How many of our elected officials have achieved their positions on the shoulders of the men and women in law enforcement that have supported them? Yet, where are these same politicians in times when law enforcement may need them the most? Training budgets are cut, layoffs are threatened or actually put in place, officers operate with outdated equipment, and shifts are short on manpower.
Meanwhile, day in and day out, the same professional response is expected of law enforcement by the public and the politicians. To the credit of police officers in this country, the expected professionalism is provided. All that is asked in return is support in a time of crisis, not the cut-and-run politics the profession has witnessed the past few years.
The numbers from 2009 to the present indicate an alarming trend of homicide committed against our nation’s officers. During this same time period, politicians have launched a campaign of misinformation against public sector employees — chief among them police officers, prison employees and other emergency service personnel — citing high salaries, benefit and retirement packages. Suddenly the economic fault line that first began opening in 2008 is being laid at the feet of public employees.
Last time I checked, police officers, correctional officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, highway workers, nurses, teachers, and other hard-working public employees were not responsible for the cataclysmic fall of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Presently, the economic fault line is opening wider into a social fault line and police officers are left to deal the mess. Tempers are short these days, civility is losing ground, and government is reviled. Solutions to our collective problems will be a long time coming, and in the meanwhile, police officers will be on patrol. The challenge will be keeping them safe.
We know and have known the risk, it is part of the profession but it has never been an acceptable risk. It is never acceptable when an officer falls; there is no permissible statistical attrition for line of duty death. Police officers are not cannon fodder for their municipal coffers.
With Freedom Comes Responsibility
There is a breakdown in social decorum which police officers witness daily. Officers are challenged like never before — a recent news story showed a fight at a basketball game that erupted when a father took exception at a school officer asking his daughter to move aside from a doorway. A melee ensued with the mother joining in the fight. It was quite an example for our youth who already believe they can do and say whatever they please without consequence.
Why are police being depicted as pigs at the public trough?
Pride, Integrity, and Guts
When cops of an earlier generation were called “Pigs” those cops reminded the public that P-I-G stood for Pride, Integrity, and Guts. That may sound a little corny now, but then again, maybe it is just what the public needs to hear and be reminded of today.
Maybe the politicians and the public need to be constantly reminded of the good and heroic work our nation’s officers do. The Justice Department recently announced it would study the cause of the increase in police officer homicides. This is a good step but one that should not be overburdened with months of analysis and a nice glossy report at the end. Action is needed more than words.
Working Without Backup
When we talk of backup for an officer there is a common understanding of one officer or a number of officers responding to call to assist another officer. But backup for our officers can come in other forms, and right now, that backup is desperately needed. Support from elected officials, support from police administrators, and support from the public would go a long way toward keeping officers safe. Our collective attitudes of support, fostering of community and civility need to be a new contagion for good. We owe it to those we ask to protect us.
Again, the words of Tom Nees are poignant. “...when officers lay their heads on their pillows at the end of the day, these men and women who are out there willing to risk their lives for people they don’t know — they deserve some respect.”
Unfortunately, there are those in public office who are doing little to foster that respect for our nation’s officers.
Take for instance the example of Ohio Governor John Kasich who after being ticketed by a Columbus police officer publicly called him an “idiot.” This affront comes in a year for Ohio which began with a deputy losing her life to suspect gunfire and another officer being wounded responding to the same incident.----->
I am always lecturing about training issues and the importance of up-to-date training for liability mitigation. But now, more important than any potential lawsuit, is the life of a police officer. Training, funding, commitment to officer safety (in deed and in funding, not just words), is what is required. The veiled hate speech which some government leaders are aiming at law enforcement and other public employees needs to end.
ORIGINAL SOURCE
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