Our lasting bond with law enforcement

Our lasting bond with law enforcement

Seeing the video a couple of months ago of U.S. protesters chanting, “What do we want? Dead cops!” brought back memories of another era. While “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?” may seem like a policy attack against an elected official, the intended target of both mantras was clear: police officers and the U.S. military.

To those who believe such expressions, I have a simple message: The American Legion is your target, too. Just as our organization has been a staunch advocate for military veterans for nearly a century, we also stand proudly alongside our nation’s law-enforcement officers. 

Nobody supports police brutality or war crimes, but such abuses are far more rare than many in the grievance community would have you believe. Ambush attacks on police, however, tripled between 2013 and 2014, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. And while allegations of wrongdoing should always be fairly investigated, those who have sworn to protect us with their lives deserve the legal presumption of innocence, not death threats.

Every year at our national convention, the Legion honors its National Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. We also oversee national Youth Cadet Law Enforcement programs in many states, and in the preamble to the Legion’s constitution we pledge “to maintain law and order.”

Though the United States has ended combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism remains a threat the world over – one that burst into a magazine office in Paris in January and killed 20 people. This is an enemy with no state government and no regard for human life.

That is why The American Legion opposes irresponsible cuts to defense spending, sequestration and a drawdown of forces to pre-World War II levels. We know that to keep us safe at home, we need a well-armed and robust military fighting our enemies abroad. We stand for secure borders to keep out those who believe that drawing offensive cartoons is a crime punishable by death and violence should be inflicted on women who refuse to wear burqas. 

Connected, and just as important, is our position of support for a strong law-enforcement community that is willing to tune out the noise and protect us from violent criminals and terrorists, foreign or domestic.

Although the First Amendment allows demonstrators to spew their vitriol about police officers and soldiers, it is the police officer and soldier who have ensured their right to protest.

Lt. Daniel Furseth, a member of the DeForest, Wis., police department, recently published a startling confession in American Police Beat.

“I stopped caring today because the culture of today’s instantly connected youth is only there to take and never give back. To never accept responsibility for one’s actions, but to blame everyone else instead of themselves ... To argue that getting stoned should be a right, yet getting a job or an education is a hassle. To steal versus earn. To have versus help. Yes, I stopped caring today. But tomorrow, I will put my uniform back on and I will care again.”

 

God help us when officers like Lt. Furseth stop caring.