Editorial: A calling to serve and protect

When a police officer assumes his role, it isn’t like other jobs.

He may put on a uniform. He may punch a clock. He may be “on duty” from this time until that time.

And all of that might have a lot in common with other jobs. Cable installer. Postal worker. The guy who changes your oil at a discount store.

But there is something very different about a police officer’s job.

Because it’s not a job. It’s a calling.

Some work transcends schedules and requires people who always feel the weight of their duty whether they are being paid or not. The best cops are like that. Whether in uniform or not, the drive to serve and protect is more than just words stenciled on their cruisers. It’s a mantra burned into their hearts.

That is why a death like Pittsburgh police Officer Calvin Hall’s is such a blow.

Hall was one of those cops. The kind who might not be working, but was still on duty.

He died after being shot three times in the back at a neighborhood block party.

It was the kind of thing where people were just having fun. But accounts say an argument arose between two people Hall didn’t know.

He could have walked away. He could have let them sort it out for themselves. He could have called 911 and let it be someone else’s problem. Someone who was on duty. Someone who was on the clock.

He didn’t.

“He died for the cause and trying to protect somebody else that had nothing to do with us,” said Hall’s cousin, Dion Bowles.

In a way, Hall’s last act came after his death and even after his emotional final roll call ceremony Saturday. It came Monday when police arrested Christian Bey, 30, in connection with the shooting. Police used Hall’s handcuffs in making the arrest.

That level of commitment is what makes someone the model officer Chief Scott Schubert called Hall. It’s the difference between someone doing what is asked and someone doing what needs to be done.

Hall was laid to rest Tuesday.

His family will miss him forever. The men and women he worked with every day will feel that loss, too.

But we should all honor his service, his commitment and his sacrifice by following his example. We might not be called upon to be heroes, but we could make it our job to serve and protect each other a little more.

Maybe being a cop isn’t everyone’s calling, but being better neighbors can be.