An Open Letter to Law Enforcement/Correction Officers
/By: Chris Amos
Ladies and Gentlemen, you are serving during the most difficult of days. I am amazed at your commitment, your determination, your resolve to protect and serve during these times of great uncertainty and unrest. I wonder if I would have the backbone and fortitude to come to work after spending an eight-hour, twelve-hour, or even longer shift standing between “peaceful” protesters and their intended targets, which more times than not are the men and women in uniform standing directly in front of them. You are cursed, mocked, threatened verbally, and at times physically. Your immediate supervisors are often by your sides experiencing the same treatment as yourselves. They, for the most part, have your back. Unfortunately, higher up the chain of command the support you receive often becomes less obvious, more nuanced, driven by the winds of popular opinion and political agendas. This only makes a nearly impossible job that much harder. Fortunately, I personally know a few chiefs and sheriffs who are determined to place their responsibilities as leaders ahead of personal aspirations or self-preservation. So, they do exist and thank God for them.
Three years ago, I wrote of the dangers facing law enforcement and predicted those dangers would only increase as we drew closer to the 2020 presidential election. I drew an analogy between the law enforcement officers of our day and the Vietnam veterans in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.Back then, President Nixon was isolated and safe behind large gates, locked doors and security details. The Vietnam vets, not so much.
Fast forward to 2020; , the president, is safely tucked away behind, gates, doors and security details. Unfortunately, the law enforcement or corrections officer who slides by the grocery store to pick up diapers for his newborn baby on the way home has no such protection. No, you are on the front lines, both on duty and off. In fact, even in retirement, I have recently experienced a taste of the outrage, as I was on the receiving end of food that had been tampered with at a local drive thru. What was my crime? My license plate indicated I was a police officer.
As a retired police officer having served almost 27 years, and now as a citizen whom you have taken an oath to protect and serve, please allow me to share my expectations of you. I expect you to carry out your duties with professionalism, integrityand fairness to all regardless of race, sex, religion,ZIP code, etc. I expect you to do your job without fear or favor. I expect you to use the powers entrusted upon you, and great powers they are, in a fair, righteous and just way. I expect you to continue doing what most of you have done since taking your oath of office, policing the police. A corrupt, heavy-handed, falsely accusing, evidence-planting cop, deputy or corrections officer is a CANCER to law enforcement and must be removed, and when warranted, arrested. We have seen in recent weeks just how dangerous and destructive bad cops are to the 800,000+ men in women in law enforcement and correctionswho do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Keep doing the job to the best of your abilities, and if you cannot in today’s charged environment – get out. I, for one, certainly cannot blame you.
Now, what I DO NOT expect from you, PERFECTION. You are imperfect human beings created by God. I do not expect perfection, despite the media mouthpieces and Monday morning quarterbacks who think otherwise. I do not expect you to know everything as you pull up to a scene. I do not expect you to handle a violent domestic, robbery suspect or drug dealer as if you were teaching a child’s Sunday School class. I do not expect you to walk away from a 12-hour shift on the front line of a peaceful protest turned riot, having been called everything in the book, and not be impacted. I do not expect you to be able to process in a split second, what your critics will take weeks, if not months, to second guess,investigateandevaluate before coming to their own conclusions from the safety and comfort of their air conditioned offices, behind their big desks, sitting in their leather chairs. In other words, I do not expect you to risk your own life out of an overabundance of fear that someone might be upset or offended by actions you take that are needed and necessary to protect yourself or others. I do not expect you to have to suffer life-threatening wounds or injuries before you take action to defend yourselves or others. I don’t expect you to surrender your vehicles, your precincts and blocks of your own cities to anarchists, rioters, arsonists and looters. I do not expect you to walk on water, give sight to the blind or raise the dead. Only Jesus could and did do such a thing.
Now what you can expect from me, and I believe, most Americans; support, respect, appreciation, and heartfelt thanks and gratitude for your service. I will pray for your safety and that of your family. I will pay my respects every time a member of the Thin Blue Line is killed in the line of duty. And I will continue to be available to the many police officers, deputies, and firefighters who seek me out just to unload the trials and troubles of the day. Anything I can do to help lighten your load I am committed to doing. Take care, be safe, and God Bless.
See you at the finish line!
