The year 2020 will be remembered as a very difficult one for Law Enforcement throughout the country, especially in major cities where riots and looting have become commonplace. When police officers have been required to use force against a member of a minority community, the result quite often has led to demonstrations quickly exploited by radical elements, and criminal activity was sure to follow. Among the more radical groups of police are faced with are Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and the Revolution Communists Party. It’s quite remarkable that the press tends to ignore the Marxist and communists theme that these groups represent, focusing instead on the claims leveled by these organizations that the police are racists and are killing black Americans at an unprecedented rate. All of the hard evidence disputes this nonsense.
Sadly, there are genuine cases of police brutality, but such instances are the exception and not the rule. Often police encounters involving the use of force are misrepresented before key facts are publicly available, and often officers’ split-second decisions while in harm’s way are not given consideration.
The most disturbing problem many law-enforcement agencies face is the lack of support from their elected officials. How often are police instructed to stand down and not engage rioters or make arrests? The criminal elements in these groups are quick to recognize the lack of police engagement and laugh and taunt the police who standby helplessly while lawbreakers have a field day. Many of the current leftist politicians are now calling for defunding police, and several cities have already reduced the budget for their police. It is not surprising to find that these cities now face serious shortages because of early police retirements. In New York City, the second-highest ranking police official, a three-star chief who’s only 43 years old, has resigned because of the abuse he receives when reporting to the mayor. Shortages of police in every major city that does not support its officers has now reached levels that endanger the citizens who count on their police for protection. The once proud profession of law enforcement is in danger. When large numbers of officers retire, will qualified recruits take their place? Don’t count on it.
Yet there is much cause for optimism. Most Americans still support their local police, despite all of the anti-police propaganda to which they have been subjected. And their numbers will only grow as the truth gets out, forcing politicians to respond accordingly.
James F. Fitzgerald
President, Law Enforcement
Charitable Foundation, Inc.,
Former Newark, N.J., detective