Disclaimer: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit belongs to NBC and Dick Wolf.
When you're a rookie, everything is black-and-white. It's the good guys versus the bad guys. Plain and simple.
It's all cops and robbers to you. The good guys catch the bad guys and the bad guys go to jail.
You have visions of high-speed car chases, of pulling kids out of burning buildings, helping little old ladies carry their groceries. That's what being a police officer is all about, right?
You know that people will get hurt, but you never dream it will happen to someone you know, someone you love.
I don't know where you cross the line, from being a new, innocent rookie into a tough, seasoned, seen-it-all-and-more cop. Maybe there isn't a line.
I'm not a rookie anymore.
Now nothing is definite-it's all a big gray area. It's no longer the good guys versus the bad ones, you don't know what cop is for real, and which one is on the take. You don't know what criminal is actually guilty of what, and how they should be punished.
It's not cops and robbers anymore. Now it's cops and the murderers. Cops and the child molesters. Cops and the rapists. The bad guys don't always go to jail. And the cops don't always come out as heroes. Sometimes they don't come out at all.
Now that I think about it, I don't know when I stopped being a rookie. When does anyone stop being a rookie? Their first murder case? Their first child case? The first time they lose a partner? Maybe there isn't a definite BOOM. Maybe it's just a series of quiet, little booms, and before you know it, nothing is simple.
I'm not a rookie anymore.