The Book Bag: Book Excerpt Tour: Hearts Beneath the Badge by Karen Solomon, an Excerpt and a Giveaway!

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Book Excerpt Tour: Hearts Beneath the Badge by Karen Solomon, an Excerpt and a Giveaway!

Hearts Beneath the Badge

Hearts Beneath the Badge by Karen Solomon

Publisher: Missing Niche Publishing

Pages: 247

Genre: Nonfiction

Format: Hardcover/Paperback/Kindle/Nook

Hearts Beneath the Badge is a unique compilation of interviews with officers across the country. It's not about the crimes they witness or the judgment they face; it's about them - Damien, Danny, Frances, Ken, Pamela, Brian, and more. Their thoughts, their fears, their proud moments and their heartbreak. It's about the people we often don't see because we are blinded by the uniform.

They are among the hundreds of thousands that are unseen each day, the men and women that go back for more no matter the personal cost. They provide meals, rides, lifesaving breaths and prosthetic legs. Yes, even prosthetic legs. There is much more to them than meets the eye-or the news camera. By reading this book, you will open yourself to a world of people you may have forgotten existed. You will see the names, families and some of the faces of the police officers that don't make the news.

Hearts Beneath the Badge is a book about the good deeds officers perform. There is a pressing need for people to see more than just the officer's hearts; they need to see their souls. Society as a whole needs to accept police officers for who they are - mere mortals. In order to do that, they must look through the layers of the officer's lives and see the heartache and joy, the same heartaches and joy we all experience. Society also needs to know that, whether we want to admit it or not, there is a price to be paid for pursing the love of the law.

90% of all sales will be donated to National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, Safe Call Now, Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) and PoliceWives.

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Excerpt 4: Preface Continues

I think people forget that the men and women who patrol our streets are human, that they have families, and that they suffer emotional trauma from their occupation. We don’t see what happens once the news cameras are shut off. We don’t know what goes through the officers’ minds and we don’t know what it’s like for their families.

Shortly after the riots in Ferguson, MO, my son came home and told me that the kids at school said that police beat up and kill people for no reason. He wanted to know who would tell his classmates such a thing. To answer his questions, I simply had to turn on the news. I didn’t. That’s not how or what I want him to learn.

Within the same week, a cashier saw my debit card from our local Police Department Credit Union and asked if I had family in law enforcement, I proudly stated that I did. I think that law enforcement and the military are the two most honorable professions there are. My pride quickly turned to fear as she told me exactly what she thought of law enforcement. I cried all the way home.

I didn’t cry because I was ashamed or because she hurt my feelings, I cried because I couldn’t believe that this is what it had come to. A complete stranger telling me what she saw on the news, as though it were Gospel, and blaming me and my family for it.

Seeing so much hate extended to all of law enforcement was troubling. It hurt my heart to read the news. Mainstream media isn’t willing to take a neutral stance until all of the facts are out. Social media posts that go viral are the ones that are the most inflammatory as opposed to the ones that are most flattering. I simply couldn’t understand why the loudest voices were the ones filled with so much hate. I wanted someone to stand up and say “Enough is enough!”

The only place I saw that kind of love and support were within the confines of law enforcement support groups. Not many outside these groups would listen or care. The voices of the ones that did care were drowned out by louder voices of anger. I listened to the fears of many law enforcement families and knew that someone needed to take some sort of action. That is why I wrote this book. Love is silent. Hate is loud. I don’t want our love for law enforcement to be silent any longer.

About the author

Karen Solomon is interested in the feelings of law enforcement and whether or not they have someone that will listen to them, most of them do not. Most books on the market are written by the police officers themselves, in almost textbook fashion relating protocol and situations with the orderliness of a police report. Her books are different from every book out there because the officers bare themselves to her; many of the interviews end in tears because they have opened up something that is very difficult to close.

Karen Solomon is a graduate of Eckerd College and blogs as The Missing Niche. Her writing has been featured on PoliceMag.com and To Write Love on Her Arms. She lives in New England with her husband, 2 children and 2 dogs. Proceeds of her latest book, Hearts Beneath the Badge, will be donated to law enforcement charities.

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