Respect The Blue

Last night as I sat on my back patio I listened to something that sent chills down my spine. I was listening to the replay of the Police scanner of Kentucky State Trooper’s Joseph Ponder senseless murder. I heard possibly the last words that he ever uttered on this side of heaven. I couldn’t really make it out but it sounded like “I’m hit I’m passing out” then his radio went silent. You could hear the distress in the dispatcher’s voice as she was trying to get officers headed to the last known location of the fallen trooper. We look around at our once great land and we see this tragic scenario playing out over and over again.  We have men and women putting their lives on the line to protect us and this is the thanks that they get.  They are ambushed at a gas station shot down for doing their job. They are gunned down performing a traffic stop. It’s senseless violence. They are doing a job that the majority of us do not have the stomach to do. There are many that would love to do the job but aren’t physically able.  But we can’t judge all police officers by the actions of a few.

      We have all been faced with decisions in our lives. Can you imagine what it must feel like to have to make a split second decision? Then compound it with, it’s a life or death decision. Someone’s life can and will be dramatically changed forever. It’s a split second decision, once made you can’t go back and change it. That’s a lot of pressure to be faced with. What happens if you make the wrong decision and it cost you your life. Think about their wife and children, how the decision made affects them. These men and women are only trying to make a living doing what they love to do. Now they have to constantly have their heads on a swivel and on guard at all times. This rang true for me the other day. I was driving over a bridge the other day. There sitting on the opposite side of the bridge on the shoulder was a police officer in his cruiser. He was talking on the phone. I told my dad that the officer had no clue what was going on around him as he was engaged in his conversation. Someone could pull up behind him and kill him.  That was my very first thought.  Those kinds of thoughts had never crossed my mind before. It just seems like we hear about another incident every day where an officer is gunned down. 

           I at one time was training to be an officer. I was set to take the physical and backed out because I didn’t think my knees would let me pass.  I would have loved the job. I spent some time when I was much younger doing ride outs with the City of Fort Worth.  I had a great friend and she was and still is a great officer.  I felt safe back then. I saw firsthand the brotherhood that is law enforcement.  I saw how they all came together when they needed to.  In most situations you don’t just tangle with one officer, there is usually a swarm of them. They take very seriously protecting their brother’s or sister’s backs. I remember as a 19 or twenty year old watching an escaped jail inmate run into a laundry mat, police was chasing him. There was no one else around and the officer was struggling to subdue and cuff him. I asked the officer if I could help him to which he agreed.  I helped the officer hold the inmate down while he cuffed him. I did not want a pat on the back I just wanted to help. The officer thanked me and proceeded to take the felon in.  I know that this is the mindset I want now. I don’t want thanks I just want to help.  If I see an officer that needs my help I am in.  I respect the Blue and I’m thankful that I can sleep at night because they are patrolling my streets. They are doing what I can’t.  I hope that you feel the same. Don’t let the actions of some officers that may have made the wrong split second decision cloud your judgement. Respect the Blue.