From the internet : 
~ Here is a true story. I have gone anonymous because I can still be affected by this event.
I was pulled over on the side of the highway about a year after getting out of the military. I was having nightmares, extremely bad nightmares, and I was living in my car. My insurance ran out and I was fighting with the VA to get help. I got to the point where I had no access to medicine and I was afraid to go to sleep.
I started smoking marijuana based on new emerging studies showing that it helps with depression and sleeplessness.
So there is obviously some in my “house" that I'm driving around in. A state trooper pulled me over, smelled marijuana and had me in a pinch. He had a K-9 with him, so basically I was in shit's creek.
Had this trooper not been in for 18 years, and seen how useless and destructive the war on drugs is, he easily could've had me dead to rights. I was on the wrong side of the law and we both knew it.
Instead, he talked to me. He found out a little about my situation and did something very different. He gave me a second chance. He knew a drug charge would terminate all of my benefits. He now knew that I was struggling with issues that forced me to act out of desperation.
He had me throw my bag of weed into the woods, and then asked me when the last time I had eaten was. The answer was yesterday. Mind you, it's 10:30pm at this moment.
This trooper radioed in he was taking his lunch break, or whatever it is he had to do, and then highly suggested I follow him down the road to McDonalds.
He bought me a meal, and sat down and ate with me. We talked about life, and how the VA was beyond difficult to work with. How I was trying to enroll in college on my GI Bill but it was nigh impossible without a physical address.
I was a mess, and you probably should never have a conversation with a police officer like the one I had. I admitted things that he definitely could have charged me for, but instead he took pity on my struggles and helped me out.
After eating, he filled up my gas tank, once again on his dime, and gave me his personal cell phone number. It was sobering.
Fast forward three months and I was going for another job interview, and no money in my pocket. I scrounged up every last penny to get to this interview. I had no references to give out, so I called the Trooper.
To my surprise, he said to use him as a reference. I don't know what he said to my employer, but after three dozen interviews I finally got a job.
Because of that job, I was able to save up and get my own place. I was able to use my GI Bill and now I have a beautiful fiancee, a beautiful daughter, and a dwelling to call home. I can support my family and get the help and support I need to handle my own issues. I write heavily on Quora about my experiences and have over 500 answers now.
If it were not for this Trooper lacking a “straight edge” mentality then I would be in a very different place right now. Straight edge is just as evil as being dirty, neither one looks to correct the problems that force honest people into being criminals.
Not being a straight edge cop is not the same as being a dirty cop. Right in the middle of that spectrum is where you will find the “good cops.”
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I do like these feel good post of yours.
