Gregory Freeman: We Don't Take Time To Say "Thank You" To Police Often Enough. StL P-D 8/10/2000

Headline: WE DON'T TAKE TIME TO SAY "THANK YOU" TO POLICE OFTEN ENOUGH
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Thu., Aug. 10, 2000
Section: METRO, Page: B1, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

Death of an officer
   A police officer is dead today, and there probably won't be any demonstrations for him.
   No one will block an interstate to protest his death. There will be no marches about the shame of a wasted life. No one will call press conferences to criticize those who would even consider shooting a policeman.
   But the shooting death of Officer Robert J. Stanze on Tuesday is just as heartbreaking.

Often, if a person is killed by a police officer, questions arise.
   If the person killed is black, African-Americans often rise in protest. In some cases, the protests are justified.
   After all, "driving while black" is more than a myth in America. Blacks are often more likely than others to be stopped by police based solely on the color of their skin. And there are some bad cops out there who, it seems, get some unseemly pleasure out of harassing African-Americans and abusing the trust placed in them.
   Police officers like that are bad apples who should be weeded out of any police force.

But in my experience, those cops are more the exception than the rule. It's important not to paint all police officers with the same broad brush. Just like anyone else, police can be stereotyped, too.

Most police officers are men and women with a tough job to do. They're black, white, Hispanic and Asian.
They're tough -- they've got to be with the jobs they have -- but at the end of the day, they're human beings, people like Stanze, father of a toddler and husband of a wife pregnant with twins. Sometimes, I think, the public forgets that.
Their jobs aren't easy. Most of us wouldn't want to do what they do. Yet, they do it daily -- in many cases for little pay and, in many places, with lots of scorn.

Still, when something happens, regardless of who we are, the first ones we call are the police.
If we're in a car accident, if our home is broken into, if we see something suspicious happening in our neighborhood, we call the police. We expect them to come running -- guns drawn, if necessary -- to take care of the problem that we're facing.
But I wonder if we let them know how much we appreciate all that they do for us.

They take their lives in their hands each day. When they go to work, their families aren't always sure they'll return home.
   Police officers have been shot for the dumbest of reasons. Some have been shot after stopping people about a tail light that's out. Others for writing a ticket. Still others have been shot for no reason at all other than wearing a badge and a uniform.
   For many of us, that would be enough right there for us to give up the profession.
   But many of these men and women carry on, well aware that there are some out there who might harm them simply because of the job they're doing.
   I often shake my head trying to figure out what could motivate a person so much as to shoot another. And when the victim is someone shot only for doing his job, I shake my head that much more.

Being a police officer is a noble and, often, thankless profession.
   Some left-wing fanatics think of police as fascists who love nothing more than proving that they have more power than others in our society.
   Some right-wing zealots think of them as pawns of the government who will snatch away our rights if we don't guard against them.
   Some people simply mistrust all police officers.

But I suspect that most people value the work that the police do.
We just don't say "thank you" nearly enough.

Our hearts go out to Stanze's family, but it's too late to thank him.
We should, however, express our appreciation to the many other men and women whose job it is to keep all of us safe.
Without them, the nation would be a much more dangerous place.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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