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He makes a difference every time he clocks in at work. Hopes of his help are in the air when his radio rumbles at his side. Tonight, he might stop a robbery, intervene before an argument turns ugly, or even save a life, God willing. He calls her to say good night, and good morning when he wakes up at 3 p.m. the following day. He hopes his job won’t damage their relationship.

Patrol Officer Brett Vesey, 23, of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, is constantly trying to balance his career with the rest of his life. Officer Vesey, for example, would never eat a doughnut. Too clichéd. But Brett would, and does, when offered one in exchange for an interview. Although his charm exudes confidence, Vesey admits his job sometimes worries him as much as it worries those dearest to him.

“Every night I think, ‘God, anything can happen tonight,’” Vesey said. That nervous energy motivates him to keep “getting the bad guy,” and keep hoping his loved ones are there for him.

“I know it’s what he absolutely loves to do,” said Brett’s girlfriend of three months, Erin Lockhart, 21. “Knowing that helps me to be able to support him.”

For Lockhart, a doctoral student in the College of St. Catherine’s physical therapy program, that means putting up with the crazy schedule of a first-year cop.

Vesey became a police officer in October of 2007 after completing a four-year stint as a community service officer. He works 12-hour shifts, from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m., about five days each week.

“Every night it’s different, and that’s why I like it,” Vesey said. His one complaint? He doesn’t have his own patrol car. “They keep switching me around, because I’m the effing new guy.”

It’s a role he’s been preparing for since childhood.

“We have videos of him directing traffic in our cul-de-sac when he was six years old,” said Vesey’s mom, Diane, during a recent phone conversation. “I never doubted that desire (to be a police officer) would go away.”

Vesey’s heart may have been set on law enforcement, but his mother was not. “I would support him, but I wouldn’t encourage him,” she said, admitting she tried to get her son interested in other careers.

“They all knew it was coming,” Vesey said of his family’s reaction to his career choice. “They’ve told me they’re proud…They’re supportive but worried.”

If Diane and her husband, Tom, are worried, it’s with good reason. In 2005, there were 168 violent crimes and nearly 2,000 property crimes in Brooklyn Center, according to the state’s uniform crime report. And Vesey’s family was already familiar with the dangers of the police world. When Vesey was in grade school, his second cousin, a SWAT team member in Wisconsin, was killed in the line of duty. It was a shocking real-life example of what Vesey could face as a police officer, an instance that both scared and motivated him.

Not that other, less weighty things didn’t factor into his career choice.

“It was the cool uniform, cool car and stuff,” Vesey said, “but if you’re a person who likes to do the right thing, the job’s for you.”

Although he has “never not wanted to be a cop,” Vesey admits, “there’s been stuff that’s hard to stomach.” Last year, an attempted murder case in Brooklyn Center particularly moved Vesey. A husband slashed his wife’s throat after an argument over smoking “The blood was insane,” Vesey said, remembering his arrival at the crime scene. “The thing I’ll remember most… is the mountain of blood where she was laying.” The woman survived the attack, and her husband is now in jail, Vesey said.

In spite of such horror stories, Vesey tends to speak lightly of his dangerous exploits. He laughs off the first time he had to use a Taser on an agitated suspect, and jokes that he once almost shot a mannequin because he thought it was an armed robber.

Often, Lockhart will silence Vesey in the middle of his “on the job” tales. “I know his life is at risk… I just don’t want to hear the stories. I can suppress it if I don’t hear it.”

Vesey’s mother knows that her son doesn’t tell her the difficult side of his job because “he tries to protect” her. “He is aware of the stresses his job has on family,” she said.

The women in Vesey’s life are not constantly crying into damp tissues, wrought with worry, however.

“As much as I want to worry and complain, I admire what he does so much that it overshadows everything else,” Lockhart said.

“I just let it go,” Diane said calmly. “I’m proud, but I’ll always worry. I’m a mom!”