By Steve Pomper
All traditional or conservative Americans need to understand something very important in this battle against anti-police activists. Many continue to respond to them as political opponents rather than the sociocultural enemy they’ve become.
A recent incident in Washington State illustrates this enemy’s anti-cop pounce. The media and Black Lives Matter are attacking Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer for, what else, racism. For some 35 years, this man has served his community as a sheriff’s deputy, much of it as the public information officer (PIO), and now as the elected sheriff.
Speaking with KTTH radio host Jason Rantz, Sheriff Troyer told him no one has ever accused him of racism or filed a use-of-force complaint against him. According to Nick Bowman, at MYNorthwest.com, the sheriff became curious when he saw a car driving, stopping at his neighbors’ houses, with its lights off.
Troyer, now suspicious (as any cop would be), said he got dressed, and drove to see if he could locate the car to get the license plate (this used to be called good police work). Having already been accused of racism, he emphasized to the Times when he first looked at the car, he couldn’t see the driver’s race or gender.
Yet, they want us to believe that at 2 a.m. one morning the sheriff got out of bed and got into his car to follow a suspicious vehicle with its headlights off, driving slowly near his neighbors’ houses—because the driver was black.
The sheriff said, “I got a couple streets above me, a car blocked me in, a male jumped out. The male was very angry and mad and didn’t tell me he was a newspaper driver—he was just mad.” He later added the man threatened to “take me out.”
Sheriff Troyer called the dispatch center with his direct number. The dispatcher broadcast a priority call, likely, for a “fast back up” to all South Sound law enforcement agencies, which is typical for an officer alone, at night, with an irate subject.
The Seattle Times, in an apparent attempt to exacerbate the incident, reported that 42 units responded. Sheriff Troyer contests the number of responding units, and so do I. I highly doubt, at 2 a.m. (or 2 p.m.) 42 cops would respond. Was the Times insinuating 911 dispatched that many officers because the driver was black?
The Times likely got the total number of units assigned to every South Sound agency for that shift, then presumed every assigned officer responded, which is never the case for lots of reasons.
If the 24-year-old Sedrick Altheimer had simply told the Sheriff he was delivering newspapers, that would have ended it. I’ve been on many similar calls that ended just like that. But not these days, which is my point. From what the man told the Times, he instantly injected racism. That’s what radical identity activists and politicians have taught him to do, right?
The Sheriff said he felt threatened when Altheimer allegedly said he was going to “take me out.” Sheriff Troyer interpreted that as making a threat (was he supposed to believe the man meant take him out to Denny’s for an early Grand Slam breakfast?). He also noted to KIRO Radio that the man had called him “Sheriff,” indicating he knew Troyer was a cop.
The Times reported that Sheriff Troyer later retracted the claim the man had threatened him. However, the sheriff explained to Rantz that he’d retracted nothing. He’d just decided not to pursue threats charges, to lower the temperature of the situation. The media and BLM preferred the narrative the sheriff recanted or gave “conflicting accounts.” It’s no wonder that some media reports give readers pause for mistrust.
For example, in the above MyNorthwest.com article, the reporter writes, “The man… described to the Times that he felt he was being targeted as ‘a Black man in a white neighborhood’….” What should readers think about the writer’s sympathies? With the race he has capitalized or the one he left lower case?
When asked why Altheimer, BLM, and media would accuse him of racism, Troyer told Rantz, they’re wrong and said he’s not a racist. He added his wife is Pacific Islander. The radical anti-cop leftists are not “wrong” about you, sheriff. They’re the enemy, and they’re attacking you. It’s not organic rage. Exploiting such incidents is a proven tactic and a part of their strategy.
There is nothing you can say to change their minds. They don’t care about facts or proof, just about promoting a false anti-cop narrative. Your attempt to keep your neighborhood safe by proactively doing police work instead of turning over and going back to sleep provided the enemy an opportunity to attack law enforcement.
The sheriff may wish he had gone back to sleep or just called 911, but, at heart, he’s a cop just like the ones who would have been dispatched. He felt he could get more information, such as a license plate and maybe the driver’s description. Or perhaps he would have seen the man was just delivering newspapers, and then went back home. But he never had the chance because the man allegedly used his car to block the sheriff in and then confronted him. In reality, the man is lucky he didn’t get shot.
Is Sheriff Troyer psychic? After-the-fact reporting say the man was law abiding, but how would Troyer know? Would you bet your life that a person, allegedly driving around at 2 a.m. with his headlights off, in and out of driveways, blocks you in with his car, and then gets out yelling “I’m going to take you out,” doesn’t have evil intent?
These militant anti-cop factions are not simply ignorant or misguided folks who don’t understand the reality for officers (although they may be that as well). They are an enemy out to destroy traditional American policing, using myths, lies, false narratives, and often violence.
To not recognize when someone is at war with you puts you at a distinct disadvantage when fighting any enemy. In a war, you don’t treat the enemy as if they just don’t understand and simply need a better explanation. You defend against them as people who hate you and are trying to destroy you and what you stand for. And you, peacefully, push back.
And that’s what Sheriff Troyer is facing today. By trying to “deescalate” the situation, the media, without evidence, creates a narrative where Troyer is hedging or recanting, as if he’d done something wrong. So, the leftist media pounced.
Being the Pierce County Sheriff’s PIO for decades, most of the area news media know Sheriff Troyer and have dealt with him often. Yet, though they likely know he’s a good man and three and a half-decade public servant, sensing blood in the racialist water, they see the sheriff as expendable. Why not? After all, he’s still only a cop.