This Tuesday and Wednesday At The Tiki Hut - C. Fern Cook

Joining us at the Tiki Hut today is author C. Fern Cook. Fern started out as a freelance writer in the late 90's doing articles for how-to and inspirational markets. Followed by a few short stories and poem published in 2002. "Wild Evolution" is her second novel, "South Dakota Way", an inspirational romance, was published in 2008. Fern worked as a police officer for many years, something that has helped her a great deal in her writing, and she stopped by the Tiki Hut today to tell us a bit about it.

Visit Fern's Website *** Visit Fern's Myspace *** Read Fern's Interview

Anyone leaving Fern a comment or a question today (4/15/09) will be put in a drawing for an autographed copy of her first novel - SOUTH DAKOTA WAY.

A Cop Story.
C. Fern Cook

When I became a cop, I was the first in the department to have a husband and kids. Back then there was a push to hire females. So no matter how good I was, some of my fellow officers believed I was only hired because I was a female not because I deserved the job.

That didn't stop me. I received several commendations for a job well done. One arrest for a crime in progress was particularly funny. Two high school kids set out to steal x-rated movies from a movie rental place to sell at school.

The girl friend was waiting in the car a few stores down with the parking lights on eating potato chips in the driver's seat. It was past midnight and all the stores were closed. So I stopped to see what she was doing there. About then the alarm went off for the movie rental store. I handcuffed the girl to the steering wheel and told her not to leave.

The boyfriend came running around the corner from the back of the stores with an arm load of videos. He saw the cop car, dropped the videos and ran. I simply chased him with cop car until he was too tired to run anymore. When I came back to store, the girlfriend was still waiting in the car handcuffed to the steering wheel. I was amazed she didn't drive away.

The thing I liked most about being a cop was the stuff you would run into a daily basis. There is no way you could make up the stories people told you for excuses for the crimes they had done.

There are many reasons people become cops. Mine was because when I was arrested as a juvenile I felt the officer really cared about what would happen to me. You can't change the world, but you can help one person at a time. That is what I tried to do when I was a cop.

After seven years on the force I started to get burnout. I was angry because I would arrest people for burglary or breaking into cars or assault and they would get probation. But if I wrote someone a traffic ticket for speeding they would be fined and have their car insurance go up or maybe even lose their license. The people getting traffic tickets usually received more punishment than real criminals. I decided that was not justice and no longer wanted to be a part of that system. I don't regret quitting, but I do wish the system worked better.