We need to support our police.  Common ground can be found in safety, law and order, education, and community support and social services.  There is no unity to be found in demonizing and vilifying any group of public servants.  Public service is extremely difficult and often low-paying.  Front-line public safety responders including police, fire, and medical personnel work in tandem because threatening situations and emergencies are never predictable.  It is said that you do not need the police until you need the police.  Emergencies and crime threaten our well-being, mentally and physically, and often our survival.

Calls for defunding the police and eliminating qualified immunity portend a grave path of unintended consequences.  Public officials and employees are generally offered immunity from personally being sued when working in an official capacity.  But this is qualified based on conduct within the bounds of established statutory or constitutional rights.  Denigrating the police and dismantling funding and protections afforded these public servants will drive a mass exodus from the law enforcement profession.

It takes courage to rise above blaming the police for our societal failures, which decay the fabric of our culture, families, and communities.  As with educators and social workers, public safety professionals are increasingly responsible for dealing with these challenges.  Which public sector group will be the next to blame after the police are neutered?  Solutions lie in finding the courage to increase opportunity and prosperity within our communities, rooted in mutual responsibility and respect.  Division and destruction lead to more chaos.

If the police are not safe, nobody is safe.  Whom are you going to call?