By Stacy Thacker, University of Montana

This week was the season finale of Navajo Cops and I missed it! I'm not sure how many of you out there were in the same twilight zone I was in but when I checked the TV guide it was all about how to survive an apocalypse or something of the sort.

How to survive a missed episode of Navajo Cops would have been more appropriate for me. Although I am sad to have missed the last episode I have to say it doesn't change how great of a season it was. Seeing the Navajo Cops in action for the first time was so intriguing and I can say from personal experience that this was overall a nail-biting season.

The cops took us with them up a rocky mountain side as they hunted the "Howler," they showed us that fair time on the Navajo Nation is an alternate bizarro world and while we learned of the pains of many families and abuse we were also taught the values of culture and tradition. We were also taught the difficulties the Navajo Nation police face that include the small number of officers, having to travel great lengths for calls and essentially being outnumbered. We were introduced to cops that gave their lives for the job and learned about them through their fellow police officers. In the case of the Toddy brothers we learned that a family bond in a job like this can remain strong. We even got to see Officer Holgate in all his handsome glory. For all of the female viewers, Officers Morgan, Tallman and Dan showed us that strong Navajo women in such a dangerous field can make us all want to become Navajo cops. There were so many featured cops that brought so much personality and character to the show, you will all be missed. My Monday nights will never be the same.

While I had never really considered the dangers of the job or all the crazy situations the cops put themselves in every time they go on duty, I can now say that I appreciate everything they do a lot more. I am able to better understand what their job requires and just how much credit they don't get. Hopefully they are getting that respect now that people have gotten to see what they do. I certainly hold a tremendous amount of respect for our Navajo Cops.

I am just as anxious as everybody else to see if there will be a second season but until then I would like to thank the Navajo Cops for letting us ride along. Ahe'hee to all the cops (featured and not featured in the show) for keeping our reservation and communities safe.

Stacy Thacker (Navajo) is from Navajo, N.M.