In Gratitude to Those Who Justly Serve

In light of the recent string of attacks against law enforcement in the US, I think it necessary to mourn the lives of the fallen officers and to thank the average cop on the beat who is willing to put his life on the line to secure the safety of others. In my 28 years on this earth, I have had plenty of encounters with law enforcement. Like in all walks of life, we are stuck with the bad along with the good. I believe that, as I have stated previously, our government has become like a cancer to our once prosperous and free society. Offshore banks and multinational corporations have essentially bought off both parties in our political system. As throughout history, many peace officers have answered the call to serve and protect their communities with the same dignity, honor, and respect for the law-abiding citizen as in generations past. But when government becomes self-serving and corrupt, it ever increasingly spends more resources protecting its own power and authority. On this foundation forms a culture of arrogance and suspicion, and make no mistake-- the Feds are largely to blame. At least in suburban and rural America, local police forces are the most professional as they are directly responsive to their communities. It is the Homeland Security sponsored "events," such as at the G20 or at the many federally granted police checkpoints, that police abuse is most rampant. For some reason, when you get State, County, and local police together, people end up dead. And now the military is becoming increasingly involved in civilian policing, in violation of the century and a half old Posse Comitatus Act that has served us well.
We need police reform. More law enforcement agencies involved means less accountability and more plausible deniability. We, the people, are neighbors and co-stakeholders with the police. This relationship worked for a couple hundred years in our country, and it can still work today. This article is particularly troubling for those of us who seek to lessen the tension with our local police. Indeed, some horrible acts have been committed against officers in recent months, and our hearts go out to the families, friends, and coworkers of the fallen. Let us work to keep law enforcement local when at all possible.