Police: Ultimate Sacrifice

I've read a lot of posts in this website of members bashing police over incidents that may not be what they appear. It would seem that there is a bias against our local law enforcement and about how they work for or are a part of BIG BROTHER. However lets not forget those officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice protecting others. These two fallen brethern of mine were attempting to arrest a subject just two counties away from where I am a cop, when they were mortally wounded. The turn out for the SERVICE was overwhelming. I'll try to post a couple of links so that you may know of how loved they were by the commuity. (You can also Google it as there are numerous links to the story.)The funeral procession from Ft. Walton, Florida to Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola is approximaltey fifty to sixty miles long. It took hours to drive, as there were over three hundred emergency vehicles in the procession. All along the route citizens were pulled over/and or standing on the side of the road, holding American Flags or holding their hands over their hearts. Seeing all of this made me proud to be in law enforcement.

www.wkrg.com...

www.eglin.af.mil...

Mod Edit: All Caps – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 11/6/2009 by Mirthful Me]

reply to post by skyeyes
Thanks for the thread.

I was one of the "negative" posters on a thread dealing with this issue... Initially.

Then I got some facts about the incident. I still think it should have not happened, but that's in the past.

The simple fact is, these two fathers died doing a job they believed in.

To me, that makes them heroes.







[edit on 11/6/09 by cbianchi513]

You've made a good thread here.

Like the previous poster, I've also made comments against the various law enforcement organisations, particularly after the approacch to the G20 protests in London (I'm from the UK you see). But I think the main brunt of backlash against them was from the constant media attention fuelling the flames. I guess a lot of people just got swept up in that.

My own father is a police officer, and it's something he's very proud to be, and he's passionate about it. It really does help when making informed opinions about society!
I couldn't imagine how you must have felt at the service, by the way, but I'm glad it made you feel a few feet taller.

reply to post by skyeyes


Thanks for the Big Reminder Eyes! We do need an equal amount of press for the great jobs the police do as well. In the Grandma Tazered thread, I was very critical of the policeman, but I also relayed an experience I had where a cop was extremely compassionate to me, and helped keep me out of trouble immediately after my divorce hearing. I tried to antagonize him into an altercation, and he recognized something was going on, and he turned it into a very eye-opening experience!

I am also 2-counties over from FWB! I wonder if we live in the same community. We lost an officer here a couple of years ago, when he was just responding to a normal burglary call. The response was overwhelming here as well! Police from all over the state showed up, and it shut down the center of town for most of the afternoon!

I hope not to derail, but some of that officer's thunder was stolen a short time later when a female cop shot and killed a suspect during a traffic stop. She was later released from her position, but not prosecuted (as far as I know).

I have mentioned many times that I have friends in all level of law enforcement. Chiefs, FBI, County Sheriffs, FHP, and City Cops. All the ones I consider my friends have the utmost respect for individuals, the laws, the constitution, and the communities.

It is far to easy to lump all LEO together when we are criticizing, so I apologize if I have ever done that, and in advance for when I surely will do it again in the future.

Thanks for your Services!!!

Agreed, 2009 seems to be a bad year for LOD deaths

That being said that it's very easy to forget that 90% of LEOs have not forgotten their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, it's just that we here about the 10%ers more then the 90%ers.

Thank you, all of you, thank you for the kind words. Hopefully with people like you responding to this thread, some out there may actually start to look at their local law enforcment a little differently. Hopefully they will come to realize that not all law enforcement are "bad guys", and that most LEO's out there are just simply trying to do a good job protecting them.

reply to post by skyeyes


Oddly, I just got a call that a cousin of mine was killed in the line of duty in Kansas City within the last couple of days!

No details yet, looks like he was undercover and something happened.

reply to post by getreadyalready


I am very sorry for your loss. I don't know how close you were to your cousin but it doesn't matter. Another "Officer Down" call. The following poem was on the back of Deputy York's funeral announcement:

Final Inspection

The Policeman stood and faced his God,

Which must always come to pass.

He hoped his shoes were shining as birghtly as his brass.

"Step forward now, officer. How shall I deal with you?

Have you always turned the other cheek?

To my Chruch have you been true?"

The officer squared his shoulders and said,

"No, Lord, I guess I ain't.

Cause those of us who carry badges can't always be a saint.

But I never took a penny that wan't mine to keep,

Though I worked a lot of overtime when the bills just got too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help, though at times I shook with fear.

And sometime, God forgive me, I wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place among the people here.

They never wanted me around, except to calm their fear.

If you've a place for me here, Lord, it needn't be so grand.

I've never expected or had too much.

But if you don't, I'll understand."

There was silence all around the throne where the saints had often trod.

As the officer waited quietly for the answer of his God.

"Step forward now, Officer, you've borne your burdens well.

Come walk a beat on Heaven's Streets. You've done your time in Hell."



-Author Unknown-Author Unknown

I hope it gives you some peace of mind.

My hubby is a policeman, and he is a GOOD GOOD man too, he gets terribly frustrated when he sees what the current generation of police are getting up to, and the lack of knowledge and training they receive. But he does point out that they are not all bad.
The horrid thing about all the police bashers, and in some cases yes I can understand why you would get angry, is that they dont hear about what the good guys put up with.
Hubby for example, has been bashed many times, had needles stuck into him (then onto HIV medications, and that is just horrible in itself), been bashed with implements, kicked, had his face half hanging off his head, he has been left out in the cold by his partners and bashed up because they were too scared to get out of the car and support him or call in support, god there is many many an incident, and still he wants to go out there and help, but gets so wound up by the current policing systems, that he feels to ashamed to go back, plus he is very broken now and its difficult for him to do his job as he used to.
He is being ostracized by the police force and the insurance companies because the FORCE BROKE HIM and now dont want to pay up.

There was also another incident here where an officer was brutally assaulted confined to a wheel chair by his attackers, and is now being told that he cant claim compo! All that he was doing was trying to break up a fight with some male family members on the street... Go figure.

But I digress, as I was pointing out its nice to see that there is a thread to defend those that risk their lives for us....

reply to post by The_Seeker


My hubby is an LEO also and it isn't easy on him or our family. He has been one of the good ones as far as duty is concerned. It gets him down also especially the way the public and the department and other LEO's behave and don't appreciate hard work. What's sad is that my husband is becoming a different guy because of all the negativity surrounding his job and unfortunately it is us at home that are left to pick up the pieces. We do support the hard working LEO's and what they provide for us all.

Originally posted by MNL133
reply to post by The_Seeker

 

My hubby is an LEO also and it isn't easy on him or our family. He has been one of the good ones as far as duty is concerned. It gets him down also especially the way the public and the department and other LEO's behave and don't appreciate hard work. What's sad is that my husband is becoming a different guy because of all the negativity surrounding his job and unfortunately it is us at home that are left to pick up the pieces. We do support the hard working LEO's and what they provide for us all.

Its hard isnt it. I have had many a convo with wives, and we suffer just as much as they do. We are the ones left to pick up the pieces when they break them. And that is all part of "the job" as well. We suffer with them just as much as they suffer on the job.

reply to post by skyeyes


Thank you for the poem Eyes! I wasn't real close to him, but my brother was. They used to be roommates. The guy was amazing, a college football player, father, husband, etc. His father was a lifelong Marine that guarded Nixon at one point!

Sadly, it looks like it is going to turn out to be a suicide. His father doesn't believe it of course. He was on a drug task force, and he was found in a hotel OD'd. There was a very lengthy and detailed suicide note, and we are finding out his wife was about to leave him.