Police under assault from politicians and proposals

All across America, from our cities to the suburbs to small towns, civil unrest is testing law enforcement officers, like us, as never before. While peaceful protests are the hallmarks of a free society, a society can never be free if public safety is compromised.

As police officers, we are duly sworn to uphold the law. We serve on the front lines, protecting lives and communities and maintaining public safety each and every day.

Just a couple months ago, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an outpouring of support to enact benefits for front-line, emergency response workers — including police officers — in the form of hazardous duty pay and tax abatements. Yet as swiftly as our economy was diminished during the pandemic, politicians and citizens (many with another agenda) have begun a process of vilifying law enforcement and its unions.

In the days that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, citizens took to the streets nationwide and law enforcement officers protected their space and ensured their rights to peacefully protest. In a stark contrast, criminal opportunists took advantage of the unrest and turned to rioting, vandalism and looting in many of our cities. That turn of events soon eclipsed the positive message of societal change that was being proclaimed. As police officers, we are tasked with protecting lives and property, and that means stopping and arresting those who have incited and participated in these riots and acts of violence.

The knee-jerk reaction to our efforts from elected officials, particularly at the federal level, has been shameful. Just recently, U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayana Pressley of Massachusetts announced a wide-ranging proposal to defund police departments and establish a reparations program for people harmed by the police and the criminal justice system.

The proposed legislation, called the “Breathe Act,” contains a number of dangerous proposals, including eliminating ankle monitors, abolishing police gang databases, as well as removing armed cops and metal detectors in schools, banning “pretextual” police stops and searches, even where police obtain consent, as well as a plan to close all federal prisons and immigration detention centers.”

Put simply, these proposals are an open invitation for criminals to wreak havoc on our communities and roll back the progress our officers have made in driving down crime rates throughout Florida.

The reality is the federal government provides some resources to local police departments, but 86% of police spending is locally financed by counties and municipalities. Under-funding police departments does nothing to fix social inequalities. Instead, it creates a slippery slope, driven by political extremists, that will eventually unravel public safety. If you under-fund a police agency, it impacts training, it impacts hiring, it impacts our ability to develop good leaders. Without applicants taking the police test and with senior officers retiring, who’s going to protect local communities?

Let’s be clear. Defunding the police isn’t really about reallocating resources to communities and expanding social programs, it’s fundamentally part of a larger movement to abolish the police and strip us of our civil rights. Other legislative proposals being debated in Congress would strip us of our civil rights under “qualified immunity,” which protects police officers and their families from unwarranted and frivolous lawsuits resulting from the performance of their duties.

The last thing a police officer struggling to disarm an armed perpetrator should have to think about is whether or not he’ll be sued by the guy with the gun in his hand.

Police officers need more support than ever from our members of Congress and from all our elected representatives. We should not be demonized or scapegoated by political opportunists, nor should we be forced to leave our constitutional rights at the door. If we’re unable to maintain public safety with optimal resources, then everyone’s safety is jeopardized.

We took an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect the citizens and their property in this great nation. Despite the vitriol, the calls for us to be afforded fewer rights than the lawbreakers we arrest, and the fact that some of our elected leaders have seemingly turned their backs on us, the men and women of the Florida Police Benevolent Association will continue to proudly put on our uniforms and go to work every day, putting our lives on the line to serve and protect.