By Jessica La Plante, The Green Bay News-Chronicle
Law enforcement officers spend much of their lives knowing they could be thrust into harm’s way at any moment, and they have no reassurance they will emerge from a conflict unscathed.
When an officer faces a life-threatening situation for the first time, it drives home the true dangers of the job, said Capt. John Gossage, public information officer for the Brown County Sheriff’s Department.
Gossage was among a group of deputies who gathered in a Brown County courtroom Thursday after a jury convicted 19-year-old Joseph Schoen of attempting to take an officer’s life.
The Green Bay teenager was accused of firing two shots at Brown County deputy Sgt. Tim Thomas during a routine traffic stop on Oct. 15.
“When an incident like this occurs,” Gossage said, “it certainly brings to light the fact that something could happen, even in Green Bay.”
Gossage said officers based in larger cities are more accustomed to being on the receiving end of violent crime, but the Oct. 15 shooting reminds police that big-city violence can strike close to home.
“It does raise concerns for us, that something like this could happen ... that law enforcement officers could be seriously injured or hurt in the line of duty,” Gossage said.
While officers must be quick to respond to life-threatening danger, as human beings it can be difficult to shake off the emotional toll of such a traumatic experience.
Like any other victim of crime, police officers need emotional support, and Gossage said, “There is a good support group here amongst our experienced officers.”
Part of getting over the experience of violent crime is being able to talk about it, and Gossage said the department facilitates such talk through a debriefing policy.
“It brings into the open whatever issues need to be dealt with,” Gossage said. While police officers may not be invincible superheroes, they have a spectacular strength at their core: the desire to help others.
“Inherently, police officers want to serve the community,” Gossage said. That sense of commitment allowed Thomas to immediately return to his job after surviving the shootout with Schoen, Gossage said.
“Tim wanted to go right back out on the road and do his job and protect the citizens of Brown County ... he came through this like a trooper,” Gossage said.