Don’t overlook good work of police

Editor’s note: Another Viewpoint is a column The News-Herald makes available so all sides of an issue may be aired. Tom Wetzel is a Northeast Ohio police lieutenant, certified law enforcement executive, former SWAT leader, and an adjunct professor in community policing.

As the national anthem kneeling saga which came about in part because of alleged police abuse toward minorities continues to make headlines, police officers throughout the country will still suit up and go about their daily tours of duty serving and protecting us.

The saga itself is unfortunate and leads to the question of when will this matter end, as it doesn’t appear to have a definable finish line. The whole issue might leave too many cops scratching their heads on what specifically they must do individually and as a group to bring about a satisfactory resolution to this concern. And who is going to be the judge or arbitrator to say that all is now well.

Too many bad people of all races will continue to violently endanger our society and sometimes will have to be stopped with deadly force by police officers. Furthermore, being human will ensure that cops will still sometimes make legitimate mistakes in dangerous, tense and rapidly unfolding situations requiring split-second decisions. And finally, man’s fallen nature will nearly guarantee that some men and women will simply commit crimes while under the color of law.

All of it is distracting as it overshadows so much of the real ground-level work that police officers will do daily. High-profile arrests and SWAT missions get recognized, but routine services will rarely make headlines and often go unnoticed except by the recipients of these actions and moments of kindness. But it is here where you will get a more realistic perspective of what makes up an officer and the culture of his agency.

For instance, when a young person’s car breaks down on a highway during a blizzard, it is likely that the driver will experience two things — a little trepidation and a friendly state trooper who stops to help.

Over the course of a career, an officer will change plenty of tires and drive lots of people home. When a widow hears a bump in the night, it will be a street cop who will walk around her home and give her peace of mind that it was a raccoon in her garbage can.

Our officers also will have an impact on our children. They will show them how to cross the street in Safety Town and how to avoid strangers on the Internet through e-Copp. They will work in schools as resource officers, allowing them to spot troubled youth in need of intervention. They will act as role models who will counsel kids against bullying and teach them to avoid drugs and gangs.

They will encounter our marginalized brothers and sisters in the streets who are both homeless and in a mental health crisis and act as the bridge to social service support. As the opioid emergency is laying waste to our nation, it will likely be a patrol officer who delivers lifesaving Narcan to a dying mother and gives her another chance to beat her horrific addiction.

Our men and women in blue will regularly reach out to connect with those they serve in community policing programs, such as police athletic leagues and citizen police academies. They will partner with citizens to find proactive strategies such as target hardening to prevent crime and make neighborhoods safer places to live and thrive.

And they will do all this good will while rotating shifts on limited sleep. They will do it in between their exposure to dangerous people and situations. They will do it regardless of good or bad media coverage involving the actions of one of their peers.

But most importantly, they will do it whether people are standing or kneeling for our national anthem. And that gives you the best picture about what makes up the character of an American police officer.

Tom Wetzel