Denver police say the motorist whose black Mercedes struck four officers on bicycles near East High School, injuring one critically, suffered from a medical issue. In other words, the devastating incident didn’t involve the deliberate targeting of police because of who they are.
But the fact remains that the officers were struck while in the line of duty, and indeed while providing an escort for a student march protesting the use of deadly force by, yes, police.
We mention this irony because, in the daily drumbeat of news regarding America’s cops, it can sometimes appear as if the state of law enforcement is a disaster.
Any reasonably attentive citizen is familiar with the indictment. Police resort too readily to force. They profile minorities, especially young males. They have a fondness for equipment that has no legitimate use outside the military. They abuse forfeiture laws in seizing the property of suspects who have not been convicted.
The list goes on.
There is no point in dismissing the indictment, since one or more of the specific accusations are true to differing degrees in various agencies around the country — and true to an inexcusable degree in the worst.
Still, Wednesday’s tragic incident should remind us all that the everyday duties of police do not involve any such extravagant abuse of civil liberties — that most police most of the time really do serve and protect. That police have good reason to arrest the vast majority of people who are booked. That you’d rather have police escorting your protest march and keeping impatient or unruly motorists and spectators at bay than try to handle that challenge yourself.
Being a police officer is a very difficult job. You have to deal regularly with belligerent, violent lawbreakers as well as citizens in panic or acute distress. You must make snap decisions with lasting consequences for both groups, neither of whom is likely to give you an inch of slack if you misjudge the situation.
As Jay Nordlinger wrote a few months ago in National Review Online, “They have to wait until the last possible second before acting. Certainly before pulling the trigger. But who’s to say what the last possible second is? If you pull the trigger, people will always say, ‘That wasn’t the last possible second.’ “
Let Wednesday’s tragedy in Denver be a reminder that even the most severe critics of police also owe them gratitude.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit or check out our for how to submit by e-mail or mail.
