Despite slams, police still protect and serve
Protesters taking to the streets in Boston and around the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd underscored their message with signs. Many call for racial justice, police reform and assert that Black Lives Matter. But there are others in the crowd that reflect a disturbing undercurrent, one that goes beyond the call for law enforcement accountability.
These were on display here in two recent marches: “Defund BPD Now,” “Police Descended from Slave Catchers” and “Pigs Belong in Pens.”
We wonder what people who hold such sentiments make of news such as this: Overnight police raids resulted in federal charges for more than 30 members of a Bos- ton street gang that has terrorized city neighborhoods for decades.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling laid out the details — 32 members of the NOB (Norton, Olney and Barry) gang are being charged for violent crimes in aid of racketeering and drug trafficking.
The NOB gang “has engaged in murder, armed robbery, armed assault, witness intimidation, sex trafficking, various firearms crimes and drug trafficking,” Lelling said.
Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said the NOB gang “has been terrorizing the neighborhoods of Dorchester and Roxbury and also neighborhoods in the commonwealth and outside for years, almost three decades.”
The Boston Police worked with the FBI and ATF, making arrests in Boston, Lynn, Everett, Fall River and other towns. More than 20 guns have been seized, including an AK-47.
What the “abolish the police” crowd misses is that there are ugly realities on the streets of any town — gang violence, sex trafficking, drug trafficking and more. Gangs are violent, ruthless and care little for the communities they are shaking down. And they are armed.
What, one wonders, would communities be like without police taking on gangs and other violent criminals? They wouldn’t be communities for long.
“This is today’s reminder that police officers actually spend their time putting themselves at risk to keep the rest of us safe, and a well-funded police department is not somehow optional for a free and safe society,” Lelling said.
There who decry some of the weaponry in the police arsenal should consider this: If gang members have AK-47s, do you really want officers to be outgunned?
Gang raids and drug and sextrafficking busts don’t figure in the “all cops are bad” narrative. And that narrative is undercutting morale across the country, as police officers young and old quit the force. The sad phenomenon has been tracking for several years.
And yet, while police see people carrying signs calling them pigs, they still get up the next day, put on their uniforms and try to make the city a safer place. All busts aren’t as big as the NOB gang raids, but even getting one murderer, one rapist, one drug trafficker off the streets is critical for the well-being of the community.
They are doing far more to enhance and protect the quality of life for the city than a marcher who scrawls “pigs belong in pens” on a piece of cardboard.