Blue Lives Matter. On September 11th of each year America remembers her fallen law enforcement officers who bravely responded to the call at the world trade centers in New York city. Due to the terrorist attack on the twin towers we lost a number of The Thin Blue Line that day and our very best were taken from us. The New York Police Department went to the World Trade Center that day and did so with the same dedication they respond to on a daily basis. This day would be different. This would be a day that a police department would lose so many brave officers. Too many officers at a single time in our history and once felt no only by the police department of New York City but all police depart precincts all over the city, the state and the US. This was not just any police department. This was the New York city police department. The NYPD.
Fallen Officers from 9/11 Terrorist Attacks
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 caused more law enforcement line of duty of deaths than any other single incident in American history. More police departments were affected than any other.
One officer was killed when United Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania as he and other passengers attempted to regain control of the airplane from the hijackers. 71 officers were killed when the two World Trade Center buildings collapsed in New York City. Dozens more have passed away in the years following 2001 as the direct result of illnesses contracted while working in the hazardous conditions immediately following the attacks in New York. All police departments across the United States mourned and felt this loss as did the rest of us.
We pay tribute to the law enforcement officers, representing 10 different agencies, who died as a direct result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Blue Lives Matter when it comes down to it is actually a very sad notion. Why? Because we have to be the ones on the defensive when it comes to the fundamental part of law enforcement which is to protect and serve. Think about that for a moment. I will say it again. Protect and Serve. Neither word suggests a threatening demeanor or something akin to violence or killing. The police are here because as a society we have created laws so we can function as human beings around other human beings. Laws are to weed out the perpetrators of violence and chaos. Laws are created by us to protect us and it is the Thin Blue Line we have created to enforce these laws. They are here for us at our request. We are not here for them. People seem to forget this.
So where does that leave us with all this reporting that we as a society require profiling or that one group is more prevalent to commit a crime than another and to look for these characteristics based on skin color or some other characteristic like country of origin. Do you want your police to be effective? Do you want them to bring criminals to justice? Only people who think that not letting our police do their jobs is morally wrong and corrupt into itself. So we have to draw a line. Can we enforce the law while at the same time not being too intrusive into the lives of innocent people based on skin color or nation of origin? Do the police cross the line when they enforce the law? I am sure some do. I am also sure that in any profession you will find someone willing to take advantage of their position to get ahead, to do so unfairly, without cause and or use some other strength or tactic that subjugates another person. The police are not perfect. No one is. I seriously doubt most of us could make a correct seconds decision in a life or death matter like the police do on a regular basis. The job of a police officer and their actions based on circumstances they are asked by us to respond to can and does result in the loss of life. They have a job most can’t do and they make decisions on their jobs most of us will not make.
Where does that leave us in the debate on the best police practices, the use of force and the decisions made in their line of work? Do lives matter? You bet they do. Do black lives matter? Absolutely. Do blue lives matter? Without question. If you didn’t look at the perspective that Blue Lives Matter than there would be no Thin Blue Line, and when there is no Thin Blue Line all you would have is chaos.
Without police and law enforcement the chances of getting your triple shot, mocha, with almond milk no whip would be a cold day in hell. The car you once had on the driveway is gone. You call your insurance company to let them know the car is missing but they don’t pick up because your insurance agent is hemorrhaging blood as they lay prostrate on the ground riddled with bullets to the stomach because of some insured that got pissed over their premium hikes. Meanwhile your wife calls you on the phone letting you know that a 1% motorcycle gang rolled up to their offices, broke windows, took the head off the store manager at Al’s Motorcycle Shop (he double billed Mr. John Mathews aka Blood Paw the gang leader by accident for repairs) then proceeded to leave a calling card of a 12 second fuse tied to 24 sticks of dynamite.
You hear your wife screaming as he drives away and that is before you hit the floor from some stress induced heart attack. You manage to call an ambulance service only to find out the EMT will not make it because the ambulance was involved in a 5 car collision 3 blocks away caused by machine gun fire aimed at the vehicles (Blood Paw was bored on his drive home). Before completely passing out you dial 911 and ask for Police Emergency. No one answers.
Sure this is an over dramatized series of events but it does boil down to one simple truth. If you don’t want the police then don’t call the police. And if you don’t want the police then consider your alternatives.
Blue Lives Matter
In 2008 the United States population was 304 million. Law enforcement officers in the US numbered 765,000. Do the math. The percentage of law enforcement officers as a percentage of our US population accounted for only .00251644 of the total population. Is that a Thin Blue Line? Do police get killed in the line of work? Yes they do. Do Blue Lives Matter? Yes they do.
With police deaths increasing by over 100 or more each year the Thin Blue Line grows thinner and thinner.
In order for peace to be maintained it is important to Back The Blue. Why? Because it is these men and women that keep the illness of crime at bay and away from our families and children and help to prevent chaos from being the norm instead of the exception. Backing the blue is not about blind support. It is about cooperation and communities working with law enforcement and communicating on a very personal and real level to help bring peace to our neighborhoods. We all understand that in any profession there are always going to be those who are not working in support of a common and productive cause such as 99% of our law enforcement officers do. They are there because for many it is not just a paycheck but it is about helping others and protecting our families, kids, friends and citizens from being harmed. We often look to the media (not our friend as is often the case) and think because it is on TV it must be true. Far from it.
BLUE LIVES MATTER! Without law there would be chaos. Without the Thin Blue Line society would wither and perish. Every life matters and at 10-4Gear.Com we recognize that Blue Lives Matter!
From police shirts to police challenge coins these police gifts are a great way to honor your law enforcement officer abd letting him or her know that Blue Lives Matter.
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