Posted on 08/15/2014 4:13:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
If you've been watching cable news, reading Hollywood celebrities' tweets and listening to race-hustling opportunists, you might think that every police officer in America has a finger on the trigger, hunting for any excuse to gun down defenseless youths.
This hysterical nonsense must be stopped.
The Cirque du Cop-Bashing, with Al Sharpton as ringmaster, is working overtime to exploit the deadly incident in Ferguson, Mo. That means stoking anti-law enforcement fires at all costs.
Are there bad cops? Yes. Does the police state go overboard sometimes? Yes. Do the demagogues decrying systemic racism and braying about "assassinations" know what happened when teenager Mike Brown was tragically shot and killed last week? No.
Here's a reality check. While narcissistic liberal journalists and college kids are all posting "Hands Up" selfies in hipster solidarity with Ferguson protesters, it's law enforcement officers who risk their lives in "war zones" every day across the country.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) reports that a total of 1,501 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past 10 years, an average of one death every 58 hours or 150 per year. These include local and state police officers, federal officers, correctional officers and military law enforcement officers.
Fact: Last year, 100 law enforcement officers were killed. On average, over the past decade, there have been 58,261 assaults against law enforcement each year, resulting in 15,658 injuries.
Fact: New York City has lost more officers in the line of duty than any other department, with 697 deaths. Texas has lost 1,675 officers, more than any other state.
Just this week, NLEOMF released preliminary fatality statistics from August 2013 to August 2014. Total fatalities are up 14 percent, from 63 last year to 72 this year. "Five officers were killed in ambushes, which continue to be a major threat to law enforcement safety," the group notes.
Among the men in uniform who gave their lives this summer:
--Police Officer Scott Patrick of the Mendota Heights Police Department in Minnesota. He was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop on July 30. Patrick leaves behind a wife and two teenage daughters.
--Police Officer Jeffrey Westerfield of the Gary Police Department in Indiana. Westerfield was shot in the head and killed in a July 6 ambush while sitting in his police vehicle after responding to a 911 call. The suspect had been previously arrested for domestic violence and for kicking another officer. Westerfield, a 19-year police department veteran as well as an Army veteran, leaves behind a wife and four daughters.
--Officer Perry Renn of the Indianapolis Police Department. He was shot and killed while responding to reports of gunfire on July 5. After 20 years on the job, Renn chose to serve in one of the city's most dangerous areas, even though his seniority would have allowed him to take a less dangerous role. "He chose to work in patrol to make a difference in the field," Police Chief Rick Hite said at Renn's funeral. "Every day, Perry got out of his police car." Renn is survived by his wife.
--Deputy Sheriff Allen Bares, Jr. of the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana. The 15-year law enforcement veteran was shot and killed on June 23 while investigating two suspicious suspects. Bares had been mowing his lawn while off-duty when he witnessed a suspicious car crash. When he went to investigate, he was gunned down. The assailants stole his truck as he lay dying. "He's the type of person that would give his shirt off his back to anybody," a cousin said in tribute. "Anyone that knows Allen will tell you that he was that kind of person." Bares leaves behind a wife and two children.
--Police Officer Melvin Santiago of the Jersey City Police Department in New Jersey. Santiago, a proud rookie cop who loved his job, was ambushed on July 13 by a homicidal armed robber. Santiago was 23 years old. After Santiago's killer was shot dead by police, the violent Bloods street gang vowed to "kill a Jersey City cop and not stop until the National Guard is called out."
Al Sharpton, concocter of hate-crimes hoaxes and inciter of violent riots against police, had no comment.
I thank those LE officers for their giving of their lives in order to keep communities safe.
I heard of this gentleman yesterday, or heard a bit of him who told minority communites to wake up and smell the coffee. Do not know his name. Thank-you ahead for your response in posting back.
I second that.
I see many good good cops who have done a lot of good , and to see a couple of idiots on here taking the sides of the black panthers, Sharpton, ANSWER, etc etc etc disgusts me.
I have never seen so many left wing sites being posted as I have in the last 5 days.
Maybe those idiots would like no cops what so ever so they can speed, cut people up, take what ever drugs, riot when ever they want . Oh wait when snotty kids are throwing eggs outside their house or the neighbors dog keeps crapping on their grass , or even their famly are being held hostage they would have no one to call and moan about
That said:
Years ago I had to attend jury duty.
The judge was instructing us before jury selection.
One of the things he said was ‘A witness in this proceeding will be a city police officer. You are not to give any more merit to what he says than any other witness, just because he's an officer of the law.’
I raised my hand and was called to the judge's bench.... both attorneys came up there as well.
The judge said: “What's your problem”
I said: “I'm not a crook and I was raised to believe that the officer has a badge, gun and a uniform because he is responsible, and honorable. I can't de program that.”
The judge said: “You better go home.”
THAT was shocking to me.... we are supposed to respect the officers’ authority BUT not his credibility in the law?
Fox and Friends had some black Reverent on earlier this morning who had held a sermon against the riots and against Al Sharption. He asked the F&F team why doesn’t Al Sharpton go to Chicago where more blacks are being killed by other blacks. He said Al Sharpton only goes to riot when police, end especially white police are involved. I hope to find the video later after the show
I have observed the “gave their lives” funerals for local cops for some time now.
The majority of cop deaths arise from bravado. They foolishly charge a house and get shot or they fail to make a curve at very high speed. In either case they get a funeral with cops from all over in attendance and a long motorcade to the grave site
Yes that is the Reverent who was interviewed earlier this morning on Fox and Friends
Why exactly would that be shocking to you? The fact that this guy wore a uniform in no way meant that his credibility was somehow higher than anybody else’s.
I have the opposite issue that you have: I actively and reflexively distrust people with certain societal prerogatives more than I distrust most. Cops, clergy, military, doctors - I assume they know that their clothes and their perceived status will help them in a pinch and therefore feel like they can bend the truth and get away with it. This isn’t fair, probably, but I think there’s a built-in predisposition to give certain people the benefit of the doubt for essentially superficial reasons, so I scrutinize them more.
Yeah, kinda like guys in the military who give up their lives in service of others.
A simple “Thank You” will do.
For example, if I need a police officer to protect me, I would hope my attacker would RESPECT the officers’ authority.
It's that simple dynamic that has to be working. At the same time how would you de program that in a courtroom.
It can't be BOTH ways. And that's what I meant
That is a shame but seriously folks, let's keep things in perspective. hundreds and hundreds of construction workers died last year too.
Out of 806 total deaths in construction in CY 2012
Falls – 279
Struck by Object – 79 (9.8%)
Electrocutions – 66 (8.1%)
Caught-in/between – 13 (1.6%)
There are around 400 fatalities a year in retail businesses. Manufacturing, farming, mining, fishing and dozens of other occupations are all far more dangerous than law enforcement. All such deaths are tragic. Families are left without a breadwinner. Hopes and dreams are crushed. There is no reason to elevate the death of an officer above all others. By their own statistics, breathlessly cited in this article, it's a relatively safe job.
“They foolishly charge a house and get shot “
So the adage that real men run towards the gunfire instead of away doesn’t apply? Does that include our military. Not saying that all police are good but I challenge Joe Citizen to run toward the gunfire.
It’s really not difficult. In time of emergency, you trust the cop to do his job. And, more often than not, they do. In a courtroom, you have to make the completely logical and rational assumption that a cop is human and just as capable of lying as any other human. A badge doesn’t magically turn somebody into a truth-telling machine.
Now, that’s not to say that a cop on the stand is necessarily lying. Only that he could be, and you have to assess his credibility the same as you would anybody else’s.
Yeah bert the unbiased keen observer thinks most cops who "gave their lives" (nice sneer quotes) were swaggering, blustering, boasting, bragging, acting bombastic and macho when they were killed.
Unbelievable.
I cite two instances where veteran deputy sheriffs left cover and advanced on the house only to be shot and killed. Having run toward the guns rather than resolve the issue from close in they made a frontal assault and were killed.
There is a difference between bravery and unnecessary exposure in a gunfight.
Because so far blacks have been allowed to rape blacks but not whites yet. Fear not, ISIS Obama gay axis of feminist evil has something up their sleeves to make cops reconsider their balking at letting or encouraging Krystal Nacht to happen
Sorry, I don’t buy the sob stories anymore. There is no real accountability with cops these days. The majority of cops are killed while attempting to extort money from motorists in the name of the police state. My sympathy for same is pretty damned low.
LOL. They even have a word for what cops do on the witness stand, it's called "testilying". Not only would the cops testimony be not given more weight in my mind, I'd discount it if it was in any way self-serving quite steeply.
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