Peace In The Margins

The wolf won’t ever have to fight for his food, if he can convince the sheep that the sheepdog is the enemy.

Officer Parker

I’m not one to blog about my political position, especially since I am on the political frontlines within a law enforcement agency, but today I am hoping you’ll simply hear my heart. I am the wife of a retired law enforcement Sergeant who still works in the law enforcement profession as a civilian support staff member. My son works in corrections, my oldest daughter is a 911 dispatcher, and my middle daughter is in the medical profession where she takes care of memory care patients in a long-term living facility.

I say all of that to say this: I and my family have been serving on the frontlines of both the pandemic and the political unrest plaguing our world today. And I love you. Yes, you heard me, I may not know you, but I love you.

You see, in John 13:35 Jesus said, “By this all men will know you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So yes, I love you, but I don’t like everything that some of you are doing. And yes, I am on the defense.

Think of it from this perspective: when I was growing up it was well known that I could pick on my little brother, but nobody else better pick on him or they’d have to answer to me. I can’t count how many times I came to brother’s defense and defended him in a fight he didn’t start, and I bet many of you can relate. Well, that’s exactly how I feel right now.

I understand you may have a different perspective or opinion, but there is no doubt that the cops out there now, are doing their jobs to the best of their ability in a can’t win environment – where no matter what they do, they are wrong. They aren’t looking for accolades. In fact, they’d much rather stay out of the limelight. It’s becoming cliche’ for conservatives to say that the vast majority of law enforcement officers are good, ethical, and professional – but they are.

Cops are the ones who run in when everyone else is running out. They are the ones that will write you a citation one minute and stand between you and a bullet the next. This is the same cop who, after performing CPR for more than 30 minutes, cries on the side of the highway holding the dead body of a baby who was ejected from a car. The same cop who then rushes home to pick up his or her son from his crib, sit in the rocking chair, and cry into the child’s pajamas.

Cops are humans in a uniform. They have a family that shares the attack on the badge. Kids who must face unkind peers at school. Wives and husbands who are accosted in the grocery store and refused service at local businesses. They endure the same slanderous slurs as the boots on the ground cop simply because of association. And yes, occasionally, a cop who should never have been in the profession in the first place will tarnish the shine on the badge.

I agree, our communities suffer because of the bad, and they most definitely need to be weeded out of the profession. Know this, when a law enforcement agency has no accreditations, no state standards and true oversight, and is managed as a union shop then a culture of bad cops in inevitable. Reform the agency – change the culture in the agency – but defunding law enforcement and disbanding police agencies is not the answer. Just look how it’s working for Seattle right now.

Hear my heart. We cannot turn our back on the sheepdog, for the wolf lies in wait. We cannot turn our back on the last line of defense for the safety and security of our communities. We must back the blue more now than ever before. Hold the bad cops committing criminal acts accountable – but support, encourage, and stand behind the good cops still holding the line for us all.

I waive my close to the immortal Paul Harvey who said it best.

A Policeman is a composite of what all men are, I guess, a mingling of a saint and sinner, dust and deity.

Paul Harvey

And that, my dear readers, is the rest of the story. Thank you for hearing my heart.

Until next time,
Alicia

image credit: AP Photo/Seth Wenig