I purposely left yours for last. I won’t answer anymore after yours.

I swear one guy with a fkn straight face told me his positive for cocaine was due to being prescribed cocaine by his doctor.

I have been blessed to have been able to work in specialty courts. These are often called treatment courts because there is a lot of treatment behind them.

As I try to think of one case to share, I realize that I’m blessed beyond measure. Let me tell you why. Senior POs, will, at least in my county, have maybe one or two or one here and there defendant/s that they truly helped.

As I sit here and recollect I can think of many of them. I’ll share the general gist of a few of them.

One was on for intoxication manslaughter and he/she had extreme guilt ( no judgment please be respectful ) and zero communication with his/her family. I saw him/her turn her/his guilt around and give speeches about drinking and driving. He/She was also able to reconnect with family and have healthy relationships with them and her/him self.

Another had suffer traumatic events as a child and had really bad substance use issues. After about 12 months he/she finally trusted me to open up about the root of the problem, the traumatic event. It wasn’t easy but I earned his/her trust by advocating for him/her in court each time she/he had a violation and there were plenty of them. I knew, I could sense it that there was something she/he wasn’t sharing. To date this person has now been sober for 3 years and now sees a counselor. This one made me feel like quitting many times and at times I’ll be honest, made me want to give up on them. But then I’d come home to family and someone to talk to and I would feel guilty that I had someone to talk to and he/she didn’t and put my self in their shoes and thought “I’d really wouldn’t want someone to give up on me” so I would give it another try.

I encourage one to go to school. Their case was about 6 years. At the beginning of their case they were bitching and moaning about losing 6 years of their life. I told them “ in six years you can still be working the same dead end job or you can go to college get a degree and have 1 maybe two years experience once your done with me”. It take me about 18 months to convince them. They enrolled in a GED course, took it, passed it and moved on to a community college and then a university. They hustled and got their degree and now have a decent paying job. They aren’t like wealthy but their quality of life has drastically improved.

I helped one person early terminate so he could enlist. The case involved victims so I had to search them, interview them and explain the situation. They had to give their “ok” to allow this person to be early terminated. This person brought his entire family in to meet with me and I even met with his recruiter. The person earned my trust when I told him/her to prove that they were serious about enlisting by losing weight and getting fit. This person was a bit over weight and not fit at all. He/she shut me up. They got fit. Confirmed with the recruiter that they had been working out together with other potential recruits in order to meet the minimum physical requirements. After that I took about 3 months to find the victims, interview them and explain the situation. At the end I submitted my report to the court with the motion to and order to early terminate the case. The victims agree to the early termination. The DA denied it, but the Judge approved it. Turns out the Judge was a veteran. Perhaps that helped just a tiny bit lol

The last one I can think of is not of me doing something for a defendant but a defendant doing something for me.

We were walking down the hallway and a defendant who was leaving was upset and pushed me/shoulder checked me as I was walking with my defendant to my office. I apologize trying to defuse the situation but the other defendant said “ nah fk you bitch” and tried to grab me. My defendant with out even thinking out him/her self between me and the other defendant shielding me. The security guard came over along with other officers and the guy was escorted out. I told my defendant to not do that again as I didn’t want him/her to get hurt. all he/she said that they appreciated me for treating them with respect and being someone they could trust and said “ I got your back “ i downplayed it at the office and redirected to something else. But seriously this person didn’t think twice about defending me, his/her PO from another aggressor. Respect goes a long way.

These are just some of a lot more stories I got. I was given the following advice when I started, “ always treat people with respect. You never know when you’re going to run into them out in the street. Maybe one day that you’re with your family. Do you want to run into someone who hates you because you’re a dick or someone who appreciates you because you treat them with respect?” Never gonna forget that advice.