Life as a Law Enforcement Family

Law enforcement officers go to work and risk their lives every day for the safety of others, leaving their families at home with the possibility of never seeing their loved ones again, but their families do not see it that way.

When people see officers working or in their uniforms, all they see is just a cop; in reality, they are real people with real lives just doing their jobs like every other person.

Amie Wood, the wife to Deputy Thomas Wood who works for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, explained that when her husband goes to work, she is not left with a worried feeling about never seeing him again or something bad happening to him. To her and her family, it is just a regular job.

“When he leaves for work, it is not any different than anyone else leaving for work,” Amie stated when asked how she felt when her husband leaves. “We live it every day, so to us, it is just another day of work.”

Thomas’ sister Cyndi Alford felt the same way and said, “I really think of his job just like a regular job. All jobs have risks, some more than others, but you just have to give it to God and keep moving forward.”

Everyone has a job and they work to support their families; it might not be the same job, but it is for the same reason.

Amie mentioned if she worried every time her husband left for work, her life would be miserable. She has her own job to worry about, as well as the rest of her family. Worrying if her husband was safe would cause her to constantly be checking her phone and the news, and she would not be able to function like everyone else.

Thomas’ mother Daphne Wood has a slightly different perspective because she does not see her son all the time.

“I don’t see him every day, but I do think about him a lot and when I do, of course, it worries me to know what could happen but I feel proud of what he’s doing more than anything,” Daphne stated.

People have the idea that law enforcement officers are always in dangerous situations because of the things that are shown on television, but to their families it is not always like that. There are so many things that law enforcement officers do when they go to work and not all of it is dangerous.

When something happens to an officer while on duty, Amie said that the worst thing that she could do is try to contact him. If she tries and does not get a fast response, that is when she begins to worry.

“I just have to wait it out because I know that he will talk to me as soon as he can,” she stated.

Alford stated, “I do worry that it could be my brother when I hear that an officer was hurt or killed. I always call to just hear his voice even after I know he is safe.”

According to Amie, every law enforcement officer has a designated person that will deliver bad news to their family if anything bad were to ever happen to them. She knows who that person is, so she keeps in mind that unless they show up, her husband is safe.

“Because he is an officer, I always feel that I am safe whenever we go somewhere, but I do not always have it in my mind that I am with a cop,” Amie noted.

She said that people look at their family and think that her husband would be super strict on their kids or overprotective because of what he does and deals with, but for their family that is not true. They treat his job as just that and for the most part, leave it at work. When dealing with their kids, they act like parents, not like the police.

Because she was able to watch them grow up from an outside perspective, Daphne said, “I think that they had more rules for their kids when they were growing up compared to my other grandkids.”

Cole Wood, Thomas’ oldest son, said he did not feel the same way his mom did about his dad leaving work at work. He, like his grandmother, thought his dad was a little more strict.

“I feel like my dad was and is still more strict than other parents probably because of his job. When I stayed at a friend’s house and was around their parents, it was a little different,” Cole stated.

When Amie thought about what she does not like about her husband’s job, there were so many things that came to her mind before the thought of being scared for his life.

“Honestly, the hardest worst part about his job for me is his schedule,” Amie stated. When Thomas goes to work, he works twelve-hour shifts and also every other weekend.

She does not get to see him as much as she would like to because when she gets off work in the afternoons, he is still at work until late at night.

Thomas also works on call some nights, so at times when he would get called out late at night, Amie would worry about his safety, but mostly because he had to drive on little to no sleep.

As with any law enforcement officer, the things that Thomas has had to deal with and see while at work have had a huge impact on his life.

“There are things that he sees while working that are difficult to deal with, so I don’t ask about what he does,” Amie said about her husband’s work.

She knows that what he does can be hard, so she doesn’t ask for details. He talks to her about stuff when he is ready and she has always been understanding and perfectly okay with that.

Amie stated, “Of course I have mixed feelings about his job sometimes, but I am so proud of what my husband does for our safety and our community.”