Police PS Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am trying to write a personal statement about a call I went on where I could have, but elected NOT to shoot someone. Subsequently, I caught shit from other officers because of my decision. Unfortunately, I have shot someone on a different occasion, but I think the former incident better defines who I am, the illustrates my decision making. I'm trying to make this incident the latest stage of my personal development from being a procrastinating dirtbag in college, to an enlightenment while I was an army officer, until now being a police officer/husband/father, then law school being the intellectual and institutional medium that facilitates my desire to continue lifelong dedication to public service as a prosecutor.

Is this too ambitious?







I'm at a low-point with this thing.

[SemperLegal]

I am trying to write a personal statement about a call I went on where I could have, but elected NOT to shoot someone. Subsequently, I caught shit from other officers because of my decision. Unfortunately, I have shot someone on a different occasion, but I think the former incident better defines who I am, the illustrates my decision making. I'm trying to make this incident the culmination of personal development from being a procrastinating dirtbag in college, to an enlightenment while I was an army officer, until now being a police officer/husband/father, wanting to continue lifelong dedication to public service as a prosecutor.

Is this too ambitious?







I'm at a low-point with this thing.

Don't talk about shooting someone. Rarely talk about being tempted to shoot one. People don't want to hear it.

[Anonymous User]

Why? Is honesty not the best policy? It is a pretty critical, life-defining moment. Does no one want to hear it or do YOU not want to hear it? It is better than the distortion of the truth I would have to construe to make interesting the 1000+ domestic violence calls I've been on that culminates with the victim refusing to testify and dropping charges. Or the rare unicorn case that is an easy aggravated assault that gets dropped to battery by the DA a few weeks later... man I am so frustrated.


And you failed to give meaningful advice. You told me what not to do. And you left an exception with "rarely." Does the ambition of this PS fall into that rare category?

I'm coming off as an asshole, and I'm not trying to by the way. You are probably right that people don't WANT to hear about it. I didn't WANT to write about it, but I have no other interesting topics. I guess I'm just a boring guy.

[LSATclincher]

I like the idea of including a cop story as a PS. But in this day and age now, your proposed story is too risky. All you need is one very liberal (or conservative) committee member to rub the wrong way to toss your PS in the "no" pile because of their particular views of police and the use (or lack of use) of force.

Thanks for your service, and good luck with your PS.

[CanadianWolf]

I think that it could be a great topic for a law school personal statement. It really comes down to how you present your story that will determine whether or not you should submit it with your applications. Feel free to PM your first draft for a brief critique.

[Alive97]

The first response you got is a pretty classic example of the downfall of seeking advice on TLS. Don't make any type of decision based on what any one person tells you on this site, no matter how right they think they are.

Write about what you want. Whether it works will hinge on how it's written. If I were you I might talk about both incidents, the one where you shot someone and the one where you didn't. Contrast them...it's an individualized topic that you'll feel strongly about. That to me is where a PS should start. Approach it carefully (hence why I talk about the way it's written) so as to keep it appropriate.

Speak with conviction and in my mind, you'll eliminate the "risk" of the topic. I like the lifelong public service hook as well.

[SemperLegal]

Why? Is honesty not the best policy? It is a pretty critical, life-defining moment. Does no one want to hear it or do YOU not want to hear it? It is better than the distortion of the truth I would have to construe to make interesting the 1000+ domestic violence calls I've been on that culminates with the victim refusing to testify and dropping charges. Or the rare unicorn case that is an easy aggravated assault that gets dropped to battery by the DA a few weeks later... man I am so frustrated.


And you failed to give meaningful advice. You told me what not to do. And you left an exception with "rarely." Does the ambition of this PS fall into that rare category?

I'm coming off as an asshole, and I'm not trying to by the way. You are probably right that people don't WANT to hear about it. I didn't WANT to write about it, but I have no other interesting topics. I guess I'm just a boring guy.

Look at my screen name. Look at my posting history. Decide if, maybe, I know what I'm talking about. No one that you want to associate with wants to hear shooting stories, unless they have a similar background. I've been though my share of cycles and law school experiences, but if your dead set on doing what you want, why ask?

As for who should write shooting stories; colonel Grossman, captain fink, and Kurt Vonnegut. Fucking Hemingway couldn't pull it off, why do you think you can?

[SemperLegal]

The first response you got is a pretty classic example of the downfall of seeking advice on TLS. Don't make any type of decision based on what any one person tells you on this site, no matter how right they think they are.

Write about what you want. Whether it works will hinge on how it's written. If I were you I might talk about both incidents, the one where you shot someone and the one where you didn't. Contrast them...it's an individualized topic that you'll feel strongly about. That to me is where a PS should start. Approach it carefully (hence why I talk about the way it's written) so as to keep it appropriate.

Speak with conviction and in my mind, you'll eliminate the "risk" of the topic. I like the lifelong public service hook as well.

Or, you know, the opinion of people who have similar experiences. Stories of deadly violence create feelings of repulsion, cognitive dissonance, inferiority, or (hopefully less likely) vicarious arousal. Not feelings you want to generate.

Write your story, include the danger, valor, and need to serve but leave out the deadly violence. It won't have the effect you think it will have.

[Alive97]

Those are possible feelings that a story of a shooting generates. He doesn't have to discuss the shooting beyond one sentence that includes the word "shot" - the rest can be abstract. It's all in how it's written; he could include an argument to justify mentioning such a deep and potentially repulsive subject - because it's personal to him and it's part of a very important point he has to make.

I just don't think a topic should be dismissed out of hand. It's not uncommon for advice on TLS to dismiss things in a sweeping manner, and just IMO it's not a good practice.

[cbbinnyc]

Yeah, this could be a good statement depending on how you approach it.

All you need is one very liberal (or conservative) committee member to rub the wrong way to toss your PS in the "no" pile because of their particular views of police and the use (or lack of use) of force.

I sincerely doubt this is something to worry about unless you make the statement overtly political (and, even then, I doubt that any self-repecting admissions person would reject an applicant outright because he/she disagrees with the applicant's political views, as long as the views are well thought out) ... that doesn't sound like what you are trying to do. I fall pretty far left on the political spectrum, but I can certainly appreciate the difficulty of making a split-second decision in a potentially life and death situation and I'm sure most admissions committee members can too.

The bottom line is it's impossible for anybody here to say whether it's something you should write about without seeing how you approach the topic.

Edit: for clarity/grammar

[Anonymous User]

I appreciate your insight, SemperLegal.

1. I did see your screen name and yes, it did prompt me to look at your post history.
2. I'm sure we are, in some aspects, cut from the same cloth. You have your experiences in the profession of arms, as do I, as do hundreds of other people, that make none of us special within this community. If you were in the Marine Corps as long as I was in the Army, we have our thoughts about it, that we do not need to go into in this venue. It is a complex topic that we could not give justice in a short time here.
3. Unless you were a cop also, the you don't understand how irrelevant military experience compares to it.
4. The PS is not going to be a violent story. I do not think it will portray me as a blood-lusting psychopath. It isn't even about the valor and danger you pointed out. I've seen so many things I cannot un-see that I have no interest in writing a "hey look at me" story. It is about seeing people as special, seeing them as individuals, and solidifying my need to serve them for both career AND HUMAN satisfaction.

I am going to move forward with what I feel is the best thing for me to write about. I made this thread to gather some revitalization. I think the best PS are ones where the reader can sense the person behind the page, not a cookie-cutter template with historically-developed catch phrases.

Thank you for everyone, both supporters and dissenters, that refueled my motivation. I'll post my statement here for critique when it is complete.

[fats provolone]

if your lsat/gpa is good you should just write about something boring and safe

[cmac2210]

How are you going to spin it? Give me a cliffs notes version of the story.