Where I’m coming from
I am a middle-aged, middle class, White, mother. I am an ordinary wife of a law enforcement officer and as such, this is the place I am speaking from. Law Enforcement affects the lives of everyone in my family and this has been on my mind lately.
When I met my husband, all I knew about him was that he was a former cop. I wanted nothing to do with that. I had had several friends whose fathers and husbands had issues with people they had arrested coming back and causing them problems. This wasn’t something I wanted to deal with. To make a long story short, I ended up marrying him anyway and he ended up going back to being a law enforcement officer. There must really be something about him! 😀
It rocked my world.
A couple months ago a local law enforcement officer was responding to a domestic disturbance and was shot and killed. This rocked my world a bit. I don’t know why. Maybe because it was local? I am blessed because my husband’s particular job doesn’t usually put him in this kind of harm’s way, though a shooting isn’t out of the realm of possibilities, for his job it’s less likely than a cop on patrol.
By and large, law enforcement officers are made up of a unique blend of people who just want to serve their fellow man and have this very strange desire to run towards dangerous situations to help others that most of us don’t understand and don’t have. It’s just the way they are built. Law enforcement officers come in all races, religions, shapes and sizes, genders, and as with any group of people, there are a few bad apples in the barrel. But that doesn’t mean the whole barrel is bad or even that they will become bad. Most of them are good honorable men and women who just want to make a difference in their community.
I have been very disturbed over the past few years by the bad rap law enforcement officers receive. My news feed has bad stories about them every day.
Here is just a sampling of the negative stories over the past weekend.
- Demonstrators assaulted a police officer; they did not recognize his authority.
- African American woman so harassed by a cop she called 911.
- Corrupt Cops brought to justice.
- Michigan Cops immunity goes too far.
- Law Enforcement Officers will separate children from their parents at the border.
Then the positive ones…
Don’t see anything? It’s blank you say?
The negative stories about Law Enforcement far outweigh the good ones. Yet this couldn’t be further from the truth with regards to the men and women who serve you.
Now think for a minute how demoralizing it would be if all you saw every day, were negative articles about your chosen profession? A profession you went into, to help people. Soon we will have issues with even finding people who want to go into law enforcement if this continues. Why would they want to when children are now being told they are the enemy? Then who will you call when someone has broken into your home?
Stop and think before just sharing random stories of this nature. Will it actually make the situation better if you do, or will it make it worse? Is the story from a trusted news source that has done all the necessary fact checking? Some stories should be shared with the public, as they should know about them. But how about sharing the good stories too, because the good far outweighs the bad despite what the news might lead you to believe.
