Woman comforted by Wichita police officer as a child writes to say thank you

It was one of the darkest, scariest nights of Tiffany Adams’ young life.

She was 5 years old when police came and arrested her mother for fighting with a boyfriend, she remembers.

When no relatives could be found to take care of her, an officer stayed with Tiffany and took her to the Wichita Children’s Home. Officials there asked for Tiffany to undergo a medical evaluation, so the same officer carried her to her patrol car and took her to the hospital.

Once there, the officer never left her side.

“It’s not like there was anything spectacular about the call,” Adams said Tuesday. “But for me, it was life changing. Just the way she was there for me. She was very nurturing and helped keep me calm.

“She was kind of the calm place in all of that chaos.”

For Officer Tricia Tiede, who was in her first year as a police officer, it was just another night on the job. She didn’t think about it after that.

But Tiffany, even though she didn’t know the officer’s name, never forgot her. And as she grew up, she thought about how she would thank her one day.

Along the way, she decided she wanted to be like her, too.

After Adams, now 23, graduates from Western Iowa Tech Community College next month, she said she will start applying to law enforcement agencies around Iowa and Nebraska in hopes of becoming a law enforcement officer.

“My goal in life is to make that same impact on someone else,” Adams said.

She had another goal, too: Writing a letter of appreciation to the police officer who was with her that night so many years ago. It’s a letter she’s been thinking about most of her life.

She contacted the Wichita Police Department through its Facebook page and wrote that she wanted to find the officer who had helped her. She didn’t remember her name or the year it happened, but police officials used Adams’ name and her mother’s name to track down the incident in their records.

That scary night was in 1997, Adams said, and Tiede was the officer. Adams sent her letter by e-mail.

“I feel kind of silly sending this but I would like to say thank you,” the letter begins.

Adams recounted her trip to the Children’s Home and then the hospital.

“You were the officer that transported me and stayed with me through the few hours that I was at the hospital being evaluated,” she wrote. “During this incident, you displayed characteristics that have stuck with me through the past 18 years. Your demeanor, not only as an officer but a caring human being, has had a profound effect on my life.”

Tiede, 44, said she didn’t remember that night or the little girl until she looked up the case again.

“I didn’t think twice” about what she did for Tiffany that night, Tiede said. Comforting her just seemed to be the right thing to do.

“At that time, I also had a 5-year-old,” Tiede said, so she had a good sense of what Tiffany would be thinking and feeling.

“In May, I will be graduating from college with the hopes of beginning my career in law enforcement,” Adams’ letter continued. “I’m often asked what made me decide on this career. My answer has always been that at one point in time, I had an encounter with an officer that had such an impact on me that it made me want to have that same impact on someone else. I understand that it is unlikely to ever hear back from the people that you’ve helped but I did want you to know that as a police officer you have had a lifelong impact on someone.

“All that I can tell you is that for a scared five year old, you offered a place of comfort and safety. Your caring attitude is something that I strive to always have in dealing with people. You are appreciated, Officer Tiede, thank you for making the world a better place.”

Tiede called the letter “pretty touching.”

“I guess that made the 19 years (as an officer) worth it,” she said.

Tiede said she’s impressed that a 5-year-old would remember something like that so vividly.

“You hear the negativity all the time” as a police officer, Tiede said. “It is nice to hear the positive once in a while. Not that that’s why you do the job.

“Even though family members were arrested there, that’s what she remembers. That’s pretty neat.”

Adams, who said she is the first person in her family to graduate from college, knows her chosen career path is a dangerous and unpopular one. She said her mother, who returned to Wichita a few years ago after living in Iowa, has told her, “You can change your mind, you know. You don’t have to be a cop.”

And even her son, who is 5 now, is a bit scared of his mother being an officer.

“You can’t turn on the news without there being a shooting” of a police officer, Adams said. “He told me, ‘Mom, I don’t really want you to do it. You have to carry a gun.’”

She told him, “I have to carry a gun because I have to protect people.”

Those qualms won’t deter her from her chosen path, Adams said. Neither does the fact that she’s the mother of two young children.

“For me,” she said, “it’s worth the risk.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Woman comforted by Wichita police officer as a child writes to say thank you."