Remember to thank police this week

National Police Week is observed May 12–18 this year to honor those who serve us. In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15th National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week as National Police Week. WASPC reporting shows over the past five years, the number assaults on Washington’s law enforcement officers increased 42%. Hardly a local problem, according to the FOP, nationally, 2023 was a dangerous year, 378 officers were shot, 115 were ambush attacks.

America has a nobility; it is our law enforcement. The law enforcement officer says I will confront the problems you will not, or the situations of which you lost control - often in the native habitat of the problem. The officer says I will make lifealtering decisions in fractions of seconds with incomplete information - decisions for which society has the luxury of time, stillness, and deliberation to deconstruct and critique what it will not attempt. These men and women volunteered to put themselves in positions fraught with danger. They are citizens of noble and heroic virtue. They are the doers of deeds, not bystanders, They are, as Teddy Roosevelt said, “the men in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. They are not among the cold and timid souls” who cower from the responsibility of citizenship.

Please connect with your respective law enforcement agency and join in commemorating National Police Week to honor these virtuous men and women.