Line Of Duty Deaths Are Casualties of War

This article is in response to those who insist that police forces need to “demilitarize” or that police need to display a “softer” appearance. An officer was executed today. He survived Afghanistan, a war zone, years on the street as a law enforcement officer and that wasn’t where he was executed. Officers go to work and one of their goals is “everyone goes home at the end of the shift.” This young man was on his way home after work. He was not obligated to stop. He saw a woman who appeared to be the victim of an automobile accident. He could have called it in and gone home to his wife and two small children. 

He didn’t go home, and he will never hold his children again. He won’t see his son play in the big game. He won’t walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. He was being a kind person. He was being softer and demilitarized. He was being a citizen and trying to help someone. He was stepping into a domestic assault and he had no way of knowing that. That is every day and every call for these men and women. They don’t know the people they are encountering. They don’t know the situations or the environments they walk into. Because there are animals on the streets of our communities, because human beings are no longer taught to respect life, and because criminals are allowed to disrespect the laws of our society, it has become acceptable to kill, steal, riot, destroy, rape, and victimize innocent people.

1,543 officers died in the last 10 years. Ten officers have died this month. That’s one officer every two days. These numbers rival some yearly casualty totals in Iraq and Afghanistan, so unless you are calling for the demilitarization of our military deployed to war torn countries, please try and understand that the police are called upon to deal with situations that are extreme in one way or another. Our police face combat and combat zones daily. 

Police forces started out sparsely armed until criminals escalated their capabilities of causing mass bloodshed. A perfect example of why the police need to maintain the ability and resources to use superior defensive and offensive options was played out in the Hollywood bank robbery shoot out. If after reading this article you still don’t get it, I strongly suggest you consult the Officer Down Memorial Page. Take some time to read about each officer and consider what resources they had or may have needed. Did these officer need to be less prepared, softer in appearance, or demilitarized? Would that have saved any of them? 

It is vital that people who don’t have to think strategically about life, death, and violence realize that it’s not like the good ole days where a conflict was two guys slugging it out on the playground, getting broken up by their friends, and then moving on with life. The days of the winner being satisfied being the winner and the loser going home until his ego heals are long gone. The idea of fighting fair with honor and respect is almost non-existent. Conflicts between individuals escalate into being gang related or ending with a fatality. Weapons, people, environments, physical attributers, emotional factors, and drugs can be force multipliers that are unseen to the untrained eye and cell phone cameraman. The entity that can exercise the greatest amount of force, inflict the most damage, and strike most effectively will win or prevent a conflict. When we call the police, if they show up and they are not equipped to overwhelm the adversarial element, they die and we die. Imagine the guilt that comes with being the protector and not being able to save someone. Now realize that you have the luxury of imagining that guilt and then forgetting it. Police Officer’s don’t have that luxury, ever. They have to deal with the situation and can’t save everyone but every time they show up, that is what their goals are. 

Officers don’t operate in “Gun Free Zones” and don’t make judgment calls from their couch after watching videos, hearing witnesses, and asking for consultations over a week’s time. The average citizen doesn’t realize that police today are essentially in potential combat zones every day. Some of the areas they respond to can be every bit as dangerous as a village or town in a hostile country.

Would you call your local civilian neighborhood watch block captain when your house was broken in to? Would you send your local community organizer to serve a warrant on a rapist, suspected drug dealer or that sexual predator that lives on your block? Are you ready to respond and make entry upon an active shooter at the elementary school, your bank, local mall, or the town movie theater? Would you leave any protective gear, tools, or resources that you might have to protect your life or the lives of others at home, or would you want to do everything you could to be safe and return to your family at the end of your tour of duty. Would you want someone to stop and help your loved one at the scene of an accident? Would you want to get shot in the head for an act of kindness you gave a complete stranger?  The tactics used by the police aren’t the cause of society’s brokenness. The tactics used by the police are the result of society’s brokenness. 

People who have the luxury of calling upon others to deal with conflict and violence often don’t understand the dynamics of those types of situations, and I don’t expect them to. If we are going to expect officers to take care of our problems and the problems of others, we must realize that we don’t want to, or can’t do it ourselves. We need to let them do their jobs. Police officers don’t show up at the hospital and tell doctors how to treat the sick. They don’t go to churches and tell pastors what to preach. They don’t show up at restaurants, construction sites, lobbyist firms, and TV stations and start telling people how they should do their jobs. They certainly don’t show up and ask people not to use protective equipment and other tools that increase safety and effectiveness. They do, however, show up when we call them and deal with whatever it is we called them to do. They were relatively safe, minding their own business until we called them to get involved in, what might be, a dangerous situation. When we call for help and they come to our aid, we should gratefully accept and appreciate them showing up to fix whatever it is they were called for. Be grateful that people volunteer to be police. Be less concerned with what they are wearing and driving. If we really have an issue with how police are dressed and equipped we always have the option to deal with our own problems. Try not to break any laws and try not to get yourself or someone else hurt or killed though. That alone is an awesome responsibility and a weight most of us could not carry. If at any time we feel like we may not be equipped to handle the situation we have stepped into, we will undoubtedly call the police. They will show up, despite the fact that we may have caused the problem and despite the fact that we may not like them and their methods. They will do their best to save us and correct the situation. Why? That’s what they do and they are better at it when they are trained and equipped to handle the situations that other people drag them in to.

This article is dedicated to the lives of Lieutenant Debra Clayton (OPD), Deputy First Class Norman Lewis (OCSD), and Officer Michael Louviere (WPD). Thank you for your service, sacrifice, and protection. May you enter the golden city of heaven and join the legion of angel-officers that have gone before you. You will know them by their badges.