It may not be evident, but children of a police officer go through a lot of struggles, even though they are not actually out in the world of police. Not knowing if your mother or father will come home that night or in the morning can be a very frightening thing to think about. Sophomore Kayla Neff is one of many who deals with this everyday and has been all of her life.

Neff’s father, Officer Neff of Wake Village Police Department, has been a policeman for 13 years. He started out as a police officer in Queen City and has been one ever since.

“My dad works nights, so he sleeps during the day and he has to be at work at a certain time, so I hardly get to see him,” Neff said. “He’s off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so while I’m at school and he’s off all day, I don’t get to see him much. He kind of makes it a point to at least be there for dinner.”

The thought of having a cop as a father may be fun, but it can also be quite scary at times.

“He works for Wake Village PD, so [police brutality] hasn’t affected us much,” Neff said. “It’s not a secret, I think the whole town knows, we now have riot gear. So that’s pretty much the only thing I know about. People are getting crazy, blaming cops and say that they’re not doing their job.”

It’s not only police brutality that police deal with, but it’s also everyday things that cops can get flack about.

“If you get pulled over for a speeding ticket, they’re like, you know, why aren’t you chasing the real criminals,” Neff said. “A lot of people take it as, since they pay taxes, they pay my dad’s paycheck, they see it more as ‘I’m your boss’ kind of thing.”

Being the daughter of a policeman may make you worried all of the time, whether your dad or mom is stressed, or even as far as will they come home. Work can be stressful and cause everyone to worry in the family, even if it isn’t brought home.

“We don’t really talk about [work] much,” Neff said. “I just know it is a lot of stress, because I am a daddy’s girl, so I can kind of see it. I know that there’s a lot of stuff going on that he doesn’t really bring home because as much stress as I understand is on him, I’m a worrier, so if he brings it home, I would worry, too. And that was when things in Ferguson and things in New York, and all of this stuff is happening, and, you know, Wake Village, they’re not going to outbreak like that, but what if he gets called out to Texarkana. So there’s always that fear.”

The fear of her father not coming back in the morning is very real for Neff.

“I’ll see the stuff in the news, and my dad may not be in the military, but there’s always still that chance that he might not come back in the morning,” Neff said. “Officers get shot, even not too long ago, one got hit by a patrol car. There’s things that can happen all the time. It’s just something that you have to sit down and pray about. So, we all worry together.”

The life of a child of a police officer can be pretty scary, but it’s a day by day learning experience, and also cherishing those special moments that you do have together.

“We’ve always said, ‘We’re going to worry about the things we can control,” Neff said. “We all worry together and just have fun with the moments we do have together.”