Dear men and women of law enforcement,
I awoke this morning to read yet another article about how cops are “out of control”. As ridiculous as that is to all of us who are deeply grateful for you and would not wish to ever do your job, I did have a scary thought come to me. What if YOU are reading these same false articles and seeing those deeply slanted news stories hastily put together by young reporters desperate to seem relevant? What if YOU are starting to think you are no longer appreciated, no longer wanted or needed? Or worse, what if YOU are starting to let the haters get to you and are now hesitating to do what needs to be done in a life or death moment, pausing before doing what your professional training has already told you to do? What if you now wake up with hesitations that end up costing you your life or perhaps the life of someone you wanted to protect? The possibility of that suddenly makes these ridiculous anti-cop stories go from being ignorant and stupid to dangerous and deadly.
So I have stopped all I am doing at this moment and am sending you this letter. I want you to know how grateful I am for your courage, your willingness to serve and the safety you provide to me and my family.
When my children sit in class, they feel safer knowing you are parked outside the front door of the school, watching over them. As my family and I drive home in the dark after a fun night at the movies, we know we are safer on the road because you are hunting down the drunk drivers and clearing them out of our path.
While I slept last night, I actually have no idea how many drug dealers you tackled to the ground, how many doors you kicked in to rescue women and children being abused. To be honest, I didn’t give it much thought. I am so confident in you and your fellow officers; I slept quite soundly knowing you were up all night patrolling the neighborhoods and the streets.
But I want you to know, I am aware there were some people who may not have slept as peacefully as I did. The most restless night may have been had by your spouse, your children or your parents, as they quietly await your safe arrival home from yet another day of risking everything to keep other families safe. I want your family to know how deeply thankful I am for their sacrifice in sharing you with us.
My children have all grown up loving comic book heroes like Spiderman, Batman and Superman. (Or as my 2 year old calls him, “Hooper Man”). We support their enjoyment of these super heroes but they have each been taught that these action figures are fictional characters but that there are REAL super heroes who come running whenever someone yells help, who chase down bad guys and rescue people wherever they may be. That’s you my friend. In this household, we raise our children to honor and respect YOU; the true heroes watching over our city by day and by night.
I am fully aware you are a mortal, an imperfect human who, despite your best efforts, will make a mistake from time to time, as do we all. But I want you doing exactly what you are doing. I want you making decisions based on what you know to be right, what you have been trained to do and I want you to make those decisions quick enough to protect your own life and the lives of all around you. Please do not start second guessing yourself, not now, not ever. Do not let politicians, lawyers or unqualified loud mouths try and tell you how to do your job. None of those critics could do your job better and truth be told, none of them want to. They, like the rest of us, run for shelter and safety when danger rises up, while you and your extraordinary fellow officers run straight into harm’s way, intentionally, every day, every night. Protect yourself officer. You are our super hero but you are a mere mortal. Do not second guess your fantastic training or your gut instinct. Do what you need to do at all times and in all places.
Do I believe we live in a safe society? Not even a little bit. It seems evil is growing like a cancer in our society. But do I believe my family and I are safer with you around? Yes, yes, a thousand times YES! I pray you are always here to protect those who honor the law from those who willingly violate it.
Am I alone in the beliefs and feelings expressed in this letter? Not even close. While I am not speaking in behalf of anyone but myself, there are many, millions, who remain intensely grateful for your personal decision to spend your life protecting ours.
May I take a moment to speak to the families whose son or daughter became a law enforcement officer and then gave ALL. God bless you. I can only imagine the pain you must feel having had your son or daughter, brother or sister, husband or wife, mom or dad, taken from you by someone so cruel, so heartless, so…broken. Your suffering must be compounded by the growing sound of hate towards these brave men and women, including your own loved one. Ignore those who spew such venom. Their comments are either driven by sheer ignorance, hatred, racism, politics or they just simply do not know what they are saying. Forgive them if you can, but ignore them at the very least. Listen to me and to the millions of others who recognize your loved one as a true hero; a selfless person who gave all. To you and your family I just say, thank you for your sacrifice. My family is eternally grateful to you.
In closing, may I say to you officer, thank you for your service. Here in the Dunn home and in homes all around this great country, you are in our prayers nightly. May God keep you safe and may you and your fellow officers know you are engaged in a very important work and millions of us are cheering for you each and every day. May God bless you and protect you today and always.
A grateful citizen,
Troy Dunn
P.S. I hope this gets shared and liked many times over so you can see that there are many who feel as I do.
#troythelocator #OpenLetterToLawEnforcement
Source: Troy the Locator (FB)