In the past few days we have seen the murder of four police officers across the country.
There will be no protests in the streets, no activists will be screaming out about how horrible their deaths were, nobody will be walking down the street with banners reading, “Blue Lives Matter” and nobody will be calling out for the end of thug-related violence against the police.
Yes, that is what I said, thug. A thug is a criminal of any race, a low-life who preys on the innocent and without giving it a second thought, kills a police officer and walks away with no more remorse for a human life than if they just stepped on an ant.
Thugs come in all races. When I was a youth criminals were called thugs. The thugs in my neighborhood were all white.
I remember the time when my uncle, who was a waiter and came home in the early morning hours, was mugged within several yards of going to his home.
I was only a child at the time but I remember everyone talking about the two thugs who had beat him up for a few dollars. And both of those thugs were white.
All lives matter in this country. Nobody should feel threatened to the point where they have to apologize for saying that all lives matter. Yet there are those few who feel they have to cry racism every time and further fuel the flames of hatred in this country.
Calling for the deaths of law enforcement officers appears to be a growing trend in this country with some groups. To those I say go to hell. What in God’s name are you saying? Do you listen to the hate that you spew from your mouths?
Hate has no color. What hate does is take progress and pushes it two steps back. If promoting your cause means promoting violence against law enforcement officers then your cause is doomed to fail. Killing a police officer is no different than telling society, screw you and your laws.
If criminals can murder a police officer without blinking an eye do you really think they would hesitate to kill an unarmed innocent citizen? I think not. Black thugs kill black police officers all the time. Not because they are black but because they are blue and represent a lawful society.
I have no use for racist, corrupt cops who abuse their authority and prey upon the very people they are sworn to protect. Those cops however, are the minority in police work and not the majority.
There are approximately 900,000 sworn local, state and federal law enforcement officers in this country who walk out the door of their homes every day and protect their communities, sometimes with their lives.
Do you really want to know how bad it is out there on the streets and what cops all across this country face every day? Then get yourself a police scanner and listen to call after call after call: Murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries and a host of other violent crimes.
What happens most of the time when arrests are made: nothing. The arrests are without incident, the bad guy goes to jail, unharmed. Happens tens of thousands a time in this country every single day. So when I hear these groups yelling about the police war on this group or that group, the statistics do not support that.
If that were true there would be thousands of people being killed every day by police time and time again. It just does not happen. But there are thousands of people being killed and wounded in this country every day, not from the police but from criminals. Where is the outrage about that?
Those officers who have given their lives in the line of duty, their families will never see them again. The news media will do some stories about their deaths and then they will be forgotten by the press after the story has no more value.
Those fallen officers who have paid the ultimate price will never be forgotten by the families they leave behind, their fellow officers and the law-abiding citizens of the communities they served.
Put the hate aside for just one minute and let us remember Fox Lake, Illinois Police Lt., Charles Joseph Gliniewicz. Harris County, Texas Sheriff’s Deputy, Darren Goforth. Sunset, Louisiana Police Officer, Henry Nelson. Louisiana State Police Senior Trooper, Steven Vincent.
They gave their lives in the line of duty. Charles, Darren, Henry and Steven are now together with all their comrades of all races who fell before them.
They now all live together in peace, forever, in Blue Heaven.
The protests are also about justice, when a killer just walks free. All of these cop killer are dead or will face the full brunt of the law. So thank you and good night sir.
The cops are still dead and that is what my article is about. I don’t equate justice with calling for the murder of police officers. If a cop breaks the law then he should face due process, but bad cops are not the majority of law enforcement officers. Peaceful protests is what keeps a free society free. When you start to commit acts of arson, assaults, burglaries, robberies and murder you stepped over the line from a peaceful protester to a thug, a criminal.
Mr. Poppas, no majority is condoning the shooting of law enforcement, stop comparing these incidents to the others surrounding protests.
People are protesting the excessive use of force on unarmed civilians. People are tired of law enforcement trying to justify and cover up the shootings of unarmed citizens. Why is it so hard to just admit a mistake if one is made? Law enforcement doesn’t have mercy for the mistakes people make. So, why does law enforcement feel entitled to some sort of immunity from criticism or inquiry? Don’t they work for the people? Are they not accountable to the people?
Secondly, no one is protesting the “thousands of others killed or injured by criminals” because that is what people EXPECT criminals to do. We do not ACCEPT that behavior when law enforcement does the same by shooting unarmed citizens without due process.
These shootings in recent days are the culmination of years of injustice, these are not random shootings. Cause and effect Mr. Poppas, some people can only be pushed so far. I’m not saying it is ok, but I am stating facts.
You and law enforcement may cry for empathy and demand respect, but you fail to realize empathy and respect cannot be anything other than earned. Crying out and pointing fingers definitely does not help law enforcement’s image. If you really want to help, the why don’t you encourage the vast majority, as you say, of good officers to get rid of the small percentage who are bad?
Also, by saying things like “Blue Heaven” you are creating a divide between you and others, as though there a special place for law enforcement, as though they are superior to others?
People are tired of hearing that there is only a small percentage of bad officers, when there shouldn’t be ANY to begin with. Then you expect us to believe that most are good?!? I’m just confused.
I think the real problem with law enforcement today is that most potential and current officers are not interested in handling the job of enforcing laws while simultaneously building a relationship with the public. I have one simple question to anyone wanting to go into law enforcement: Why do you want to do it? Unfortunately, most I have asked all say it is because of the salary and benefits, NOT because they want make a difference. Can you see where this might begin to cause problems?
Peaceful protests, no problem. Calling for the deaths of law enforcement officers is a total disgrace plain and simple. I lost a twelve year police career because of corruption. I like many others who have done so, did not stand by and just let it happen. We fought it and as was the case with me I paid for it by losing my career. Society does not stand by officers who stand up against the bad cops within their ranks. That is the outrage. Yes, I do put police officers above criminals and yes, they are all now living in peace in Blue Heaven.
Mr. Poppas, you may have tried to clean up corruption but you still failed. I just do not buy your claim that “many” try to clean up corruption, because it is still so prevalent.
Blaming a minority of officers for corruption doesn’t make sense, especially when you are saying that “many” are trying to clean said corruption up.
Please explain how a few corrupt officers are keeping the “many” from cleaning it up? Something doesn’t add up….
This article was about dead cops, killed in the line of duty. For that there is no justification, end of story.
If some sick twisted minds think that calling for the murder of police officers is going to garner them support for their cause they are mistaken.
Yes, bad cops are the minority in law enforcement.
Corruption exist with politicians, doctors, lawyers and a host of other professions.
The public has the responsibility to back up and stand by any cop who comes out against misconduct, corruption and injustice. Fact is they rarely if ever get that support. What they do get is their career going down the toilet and or loss of it. Other cops who want to speak do not for fear of the same thing happening to them. So the bad cops win.
It is very easy for someone on the outside looking in and never put it all on the line to smear all law enforcement officers.
When I hear comments from some activist groups like “Pigs in a blanket, fry them,” and What do we want, dead cops, when do we want it, now,” I have about as much respect for their cause as I have for a thug.
If you kill a cop you deserve to be given a one-way ride in a coroner’s wagon. If you pull a gun on a cop you become a victim of your own actions. If you are wielding a knife and are within 21 feet of a cop pretty much you caused your own demise. Law-abiding citizens just do not act like that, but criminals do.
Many hundreds of people have been assasinated by police. Blacks have disporportionatly been the target of assasination by police. Yes I say assasination because the police did not have to kill many of their victims.
So you show 4 officers killed. People are not going to protest for a few , but if hundreds or thousands were killed every 3 months , maybe you got something there.
Anytime a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty that is a tragedy. The bad cops are the minority in police work and not the majority.
No one will be protesting because they’ve made their own beds. If cops weren’t such violent thugs themselves, and people actually saw them as heroes, then maybe there would be protests for them But there are no protests. Because they aren’t seen as innocent, and they aren’t seen as heroes. Go hold your ten person protest for a fallen police officer. There’s a reason no one’s showing up to honor or protest for these people.
Nobody becomes a police officer to be killed. It is a hazard of the job but no law enforcement officer wants to be killed. Totally ridiculous comment. Drug dealers should be in prison. They are responsible for destroying peoples lives and many of them do not even use the product they sell. I worked many years as an undercover officer and saw the devastation these scumbags are responsible for. No. Drugs should not be legalized. We have enough crack heads, tweekers on meth and shooters of heroin, we don’t need anymore and that is what legalizing drugs will do. Not to mention all the children born with birth defects because their parents were drug abusers.