Despite all the nasty noise and constant police-centric epithets jarring the minds of law enforcement officers, it is reassuring that they keep vigilance over duty-bound responsibilities. It is equivalently noble and with significant intestinal fortitude that these same public servants solemnly honor their fallen and stay in the fight against evil.
Whether it is an innate trait or an intuitive facet, despite all the noise and ugliness, cops are stalwart figures who manage to maintain acute focus in the face of mortality being challenged and erased right before their eyes. No matter one’s profession, it isn’t logical that many ponder losing a colleague to tragic circumstances stemming from hate-mongers seeking to destroy living things…at least not like cops.
Throughout most of my reading this past weekend, the tsunami of disdain for our nation’s police professionals dedicated to enforcing law and maintaining order is glaringly obvious. At least the threats mostly self-identify and make the job for cops relatively easy versus trying to detect hordes of cloaked and camouflaged maniacs. Then again, to some degree, the COVID-era mask-wearing stipulations seem to detract from that last statement. Nevertheless, law enforcers are out there and trying to mitigate matters with fever-pitch intensity and keen eyes.
It seems a gargantuan stain to accept that America is under attack, mostly from domestic terrorism fueled by fallacies proffered from radical-minded foes. Yet it is as real as the sun, only quite dark and macabre.
Hatred is in the arterial flows of many nowadays. And that is endemically sad. Whether because of politics, mental disease, selfishness, or any manner of spoils one may adopt, it is bizarrely tense out there. Ever have such constant exposure to surreal, deep-seated hate? Cops have as a professional norm, only elevated to high altitude with fiery attitudes lately. And it is one of many layers police personnel must acknowledge and navigate, safely, to mitigate seemingly untenable missions.
A police cohort on the east coast beat posted some thought-provoking statements; in one he offered these words: “If we let evil dictate the rules, how can the good in us prevail.” Several interpretations can derive from his statement. One is that America’s cops are not ever going to lay down their arms, unpin their shield, and simply walk away. Not gonna happen. Yet, mongers barking for exactly that is a stark reality.
The anti-police noise emanating from many of our cities is misguided and dictatorial, bull-horning malicious propaganda and sowing discord, consequently spearheading extinction of cops.
Without fail, though, the cacophony of crazed citizens is always met with the cadence of heroes headed in the direction of danger(s).
Because of that hatred, fine men and women died. Those same fine men and women were honorably buried in Class-A law enforcement uniforms preceded by all the inherent honors of a battle-born and battle-killed member of service to community and country.
Throughout our great nation’s existence, cops have stood as the pinnacle of safe harbors, like a lighthouse watching over unforgiving seas and the distressed ships tossed about the massive swells—a beckoning beacon toward which those ships can direct their potential salvation. That’s just one analogy symbolizing what most Americans feel with the sight of a police officer.
I recall the occasions when citizens under duress reached out to police for help; those same victims reached out their hands when hatred was abated, when matters were settled peacefully. Some of the longest and most sincere handshakes in my lifetime were from police-summoners, and that is what makes the job so enriching, even amid chaotic activities perpetuated by anti-cop ideologues.
It’s ironic that among all the targets being yanked into this “cancel culture” riptide, atop the list is law enforcement—the very people who will aid friend and foe alike. Equally ironic (impressive) is that that very constitutional institution purposed for law and order keeps kicking despite the chronic onslaught from hateful tongues.
No, these gallant humans sworn to protect and preserve forge forward and create pathways for resolve (even in the face of naysayers), avail themselves for discussions, and remain receptive to “reimagining police” dialogue. Frankly, reimagining the police could justly materialize in dividends for police (such as modernized equipment and infinite training, both of which not only help cops but also the citizens they serve and the victims for whom they are fashioned). At the same time, they are saving lives and honoring those whose courageous presence on the field of operations did not make it home.
While BLM is painted across city streets and on walls, while Antifa anarchists wield spray-paint cans and ugly up walls with hateful anti-cop characterizations, LEOs are quietly praying over their fallen comrades in cemeteries and police monuments all across the land.
To the cadres of cops who continue to show up on the brutal beat and in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and odds, hats off to you! To the police officers who maintain vigil over the headstones of our heroes, we salute you.
To the decentralized cop commemorations and police tributes dotting the American landscape, the pledge “never forgotten” preceded 9/11 and has since been bannered much more widely. That pledge is galvanized not by mere words but bolstered by actions. And those actions are most evident among law enforcement officers who bow heads and pay respects to those whose heroic deeds were not in vain.
Cops are one of several links in the chain we call the criminal justice system. And sometimes the very same system among which cops are a one component is frayed to the extent bona fide criminals are unloosed to roam with hateful heads deploying dirty deeds, the worst of which is ambushing and killing law enforcers.
In that regard, a cop from the west coast pays homage to one slain on the east coast. An LAPD police veteran offered the following tribute to a Philly policeman whose life was ended while doing good things: “Robert Wilson III was a Philadelphia Police sergeant. He was also black. He was murdered in 2015 when he walked into a GameStop to buy a gift for his son and interrupted a robbery. He shielded two other customers as he was shot, saving their lives.
“Robert Wilson III was an American hero. He was the epitome of all that a police officer and all that an American should be. This is what happened to his memorial overnight.
“It should outrage everyone, —white, black, brown, Republican, Democrat— everyone.”
The police sergeant who wrote that rightly incorporated the message: “All that an American should be.”
Indeed, some get it…others refuse to. Never forgetting their brothers/sisters who championed overcoming society’s challenges, the former wear uniforms representing justice on behalf of those accosted by the latter.
Ask any cop about a fallen comrade; you will get a new friend with a story to impact your life and everyone in it.
As far as I’m concerned, police tributes and annual commemorations deserve equal recognition and attention as policing a freedom-loving society requires, amounting to nothing shy of 24/7/365.