Coppers the Last Line of Defence

Two stories leading the news this past week involve policemen and they both illustrate how fragile their on the job safety can be regardless of rules procedures and upgraded equipment. The first article talks about a murderer who is applying for parole after a quarter century in jail for murdering a policeman one day in Toronto. It was a bungled robbery attempt and this idiot shot the first officer on the scene. Not only did he deliver the fatal wound he chose to let the officer bleed out rather than allow him to be released so he could receive medical attention that would have saved his life. He joked and taunted this officer ,his partner and colleagues while watching the life ebb from his body. Years later the officer's partner lost his battle with depression over this incident and committed suicide. Now the justice system will allow him to apply for parole every 6 months until he is free or he expires. Sooner or later he will receive a parole that he doesn't deserve because the system is slanted in his favour. The police officer who was shot, Michael Sweet was a good cop, a father and a husband who was just doing his job trying to protect the public from the kind of useless trash that killed him. The second story involved a young officer who was conducting what he thought was routine stop on the highway when he was shot and killed by a 70+ year old man. The scary thing about this murder were the circumstances, which seemed so normal and not resembling any type of unsafe situation. Here he is, on a back country road preparing to confront an older gentleman in a pickup truck for a minor infraction. As he stepped out of his cruiser the man in the truck jumped out and shot him point blank before he had a chance to react. A young man who had a family and his whole life ahead of him cut down in his prime. Once again just doing his job. Imagine that you were in danger of being shot or attacked in some manner every day you reported for work. This is the possiblity that looms over our police personnel each time they show up for their shift. And yet our lawmakers continue to put them at risk by enforcing rules such as the raft of paperwork that is required everytime an officer unholsters his weapon regardless if he uses it or not. In the USA an officer is trained to approach every vehicle with caution and weapon drawn particularly when his vision of the perp is impaired. Do you think this young officer could have defended himself if he had his weapon out and ready to fire? Why do our socialist politicians constantly want to denigrate our police force in favour of the scumbags roaming the streets? Is it any wonder that the blue wall is alive and well when the police are faced with bias from some of the very public they protect. Instead we should be supporting the men and women in Blue as they are the final thin line of defence between us and the crazies.