With no hint of irony, President Joe Biden told police officers, "We expect you to be everything.  We expect everything of you.  Being a cop today is a heck of a lot harder than it's ever been."  His remark came during a speech at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, May 15.

The ceremony is part of National Police Week that happens each May.  The National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum holds ceremonies, including the 34th Annual Candlelight Vigil, to honor the fallen officers whose names have recently been added to the Memorial.  This year, 619 officers' names (including 472 killed in 2021) were added.

"It is a different world," Biden said.  "Over the last several years it is so much more complicated, the job is complicated.  We expect so much more from all of you."

He wants police officers to think he understands the difficulty they face in doing their job and that he supports them.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Not only does he not support them — as he has shown with his initial support for efforts to defund police departments — but his laxness toward law enforcement has encouraged lawbreakers.

His efforts hit the police coming and going.  He makes it harder for them to do their job from a funding and legislative perspective while at the same time making the job more dangerous by supporting poor prosecution and enforcement, which only encourages criminals.  The combination makes being a police officer in America more dangerous than ever.  The result is that police are killed, and more services like the one at the National Peace Officers' Memorial.

Biden correctly pointed out that officers need to serve as psychiatrists, mental health counselors, and drug counselors in order to do their job.  This is another way that police are endangered.  They are often expected to prioritize these functions over their primary function of law enforcement.  This sometimes means they have to forgo their own safety, and the result is that officers are killed.

"Wearing the badge shouldn't make you a target," Biden said during his remarks.

Again, he doesn't see the irony that his own policies and the views of his party are what is doing that.

"We all need to take a hard look at the culture that allows for these senseless tragedies to keep happening," he said, after taking a knee with activists protesting the death of George Floyd.

Last year, Biden blamed police departments for contributing to "a deep sense of distrust towards law enforcement," and he did it during National Police Week.

It is only recently, with record-high crime rates in many Democrat-run cities, that the president has tried to walk back some of his comments.

"We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police; it is to fund the police," he said during his State of the Union address in March.  "Fund them.  Fund them.  Fund them with resources and training."

The problem is that the damage has been done, and it will take a lot more effort to repair it than it would have taken to support the police when it mattered.

Michael A. Letts is the CEO and founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs. 

CONTACT: Jerry McGlothlin for Michael Letts 919-437-0001 jerry@specialguests.com

Image: Diana Robinson.