If you’re like me, the Christmas season was something to really look forward to after a year rocked by COVID-based uncertainty. Yet, many unknowns loom.
It’s not as if when the New Year’s Eve odometer slowly turns from 2020 to 2021 that all will be well. To the contrary; we have many unsolved problems, one of which is how American society sees its cops and how police officers are expected to navigate the often turbulent and murky waters while trying feverishly to satisfy the oath and fulfill needs of citizens.
Politically, we now have some bizarre decisions made by elected officials who seem to have a panache for pander…playing chess with cops as pawns so as to please anti-police constituents. Not very moral or ethical or righteous, but those same folks who pedestal these politicos are the same ones who will find themselves in the crosshairs of criminals. So now what? Call the cops? Or contact the electeds to complain about feeling unsafe?
2020 has not been the only year whereby we witnessed some surreal behaviors and unprecedented paradigm shifts to boggle the mind…but the year sure has been bloated with absolutely outrageous antics, defying logic at every turn.
In all of this, cops were plastered on cell phones, laptops and TV screens portraying them being chronically lambasted from many who have no earthly idea what it is like to deliver police services, more specifically, wittingly putting one’s life on the line. Trying to understand hatred is quite different than actually condoning it.
The proverbial alphabet soup was stewed with new acronyms, most completely underserving of the attention and unwarranted in their screamed scope of supposed concerns. BLM. AOC, ACAB, to name a few.
People took hostage tracts of public property and gave names like CHOP and CHAZ, all while respective mayors did nothing and ensured cops stood idle…until it was way too deep.
Albeit biased as a retired LEO, it both boggles my mind and gives my facial cheeks rise when I ponder the decibel level from anti-police mouths who either coincidentally were not exposed to the millions of good deeds performed by police unfolding daily across America…or just chose to act as if they were mirages.
In all of this, it doesn’t really matter if the naysayers regarding law enforcement noticed anything worthy; it is the recipients who were bestowed whatever help or kindness or befriending which matters most anyway.
One undeniable facet maintained throughout 2020, and will likely hold steady through 2021: cops keep showing up when the alarms sound and matters are out of hand. Nashville, Tennessee bombing is the latest phenomenal example.
We’ve watched countless episodic materials whereby police personnel suited up and rushed into unmistakable peril in territories bannered with anti-police flagging and individuals emboldened by anarchistic climates fanned by a variety of disorderly so-called revolutionists (some of whom had the backing of either tacit or outspoken political figures). Pretty disgusting dimensions…but cops forged forward on behalf of the majority which know better than to align with barbaric behavior under the guise of progressivism or whatever name they demand.
As “police reform” proceeds and considerations given to citizens’ ideations of what their police force ought to look and perform like, one stalwart feature remains: The covenant to protect and serve (and save).
Naturally, American citizens know the score, they realize cops are often placed in climates controlled/abused by politics, and folks who stand with LEOs are diplomatically making it known that the oft-noted silent majority are more or less pseudo-deputized folks who wish for the country’s cancers (BLM, Antifa, corrupt poles, the Grinch) to be eradicated once and for all.
Of course, our cover photo is a caricature to emphasize the season of giving, cheer, and good will toward all. But in context of our times, the animation in serious concept denotes the fact that our law enforcement professionals handle everything thrown at them —especially oddities— and that projects the readiness and vows preambled in our Constitution and its promises of safety, freedom, and sanctity promised by all of the nation’s relatively meager number of cops.
Cops handled everything with vigor and without fail, and that is a steady feature which we look forward to maturing even further in 2021 and beyond.