Thank a Police Officer

It is thank a police officer day today.  I didn't know that there was a special day for this, it seems to me that we should be thanking them on a regular basis for all that they do and don't do.  But sadly, we don't.  We grumble and complain and blame.  Worse, our media often portrays them as brutal, racist bullies.  Read the comments section below any law enforcement news story and it is hate filled and judgemental.  High profile television news personalities second guess the actions of officers as they watch recorded footage.  Well educated men that know their doubt creates doubt in their viewers. 
I know that there are two big pushes right now following the shooting in Ferguson.  Citizens demand that the officers wear body cameras and citizens demand that police departments get rid of the military styled equipment.  Citizens are outraged.  Citizens are generally uninformed and are feeding off the media frenzy.  As the spouse of an officer, I am viewed as someone thoroughly educated on the in's and out's of law enforcement.  Surprisingly, I am not.  I do not know penal codes.  I do not know the whereabouts of speed traps.  I do not know why tasers, car cameras, radios malfunction.  Though I find the idiots of this city fascinating, I am not in law enforcement, only married to a bit of it.  I am quite sure that when my police officer husband goes to work, his fellow officers are not asking him questions regarding the cosmetics department at Walgreens. 
Back to the body cameras and military styled equipment.  My opinions on these two subjects are very biased.  I love a great number of people that would use this equipment and their safety and well being is far more important to me than the opinions of Anderson Cooper et all.  Body cameras, like any electronic device, will not work at some point.  The point will probably be when it has been hit or jostled or knocked about a bit.  It will probably be hit or jostled or knocked about a bit during a foot chase, an apprehension or a no holds barred fight for life.  And when that happens, and it will, someone sitting comfortably behind a desk or standing angerly on the street corner will accuse the officer of shutting the camera off.  They will forget, or not even remember what transpired.  They will not understand that this officer was running across a trash strewn lot or was reaching for handcuffs while trying to maintain control of the suspect or was relying on every bit of police training to stay ahead of the man trying to get the service revolver.  Because the finger of blame will have to be pointed.  There will always have to be a hidden agenda.  It will cause an officer to second guess instinct.
But in our need to know everything society, body cameras will become the norm. 
Now about this military styled equipment that we have been hearing so much about.   I think it is important to recognized that just because something is finished with a matte black coating, it does not make it militarized.  Again, a creation of the media.  As we watch the advancement of ISIS and learn of the ever increasing sympathizers here in the United States I think it is time we realize that the day we ask our local law enforcement to preform like the military is not too far off.  The criminal that they are fighting will always be the piece of shit selling drugs and shooting rivals.  The enemy they will have to fight will be well trained and educated haters of America bent on its destruction.  Will it be necessary for Middle America agencies to have tactical vehicles and high powered rifles?  You bet your ass.  Because it is in places like Middle America that  won't be the easy targets (WOLVERINES!).  I want to know that in the event of a terrorist attack there are vehicles that can move through the rubble.  Because those vehicles will be awfully handy during an Iowa snowstorm or spring flood.  But with this equipment must come the training.  Law enforcement cannot just dole it out when the shit hits, there must be continually training so that they are ready for the shit.
On that note, let's discuss the fact that two people have recently scaled the White House fence.  Is this like the velociraptor in Jurassic Park?  Never testing the fence in the same place, looking for the weakness?  Ideally, the federal police would gather some well trained Belgian malinois' on break away leashes.  Dogs aren't going to second guess, body camera or not and I don't care what crazy faction you are working for, there isn't a person alive that would not piss their pants at the sound of K9 law coming. 
I cannot stay on topic.
Thank you for getting me across the street with ease after a concert at The Well.  Thank you for cruising through the Quik Trip parking lot as I walk back to my car after the fair.  Thank you for popping my lock at Wendy's when Ashlyn was in the back seat.  Thank you for clearing out the post party at the Boom Boom Room when I was trying to sleep.  Thank you for being honest about the liberal courts system in KC and that no one was going to jail when my vehicle was stolen.  Thank you for the warning instead of the ticket and even thanks for the ticket.  Sometimes we all need the reminder to slow it down, and you were probably close to winning a toaster.  Thank you for being out in the worst kind of weather dealing with the worst kinds of people.  Thank you for not listening to all the negative know it alls that do not have what it takes to save a life, stop a crime, protect a child.