Police Officers

                I have watched in dismay as policemen across the nation have literally come under fire in recent days.  One figure I heard was eight policemen being killed in a nine day period of time; another figure was four policemen shot and killed in a ten day period.   Names of those four police officers are:  Deputy Darren Goforth (shot and killed on August 28 while refueling his patrol car in Harris County, Texas), Officer Henry Nelson (shot and killed on August 26 while responding to a domestic-violence call in Sunset, Louisianna), State Trooper Steven J. Vincent (shot in the head on August 14 while helping a motorist in Sunset, Louisiana), and Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz (shot and killed on September 1 in a community north of Chicago, Illinois).  Other officers have been assaulted and targeted.

                Glenn Beck called for a national day of prayer that was set for 11:00 a.m. CST last Friday, the same time that the funeral for Deputy Darren Goforth’s (one of the slain policemen) funeral started.  The special day of prayer was for Deputy Goforth’s family as well as for all those who protect and serve our nation.

                Mike Rowe, former star of “Dirty Jobs” and current host of “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” on CNN, posted a video of Paul Harvey’s “Policeman” narration on Facebook and recommended it to all his fans.  I watched it and recommend it to you.  I grew up listening to Paul Harvey and recognized his voice and appreciated the video very much.  I hope you do also.  

                I found it very interesting that when I asked Google “how many police have been specifically targeted recently” I was given four articles about police being targeted and five articles about police targeting people – and this was on the first page. 

                I know numerous men who are currently police officers or were at one time.    These men are personal friends of mine, children of my friends or friends of my children.  One of them is my own son.  I am grateful to have good police officers like these men patrolling the streets of their towns and cities, but I fear for their lives and for their families.  I am very grateful that my son is no longer a sworn officer, but I am appreciative of his insight into the danger that surrounds police.  Every single time they put on their uniform and badge, they put themselves in harm’s way to protect and serve the members of their community.  Every time they walk out the door to go to work, their families know they may never see their officer alive again.  I do not think I could handle that kind of stress, something I did not have to worry about with my engineer husband or any of my sons or sons-in-law.

                When police officers go to the academy or join the police force, they know they are risking their lives, and they still choose to have that career.  There is danger in the job without anyone targeting them.  We must protect our first responders if only by our prayers.  Please pray for those who protect us, preserve our freedoms and safety, and serve us in numerous ways!

Officer Down II

Anchorage Police Officer Jason Allen, age 47, was shot five times while sitting in his police car on January 9. He had responded to a domestic dispute just before 2:00 a.m. and had returned to his car to do paperwork when a dark-colored sedan pulled alongside him. There were at least two people in the vehicle, and the shooter opened fire without any warning. Allen was hit five times, but his bulletproof vest stopped some of the shots. He stayed alert enough to call for help and to give information to his fellow officers before going in for surgery. In the weeks since the shooting, Allen has been through multiple surgeries for wounds to his arm and torso. His left arm is in a full cast from his fingers to his shoulder. He expects to leave the hospital soon and recognizes that recovery will take much longer. Police believe that Allen was targeted in the drive-by shooting simply because he is a police officer. They believe that the shooter was looking to execute a cop. The police call the shooting an "ambush attack." Police have not named any suspects in the attack, nor have they released descriptions of the suspect car and/or its occupants. Allen is anxious to get back to work to help find the shooter. Meanwhile, he is grateful for his fellow officers who have guarded him around the clock at the hospital. He is appreciative of all the support he has gotten from the police and the community. A reward fund was started by the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association, the city and other public safety unions. The original reward amount of $10,000 has now grown to $25,000 with additional donations. In addition, a second fund has been started to support Allen's family. Our community is outraged that such an attack took place here. We want the creeps caught as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we continue to pray for Allen's quick recovery.

Officer Down

It happened again! Some idiot thought he had the right to ambush one of our Anchorage City policemen last Saturday. I do not know the injured officer, but I am indignant! Investigators say that Officer Jason Allen was in uniform and was in a marked patrol car when he was ambushed. He had responded to a domestic-dispute call from a home on Medfra Street, between 14th and 15tgh avenues, and then returned to his car. Just before 2:00 a.m. Saturday a dark-colored sedan pulled alongside his patrol car, and a person on the passenger side of the car opened fire with a handgun without any words exchanged. Allen was shot five times in the arms and torso, but his bulletproof vest stopped some of the rounds. He stayed alert enough to call for help on his radio and to pass along information to his fellow officers before going into surgery. His injuries were potentially life-threatening, but he has a good chance for a full recovery. He is a veteran police officer with a reputation for fairness and a good man to have patrolling our streets. The shooting does not appear to be connected to the call that Allen responded to at the home on Medfra. There is a very, very slim possibility that someone with a grudge against him tracked him down. He had been on duty for about three hours and was not on his usual turf in another part of town. The police do not yet have a clear motive for the shooting, but it appears that Allen was shot simply because of his uniform. Our entire community is shocked, especially those at the APD. Since the shooting, off-duty officers have volunteered their time to pair up at night for safety reasons. The Anchorage Police Department Employees Association is offering a $10,000 reward, which comes from the police union, the city and other public safety unions. This is the first time in recent memory that a bounty has been offered for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of criminals. Other officers have been assaulted, but this case is different in that the officer was ambushed. An editorial in the Anchorage Daily News this morning states, "The shooting of Anchorage police officer Jason Allen … was an attack on the community. That's because any assault on an officer of the law is a fundamental assault on the rule of law." This type of brazen and deliberate attack is not a familiar one to Anchorage, and there is some concern that it might be gang related. Other agencies are assisting in the investigation. Agents from the FBI, the Alaska State Troopers, the Seattle Police Department and others are now in on the search. Seattle officers are assisting because of their recent experience dealing with shootings there on October 31 and November 29 that killed five police officers. There may not be a specific link between the shootings in Seattle and Anchorage, but the crimes are similar and may require similar strategies in the investigation. The local FBI office is providing assistance, resources and technical assistance and whatever else they can provide to solve the case. This case may not end up in federal jurisdiction, but it is not unusual for federal authorities to get involved in a serious case, especially when an officer is targeted. My thoughts and prayers are with this officer, his family, and the entire police force. May God help them find those involved in the shooting and bring them to swift justice!

Support Our Police Officers

I often read a blog that shows a graph for each day and find many graphs that are very interesting.. A couple of days ago the graph of the day asked the question, "How much confidence do you, yourself, have in each of the following American institutions: a great deal or quite a lot?" The blog then listed sixteen different institutions in the United States with the following as the top five on the list: The military (45%/26%), small business (28%/32%), the police (28%/30%), the Church or organized religion (26%/22%), and the medical system (16%/19%). It is interesting to me that these five represent the basic protectors that we have in our lives. The military protects us from foreign enemies; small businesses are the foundation of our economy; the police protect us locally; the Church guides us spiritually, and the medical system protects our health. A recent article by Colleen Long of Associated Press printed in the Anchorage Daily News stated that 2009 was a really bad year for policemen. During this year, 47 police officers died nationwide after being shot while on duty. This number is up 24 percent from the 38 killed in 2008. The figures for 2009 were particularly high because officers were shot in groups: four officers outside Seattle in November; four in Oakland, California, in March; three in Pittsburgh in April, and two in Okaloosa County, Florida, in April. Some of these officers appeared to be targeted while the others seemed less so. The article quoted Eugene O-Donnell, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York as saying, "There's an increasingly desperate population out there. Other than in rare cases for ideological reasons, we really haven't seen people taking on the cops head-to-head. Something is amiss. It should be cause for grave concern." Criminologists say that the problem is compounded because guns are available, but the facts don't seem to bear this out. Pennsylvania has the most gun-related officer deaths this year as well as some of the strictest gun laws in the country. At the same time, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky have few gun laws and few, if any, officer deaths this year. Kevin Morison, a spokesman for the Officers Memorial Fund, was quoted as saying, "But folks who are willing to intentionally target police officers seem to be able to find a way to accrue guns regardless of what the laws in those states would be." So, we have people targeting our police officers. We have a government that is trying to destroy small businesses and the medical system as well as not giving full support to our military. We know that churches and/or religions have long been under attack by the radical leftists in our nation. It is obvious that we need to do more to support our protectors. Few, if any of us, are in a position to take a bullet for a police officer, but there are other things that we can do for them. We can make sure that every officer we see knows that we appreciate their willingness to put their lives on the line EVERY SINGLE TIME they leave their home. We can make sure that we have enough police officers on the streets and that they are adequately paid for doing their duty to our communities. Even though our city is cutting expenses trying to save $20 million this year and $25 million next year, the number of police officers on the streets is not being cut. Another thing that we can do that will help our police officers is to obey the laws of our city, state and nation and show respect to the officers we see. The bottom line is, if we want the police there to help us when we need help, we need to support them in their jobs. This is a personal issue for me for I know numerous police officers personally.