There is much controversy on whether or not police officers are here to help us or hurt us. Call me crazy, but I believe that they are here to help us. Police officers work every day to protect us and our families. They run towards dangerous situations when everyone else runs away and many have lost their lives doing so. Many have lost their lives protecting us. They are our superheroes in the real world and they, along with other first responding men and women, deserve our utmost appreciation and respect.
Here’s where the controversy begins: “Innocent people killed by police officers ...” Now, I’m not going to write about how every single occurrence of this is wrong, because I’m sure mistakes have been made on a few police officers' ends, but I will say this: Not everyone who appears innocent is innocent. The thing is, we never really know the whole story. Not all of us are eyewitnesses or involved in what happened. The only thing we can do is be respectful of everyone involved and do what we should do in these kinds of situations: pray for the families. We need to stop looking to violence to fix problems when all the grieving family wants and needs is love.
All lives matter. Officers understand this more than anyone else. Why do they perform vehicle roadblocks? They do this to keep drunk drivers and criminals off the roads, which in turn protects us. Why do they pull us over for speeding? Speeding can lead to car accidents and to many innocent deaths. Why do they only pull their gun when their lives are in potential danger? They do this because they aren’t working to take lives, they are working to protect them -- including the criminals and their own.
There are many different types of people. Some are kind, some are not; some follow rules, others don’t. Police officers cannot differentiate between these different types of people by simply looking at them. When put in a life-threatening situation, officers have to make a choice: to let the threat continue or to defend themselves. It’s hard to make life-altering choices when in the line of duty because there is so much unknown, but most people would choose the latter.
Police officers are under large amounts of stress. They never know if the person in the car they just pulled over is armed or if the drug bust they’re doing will be a success. They are in constant danger and under constant pressure. Many police officers have been killed in the line of duty. Officers in our own communities! We hear so much about this but still put up with the large amounts of disrespect they receive. Police families let their loved ones leave home every day and then pray that they come back safely. They need our support and our love. I promise, a world with these brave men and women is much safer than one without them.
To all police officers: Thank you for what you do, and God bless you!
