Even during the best of times, being a police officer is extremely stressful, and these are definitely not the best of times. In 2020, the entire profession has become the target for a vast nationwide outpouring of anger and hatred. It doesn’t matter if you are a good officer or a bad officer, because everyone is being lumped together. Every single person that puts on a police uniform understands that they are putting their lives on the line every single day, but now that is even more true than ever.
All over the U.S., police officers are being attacked, abused and targeted for violence. Even if they never get physically attacked, most officers must still endure the mental torment of knowing that there are a number of people out there who want to see them harmed or even dead. Nearly 50,000 members of law enforcement are assaulted every year and that number will surely go up in 2020.
And if these physical and mental threats were not enough to deal with, many in law enforcement are facing the danger of losing their livelihood. The Minneapolis city council has announced they intend to disband the city’s police force entirely. New York City has cut $1 billion out of their police budget. Liberal activists across the country are calling for reductions in police department’s budgets.
Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, said “defunding the police means reallocating those funds to support people and services in black communities. Those dollars should be put back into social services for mental health, domestic violence, homelessness, and to fund schools, hospitals, housing and food in those communities.”
There is little disagreement that all of those are worthy causes and would improve any community. The questions we should be asking are why these areas are in such bad shape in the first place and why the money should come out of law enforcement budgets that are already stressed. Today, police department funds are seen by liberals as the logical place to get the money. The tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25th, unleashed a torrent of frustration that had been building for years in many cities in America. The cries of systemic racism have been echoed by liberal politicians and the mainstream media ever since Floyd’s death. What started out as peaceful protests of that horrible event have now been hijacked by thugs and anarchists and turned into an excuse for riots and violence with law enforcement standing between the marauding activists and the innocent people and property they are hell-bent on destroying.
There should be no debate that the policemen involved in Floyd’s death were terribly wrong and should be punished. But to brand all law enforcement as systemic racists is also a terrible wrong. Most are not! Far left liberal groups never let a crisis go to waste and are now demanding radical solutions to problems in cities that they have been in control of for years.
According to a Forbes Magazine study, the 10 most dangerous cities in the U.S. are all run by Democrats. The 10 cities with the most homeless people are all run by Democrats and the highest poverty rate occurs in cities controlled by Democrats at a rate of three times the national average.
Why have these politicians allowed black neighborhoods to get in the terrible shape that they are in today? They have been promising to fix these problems for decades with little or no positive results. It is not law enforcement’s fault that many inter-cities are in decay. Yet, they are the ones who have to deal with the increase in crime these bad policies have fostered plus they are now being asked to pay for the cleanup of these politician’s messes.
What these liberal activists don’t account for is human nature. We are all fallen, sinful creatures, and we need law enforcement to hold our passions in check. If men were angels, we would not need laws or governing officers to enforce them. We can only pray these misguided activists will not be able to entice our country into eliminating or diminishing the presence of the police in our communities.
The truth is that we need the police now more than ever. The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted every day is rapidly disintegrating, and all that stands between us and complete anarchy is a very narrow blue line. Yes, we want to see more protections against police abuse implemented, but an America without law enforcement is not an America that any of us would really want to live in.
I recall reading not long ago about a police officer who had stopped a young African American man with a child in his car without a child car seat. The man he stopped said he couldn’t afford a car seat right now. The officer, instead of ticketing the man, took him and the child to a local Walmart and bought the man a car seat – out of his own pocket. This kind of action on the part of law enforcement officers is much more common than most of us realize. But it is something that you will seldom see in the mainstream media because that doesn’t fit their narrative that police officers are bad.
Those in law enforcement are hurting right now and some are even considering resigning because of lack of support from leadership and their communities. We should be thankful to God for them, and during this time, when they are being smeared and maligned for the unacceptable actions of a few, it is our Christian duty to stand with them. We should be praying fervently for the policemen and women who serve and protect us. They deserve our prayers and spiritual support all the time, but especially right now. So let’s make it a priority to pray for them every day.
The Good News Journal is dedicating this issue to honoring the local men and women of law enforcement who put their lives on the line for us everyday but who are now under attack by misguided activists and demonic forces that would love to dismantle the God-ordained authority that we call law enforcement. Join us in expressing our gratitude and our appreciation to all those who have chosen to serve and whose tireless efforts make our communities a safer place to live. The next time you see a police officer take a minute and thank them for their service.