One More Officer Down — A Lack of Respect for Law Enforcement and Each Other
As I read the news this morning, two more officers had been killed in the line of duty; every day it seems another officer is gunned down for just serving their community in law enforcement. This country is becoming unrecognizable to me, and things are just backward when citizens no longer respect police officers. Since Ferguson, Missouri and the death of Michael Brown in 2014, it seems an open season has been declared on police officers. Statistics from 2017 to 2018 show a 15% increase from 129 deaths in 2017 to 148 in 2018. Through the first eleven days of 2019, a 33% increase in police officer deaths with five officers already killed in the line of duty. Why has such a transformation occurred in the United States and why are police officers being murdered at such a rate?
Could it be the lack of respect we show to each other because we can hide behind keyboards and attack others anonymously on social media? Or, even more pervasive, is the public hatred that has arisen between people of differing political ideals, socio-economic levels, or racial makeup given rise to the mentality that killing police officers is justified because of what they represent? Or, is the answer that we just don’t respect anyone anymore? What happened to law and order and respect for our elders, first responders, and our fellow man?
