Enough Is Enough

I fear death. Who doesnt? What I fear more, is that my death would be meaningless & acceptable to the public I protect. Just another number. - @mperfectwarrior

We all know how we felt on our very first day at work. Nervous. Anxious. Our mind is both caught up trying to process our fear of the unknown, an as well as our hope for what the future has in store. I never met her, but I can imagine Officer Ashley Guindon of the Prince William County Police (VA) knew those feelings all too well. Unfortunately, Officer Guindon never made it home from her first day. She was shot and killed responding to a domestic disturbance, and two of her fellow officers were also shot.

I sit here, as I’ve sat here so many times over the past several years whenever I get the Officer Down notification on my phone, and just spent some time in thought. Why? I wonder. I’ve responded to the same type of call before, and many officers around the country do on a daily basis. Why did we get to walk away from it, but she doesn’t? How do officers survive 30 years on the job, but her time was up after not even 1 day? What possesses someone to kill another human being simply because of the job that they do and the uniform that they wear?

And as I sit here, as I ponder those questions, I’m struck by the level of indifference of the world around me. This woman, like so many men and women before her, laid down her life and made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of her community. She laid down her life coming to the aid of a victim of domestic violence. She died the same way she lived: as a hero. And for what? For a society that sees her as expendable.

The rate of police officer deaths by gunfire in 2016 is up 1,100% (!!!) from 2015 at the same exact date. Let’s pause and consider that for a moment. Not 10%, not 100%, but 1,100%. That’s astronomical. And that’s just the officers that have not survived. It seems as though almost every day, I see that another officer has been shot. Often times more than one.

But, that’s not what carries the news of the day. Unless you’re in law enforcement yourself, or are friends with someone in law enforcement, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll see much of it in your social media feeds. You won’t see protests in the streets, you won’t see anger, you won’t see outrage, and you won’t see outspoken politicians. Sure, there will be a hero’s funeral, there will be a family to receive the folded American flag, but by and large, the death of a police officer hardly registers a blip on the national radar outside of the thin blue line. 

Instead, what you will see, what you will find, is indifference. The same people that blow up social media with great regularity about police misconduct or overreach are silent. The same people that waste not even a second condemning an officer who defends their life with deadly force are nowhere to be found when that officers dies at the hands of a criminal. The same news organizations (Huffington Post, The Guardian, Slate, etc.) that would blow up the airwaves if the circumstances were reversed have bare minimum coverage on the death of a hero.

Then there’s the politicians. Oh, the politicians. I have watched as Presidential candidates have done everything they can to vilify, demonize, and disrespect police officers in an attempt to exploit tensions to pander and get votes. Just a few weeks ago, fresh off one of the deadliest weeks in recent memory when 7 police officers were killed in the line of duty, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton used a Town Hall Forum as an opportunity to further demonize the police. In Nevada just weeks ago, Hillary Clinton refused to even take a picture with Elko (NV) police officers. In the same city, Bernie Sanders said, and I quote, “And I think it’s about high time in this country that our children can walk the streets at night without fear of being murdered by our police officers.” And just yesterday, on the day that Officer Guindon was murdered and her death marked an 1,100% increase in police deaths by gunfire for the year, Clinton spoke in her South Carolina victory speech, just a few short hours from Prince William, about people who have been killed by the police, with nary a mention of the officers that have made the ultimate sacrifice protecting their communities. 

That, my friends, is the society that we live in right now. Where we have politicians who quite literally not only do not give a damn about police officers, but who take every opportunity that they can to disrespect, demonize, and dehumanize them. They paint us as racists, as murderers, and in essence, as brutal terrorists. We sure don’t have any problem calling out politicians when their rhetoric inflames the ideals of mass shooters (I.E. the Planned Parenthood shooting, where Officer Garrett Swasey gave his life to keep the peace), but we sure do have a problem calling out politicians and public figures when their rhetoric further inflames hatred and helps to incite violence against law enforcement.

This is not to say that police officers are above reproach. On the contrary, we must apply the highest level of scrutiny to the actions of our law enforcement officers, as the authority they work with is bestowed to them by the trust that their community has in them to act in good faith. However, it is important to remember that we can call for reform, we can call for changes, we can call for accountability, and apply this high level of scrutiny through respectful and civil conversations. We can call for reform, while at the same time recognizing the work that our men and women do on these streets on a daily basis to keep us safe, and as well of the dangers that they inevitably come across as they do that work. And when an Officer makes the ultimate sacrifice keeping people safe, we can show respect to not only the way in which they died, but the way in which they lived.

As far as it’s concerned from an officer’s perspective, we are well aware of the danger that we face day in and day out. Our tactics are honed and based upon the lessons paid for by the lives of those who came before us. We walk past the memorials on a daily basis. We never know what awaits when we walk up to a car, and we never know what awaits us when we respond to a call. Ambushes. Guns. Resistance. Aggression. Even the possibility of death.

We fear death, much like anyone. But that doesn’t stop us from running towards calls for help. We never stop fighting for the people that cannot fight for themselves. That’s in our blood, and that’s just the kind of people that we are. We sure don’t do it for the pay, and as you can tell based upon what I’ve said before, we don’t do it for the adulation and attention, we do it because it’s who we are down to our very core.

But, given how we are treated, given how so many regard us nowadays, what we fear even more than death has come to pass: that our deaths will mean nothing to the people that we protect, and that they will be seen as acceptable.

And as far as that’s concerned: Enough is enough.