Our Quiet Commitment
What we truly want you to know is that we choose this life. Each day, we rise and do it all over again. Why? Because we believe in the greater good of humanity. We value law and order, desire safety in our community, and love our neighbors. We long for a beautiful world for our children to grow up in as well. We genuinely feel called to embrace this role.
There is a lot of loud noise right now. Even in my little community, it has become more and more necessary for many officer families to "hide" in plain sight.
When you do see us, we aren't looking for sympathy; we simply ask that you smile, offer a hug, say thank you, pray for us, and know that we may seem fine on the outside, but on the inside, we are tired of hiding.
~shared from the heart, Jenny
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The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
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