I was recently met with the pondering of should we support our police no matter what?
My reply brought such emotion. It is because I come from a family who wears both a blue badge; a red badge.
I hear their stories.
I see them.
I see you.
I get that support is not lost because there is a bad one in the bunch. To me, that’s all the more reason to support. Every single one of you are judged and spit on and condemned because of the actions of another. Your life is at risk because of what may or may not have been a bad call; a bad officer.
My reply:
I do support the police no matter what. This does not mean the ones that are ‘bad’, but as an overall. They experience the worst of the worst. The ones that continue to put on that uniform after picking up a lifeless baby to hand over to paramedics. The ones that watch their partners get gunned down. The ones that are spit on, beat up and cussed out. The ones that respond to a bruised up wife that calls for the millionth time that her husband has beat her to a bloody pulp. The ones who have to deal with the unmedicated and the drugged out. The ones who go out there and have to deal with an ungrateful community that records their every move and know that this recording is only going to show the aftermath, not the story that led to this point. The ones who go home at night and cry because they made the decision to protect you and me; a decision that I’m sure, at times, brings horrible nightmares. They are the reasons I support police no matter what.
While there may be times that you feel the world is looking down on you, know that there are still those that continue to look up to you. Those who appreciate you and the work you continue to do in the name of keeping us safe.
