Recent reports explored the stand up and step forward bravado of future cops training at the police academy and active-duty law enforcement officers continuing to do the job despite the insidious harangue of anti-cop vocal chords blasting hate via bullhorns.
Despite the din-makers’ heaping hatred for all-things-police, new cops are hitting the streets and, as we will examine, their passion is rather undaunted by the corrosive climate and mindful of public service applications.
Those newly-minted cops fresh out of the academy and into the moving target otherwise known as a police cruiser are talking about their decisions to join a highly criticized profession unsupported by political progressives, and what their intent is while wearing a badge, gun, ballistic vest, and a metaphorical bullseye.
From our friends at Bolster the Blue, we have the following sentiments sizing up what it is to be a cop in present-day society: “People are killing people in Fairfax County, but there’s nothing to see here, folks. Why you may wonder? Perhaps it’s because we have a Commonwealth Attorney who acts as an aggressor rather than an ally to our officers and a plethora of special interest groups pushing a progressive agenda to our Board of Supervisors. Police officers aren’t policing; they’re self-preserving, and bad guys aren’t afraid when they’re protected by progressive reformists.” BINGO! But I’ll add that there is a fusion of policing/self-preserving, and the combo is not novel—the latter is heightened because the former is under constant fire, in some case literally.
I dare say: the quoted sentiments are the burgeoning norm in mostly Democrat-controlled jurisdictions. A cursory fact-check mission crystalizes that outlook. Look at Virginia, and its newly-legislated bills prohibiting law enforcement officials from doing traditional police work while also minimizing penalties for assaulting LEOs. It’s astonishing that anyone would take up the challenge of policing, and that’s the point.
After the oft-questioned shooting involved in the Breonna Taylor case —and its subsequent eruption of rioting and hugely scaled violence instead of examination of fact-patterned analysis— Louisville police officers were seemingly recognized for their gallantry and bravado and professional prowess for enduring in-your-face volatile anti-coppers parading around like gangsters. LPD began to deplete.
Recently, the Louisville government approved a sizeable increase in the starting salary for Louisville Metro PD applicants, securing a contract for current officers while also incentivizing aspiring cops to replace the “droves” which departed its police force amid the chronic riots and indifferent stances over the Breonna Taylor shooting.
I find this intriguing. Under the same circumstances involving unrelenting riots and absolute destruction, other cities continue the downward spiral of allowing these hostile factions to roam the streets like “Mad Max” movie extras while spectating from the offices at city hall and tacitly denouncing cops with prohibitions dissuading cops from the law-and-order mission.
Some of these hugely hypocritical government officials (ahem, foes) are in the news, justly outed for who they really are: Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who happily trumpeted the “defund the police” invective and keeps trying to push cops from society like an out-of-control bulldozer, decried a minor disagreement (open car window, fashioned as such due to COVID) with a Lyft driver and thought it appropriate to summon help (via 9-1-1, no less!) from the police she wishes were goners. For reals…no joke!
The synopsis is mindboggling: Ms. Hardesty refused to exit the Lyft driver’s car per his request, then said that although she was “scared” to call the police, she felt she had to do so because the driver already mentioned he was intending to dial 9-1-1. There must be an empty seat in the kindergarten class.
Per the Portland Tribune, Ms. Hardesty’s exact words were, “I knew that having him call the police would put me in danger. And so that’s why I proactively called 911.”
Did we mention that Ms. Hardesty reportedly oversees Portland’s 9-1-1 system? The very troops and cavalry which respond to bona fide 9-1-1 calls for serious help are the same folks she denounces and wishes were nothing but ash. (Assuming she got her way and cops were no more, wouldn’t that effectively dissolve her 9-1-1 oversight role?)
Incidentally, neither the Lyft driver nor Commissioner Hardesty had a viable reason to call 9-1-1: none of what has been reported even remotely amounted to an “emergency.” From the accounts I read and the following audio tape recording of the actual 9-1-1 conversation between Hardesty and the public safety call-taker, Portland’s 9-1-1 dispatcher handled the matter most appropriately and informed Ms. Hardesty that her impasse with the Lyft driver constituted a “civil agreement” and not anything warranting an urgent response by any public safety official. You’d think Commissioner Hardesty would certainly know that…but perhaps self-importance overrode logic and rational considerations.
Did you catch her assertion at the 1:13 mark: “…this is not a police issue” after which she rambled and claimed she was not going to leave the man’s car (per his rightful request)? Ordinarily, such an obstinate stance teeters on the threshold of Trespassing. She then adds, “He can’t go anywhere because I’m not moving until another [Lyft] car comes, so…” That recorded verbiage amounts to holding the driver against his free will while also impeding his means of economic sustenance.
Cops deal with these sorts all…the…time. And that segues back to our subject matter today.
George Bernard Shaw once coined a philosophical point with applications to the law enforcement institution and the naysayers who wish it wiped from the planet: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
Booyah!
Distill from Mr. Shaw’s statement what you will; there may be a few potential interpretations beyond Mr. Shaw’s gist. For our purposes, we focus on the will and inherent desire to make things better despite the negative Nancy types populating the airwaves with static and annoyance…those to whom Mr. Shaw alludes to as folks who have unsustainable expectations of the world morphing to suit their whims. Tantrums ensue…while others get busy buffering the tin.
In varying cities across the country, a new batch of police officers hit the streets recently, and those interviewed expressed their intent to have the support of the American public.
As one recent Dallas police academy graduate stated, “I want people to need us again.” The weight of that statement serves as a barometer signaling where we have been, where we are, and where we wish to go from here—troubled times fueled by people the likes of Ms. Hardesty have needlessly and recklessly tossed obstacles in the way of public safety tenets and the practitioners who are responsible for law and order, even if it means self-sacrifice.
Among myriad character traits and skills cops bring to the public safety table, well-meaning is paramount. And you can hear it in the voices (”being part of the conversation”) and see it in the eyes of these brave new law enforcement officers who are stanchioned to support strangers needing assistance navigating the often-complex constructs of American society. Even an elected official who adamantly refuses to exit a privately-owned automobile because the open window was to help combat COVID.
Lord knows the lurking perils stemming from recent legislation in Oregon whereby folks are within their legal rights to push poisonous narcotics into their bodies without having to worry about cops. Never mind the inherent spoils of such activities…including maybe targeting innocents waiting on a Lyft driver with closed windows. It’s dubious that Hardesty felt unsafe getting out of the Lyft driver’s car parked at a gas station located on the interstate…yet felt comfy enough getting in right in front of the casino where the ride-share driver picked her up. Gambling priorities?
In any event, it is reassuring to know that despite the movement to make anemic the police profession (or abolish it outright), noble-minded warriors don duty boots, lace them accordingly, and step into the fray while idolizing truth, justice, and the American way. We know there is plenty of kryptonite out there.
Realizing there is ample illegal firepower out there on the streets makes all new cops and current active-duty patriots targeted heroes.
Indeed, as newly minted Dallas police Officer Janine Adams said candidly, “I want people to need us again.” Respectfully, that “need” never ceased; instead, oppositionists and contrarians holding some sort of profound grudge propagandize to the contrary, and the seeds sowing hate somehow rooted deeply enough.
People need cops now and again…and infinitely thereafter.