On May 30th our nation takes time for our annual observance of Memorial Day. It is a time when we honor the memory of our fellow American heroes who have given the “last full measure of devotion” by sacrificing their lives on the altar of freedom. But many do not know that there is one other day in May set aside to honor our another group of deserving heroes.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as National Police Week.
Our nation’s police officers put on their uniforms every day and go to work to protect our safety and freedom as American citizens. It is a dangerous job and when they say goodbye to their loved ones every morning, they never know when or if they will ever see their loved ones again this side of heaven.
Being a police officer has always been a relatively dangerous profession. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the vile and inaccurate attacks on America’s police forces by Black Lives Matter (“pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon”), violent crimes in our major cities have increased drastically, accompanied by violent pre-meditated attacks on police officers.
There have been 101 police officers shot this year while on duty as of April 1, a 63 percent increase from 2020, according to the latest figures released by a national police union. Sixty-three of the nation’s sixty-six largest police jurisdictions have experienced significant increases in incidents of violent crimes.
“All across the country, our communities are seeing the real-life consequences of unchecked crime,” National FOP President Patrick Yoes said. “In addition, violence directed at law enforcement officers is skyrocketing—it’s the worst I have seen in my 36 years in law enforcement.”
Yoes said in his statement, “When police are viewed as the bad guys, criminals feel emboldened. When rogue prosecutors hand out slaps on the wrist to serious offenders, criminals understand they will face no significant consequences for their actions. And when police are handcuffed by policies established by local officials and told not to enforce certain crimes, traffic codes, or other quality-of-life regulations, you create an environment in which the criminals feel safe and our citizens are scared.”
A new Morning Consult/Politco survey shows that 75% of Americans believe “the defunding of police departments” is “a reason that violent crime is increasing in the United States.
The myth of police waging a national campaign of violence against black men is a dangerous and libelous falsehood (the national statistics on police violence against unarmed black suspects show them to be minuscule). Nevertheless, a lie repeated often enough has the power to generate significant and deadly backlash.
Some progressives have tried to blame these increases on Covid dislocations in society, but the U.S. is the only country in the industrialized world to experience this dramatic spike in crime. Everywhere else violent crime rates either were stable, or went down.
We must always remember, that the police are the thin blue line standing between civilization and chaos. Does anyone reading this column really think that if the police went on strike, dangerous criminal mischief and human tragedy would not quickly ensue?
God knew that fallen and evil behavior will always be with us, so He ordained the civil magistrate to punish evil doers and to reward those who do that which is right. (Rom. 13:1-4). Since scripture makes a point of praising law enforcement, so should we.