Andre Owen knows that a day in the life of an officer is no easy task. As a Police Constable, he also knows just how hard members of law enforcement around the world work to keep people safe.
Of course, hardworking folks like our cops and officers need a break sometimes.
They might save lives and seem like superheroes, but they’re still only human.
When Police Constable Owens took a break, he’d been working for seven hours straight and still had a 100-mile drive and paperwork to complete.
He knew he had to eat to get him through the next few hours of his shift so he made a quick stop at Burger King.
Unfortunately, one woman in the restaurant didn’t care about that. Shockingly, she decided to shame Owen by calling him out for buying food during his shift.
PC Owen got himself a burger, soda and coffee and got ready to return to his car and make the long journey back to his station when a woman said to him:
“Whilst you’re in here stuffing your face, there’s criminals that need catching out there.”
That’s when the officer unleashed the best response possible.
Shaken by how the woman reacted to him taking a moment to eat after spending seemingly endless hours helping others, Owen took to Twitter to share his story.
He said the lady who had slammed him for buying food had stared at him while he waited to pick up his order and then hit him with the comment.
PC Owen’s tweet went viral with thousands coming out in support of the hard working officer. Owen, who had worked for the Sussex Police for five years, got more attention than he ever imagined.
“I put it on Twitter and the tweet gathered so much momentum with such positive support. The tweet wasn’t for sympathy, but to show the public the reality behind what is commonplace in the UK,” he said, according to the Evening Standard.
Speaking with The Mirror, the police officer explained that he’d had an incredibly busy day before the woman shouted at him.
It was 2 pm that day, and he was tired, hungry, and ready to finish his shift at 3 pm.
“Five minutes after starting my shift, I was assigned to a serious job in Brighton. I dealt with that and then had to drive nonstop to Oxford as part of the same job, single crewed,” he said.
“Half an hour into the return journey, I stopped at a service station for my first toilet stop of the day! While there, I also got a double whopper meal, apple pie, Coke and a cappuccino.”
It was then the unnamed female chose to make assumptions about the situation when she saw the officer in uniform.
“A lady, eating her own food, kept staring at me while I waited,” Owen recalled.
“I collected the food and as I left she said something similar to ‘while you’re in here stuffing your face, there’s criminals that need catching out there,’ I smiled, and just walked away without saying a word.”
The officer said his shift then became even longer after he offered to help a family with a broken down car extending his shift to 12 hours.
Although it was past the end of his shift, he didn’t hesitate. Owen stopped and assisted, halting traffic and getting a couple and their children to safety.
“I then waited for recovery to pick them up, using my blue lights to provide protection to all around. It added another hour onto my already long day,” Owen explained.
Unfortunately, he still had a hundred mile journey ahead of him before he’d be back at the station. A stack of paperwork awaited him to be completed before he could go home.
He finally finished his shift at 7 pm.
“Whilst it’s long, and the lady annoyed me at the time, I love my job and on the whole, wouldn’t change it for the world,” he added.
Police ARE human too! I know so many officers can relate to PC Owen’s story, we thank him for his hard work and dedication in helping to keep our streets safe.
Most police officers do love their jobs, even when the hours are long and thankless.
It takes a great amount of commitment to risk your life for complete strangers, many of whom would despise at you for the minor offense of taking a lunch break.
