The other day, I was sitting at my daughter’s dance class. Watching her hip hop her heart out in all her sassy glory. Her smile when she tried to do a body roll made me so happy. So there I was, peacefully relaxed in a comfy chair in the lobby while she and the other little kids learned a routine. Listening to music on my headphones and writing on my laptop.
My thirteen-year-old son took a safe sitter course at the beginning of summer, so I have been able to leave my other two kids with him for short periods of time. Which, by the way, is freakin awesome. This particular night, he had stayed home with my youngest son, and my husband was working. All the other parents at the studio were distracted with their other kids, so I was getting some legit alone time. I love alone time.
And then I got a local news notification on my phone.
All thoughts of relaxation ended.
One hour south of where I live in Washington State, two Washington County Deputies in Oregon were shot. No, I don’t know anyone who works for the department. But it’s so close to home. I say that like this is the first time something like that happened nearby.
Earlier this year, in the county above mine, an officer was killed while responding to a call. Ambushed and murdered by the brother of a man who had killed the Chief of Police of another department in this state a few years prior. Murder runs in that family, I suppose.
A few years ago, in my very own city, one of our officers was shot seven times on a car stop. By the grace of God, he lived, and he even returned to work. These are just the most major and news-prominent stories in my area; there are countless more. People who attack the police, assault them, goad them on with verbal abuse or by throwing things at them (or dumping buckets of water on them- lookin at you, New York), and even kill them.
I get it, I’m a little bit biased on this topic. I’m a retired police officer (medically- not quite old enough to have had a full career of it yet). And I’m the daughter of a retired police officer. And I’m married to a police officer. So clearly, I have a strong opinion on the matter.
But, seriously. How is this ok? How is it basically mainstream to blatantly disregard legal authority, to attack the people who represent it, to try to kill them?
Yep. There are dirty cops. Just like there are people in every profession that aren’t ethical, or who do their jobs poorly or incorrectly. When people go to their doctor’s office, sometimes the doctor is lazy or forgetful and they don’t test someone for a specific disease or disorder that has such a simple cure and would have saved months or years of pain and discomfort. No one tries to kill the good doc. I mean, sure, they’ll probably become rich after suing the pants off of him, but the guy still gets to be alive.
Look, I’ve got zero problems with people being held accountable for their actions, police included. If they get lazy and cut corners to try to wrap up a case, if they lie, if they treat someone differently because of their gender or race or religious view, fair game. Discipline them, even fire them if necessary.
But for the love of God, don’t kill them.
Most of the officers that get killed (I say most, but that’s purely off of my memory and my perspective, so don’t go research the numbers and then call me a liar if I’m wrong) aren’t dirty cops. They’re just regular old guys and gals, just doing their jobs. Like imagine being, I don’t know, a pizza delivery guy. You show up to a house holding the hot delicious pie in your hand. You ring the doorbell and plaster a fake smile on your face (because…tips). Then the homeowner opens the door for you and…BOOM! He shoots you. Why? Because you’re there.
Ok that’s not as good of an analogy as I thought it was going to be. But hopefully you can see where I’m trying to go with that. After all, they do say don’t shoot the hand that feeds you.
I’m not interested in political or gun control debates (at least not on social media), but I am interested in humanity. What is happening to us as a society where we have a trend of people so openly showing hate to the police; bringing violence to the police. Killing the police. And we have people in our education system and our government that are not only ok with it: They encourage it! That, to me, is insane.
Like the police or not, it should piss off every single normal human being in our country.
Unless that cop walked up to someone and said, “I don’t like you because you’re different than me. I’m going to kill you,” it’s unacceptable to kill or assault someone just because they wear a badge.
A cop gives you a ticket, and he is curt with you. What an asshole. What do normal people do? They talk crap about him to friends and family. Then they get on with their life. They don’t find out where he lives and follow the dude home to kill him.
I don’t necessarily like tax collectors. But I would be beyond outraged if someone who was forced to pay owed taxes learned who their examiner was, found him on the street somewhere, and attacked him or even killed him. Tax collecting probably sucks, especially when you have to deal with people who really need every single penny they have, but they still need to be told to pay. And, someone’s gotta do it. It’s just a job. It doesn’t make the tax collector heartless or mean or an asshole or unfair. It makes him a tax collector, who has a job to do.
I guess I’m just struggling to understand how the two scenarios are so different. Don’t dissect what I’ve said, because I’m sure they’re plenty different. But the main principal behind the two really aren’t.
That’s it for now. I know I’m not going to change the world with this one post. But maybe it will affect one reader. Maybe one person will realize they’ve been a bit harsh on judgement of police. Or they’ll share it with someone they know who has been. Or, maybe they’ll just take a moment and say a prayer (or think good thoughts, or send good vibes, or light a candle, or whatever they practice) for our first line of defense in this great country. I hope they’ll do that. Our men and women in uniform need all the guardian angels they can get.
Thanks for reading and please check back for more!