The Defective Character of a Police Officer – Frank J.

About This Speaker Tape

A garage with no water, three army cots for four people, and a hose running from a neighbor's house. This was the wreckage Frank J. called home. A former Marine sniper and police officer, Frank entered sobriety not as a humble seeker, but as an "angry, hateful man" convinced he had no defects of character. He spent years as a "soul sick" egoist, pencil-whipping suspects and nearly shooting his wife while his daughter pleaded for her life.

He describes his path to humility through a sponsor who treated him like a "grain of sand on the beach of sobriety," forcing him to shake hands with strangers outside a restroom to break his sense of entitlement. Frank admits he is still judgmental and prone to rage, but he no longer lets those defects drive him. He warns that "time doesn't make you a decent human being," only the brutal willingness to drop the image and the ego before the wreckage claims everything.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Frank J. opens with a sarcastic claim that he has no character defects.
• 5:12 Laughter: Frank describes his first 13 months of sobriety spent in angry isolation.
• 7:45 Frank describes living in a garage with his wife and daughters, eating out of a styrofoam chest.
• 12:10 Frank discusses his childhood entitlement and the 'soul sickness' of stealing and lying.
• 18:30 Frank's time as a police officer and the abuse of power.
• 23:15 A raw account of nearly shooting his wife and the intervention of his daughter.
• 28:40 Frank's greed in real estate and the 'facade' of success.
• 34:10 The process of being brought to a 'humble state' by his sponsor, including shaking hands with everyone.
• 38:20 Frank's rant on meeting etiquette, cell phones, and hats.
• 43:15 The story of throwing groceries over a woman in a store while ten months sober.
• 48:50 Frank discusses his son's life sentence in prison and the danger of the 'macho' image.
• 53:10 Closing thoughts on Chapter 5 of the Big Book and the necessity of following the path.