Are cops the real targets?

The recent murders of cops in NYPD, Tallahassee and central Florida are tragic.  In each incident, the officers were hopelessly ambushed without any warning.  These officers were at the mercy of their killers.  The murderers didn’t know these cops. They were just uniforms.

But the common denominator in all of these was the killer was mentally ill.  Any cop will tell you that they regularly have to deal with the mentally ill person, the suicidal person, and the drug user who hears ‘voices,’ wants to die, or refuses any help offered.  And then we have to acknowledge that our detention centers, jails and prisons have now become the only governmental facilities to place these persons who can’t function in society.  Heck, they have trouble functioning in these lockdown places.

I refute that these are focused attacks on police officers.  These are tragic, strategic attacks on our government.  Cops, unfortunately, are the most readily observable representatives of the government. The recent protests in cities throughout the country have decried the role of the prosecutor in police fatal shootings.  Yet, attacks on prosecutors have not occurred.  Prosecutors aren’t as visible as uniformed cops.  Remember, most of these murderers have harmed or killed loved ones, persons who cared for them, or people they associated with before they set their sights on cops.

Where is the hue and cry for mental health?  Who does not have someone in his or her extended family that is mentally ill?  Who knows of anyplace with beds for these persons of diminished capacity who have no money for the private facilities in Malibu and the sex rehab farms used by the rich and ‘famous.’  They no longer exist! 

I would suggest that law enforcement and police unions focus on the real problem we’re facing.  What’s occurring now in the police blogs, emails and protests is simply driving the wedge between those of us in blue and the general public and elected officials.  Sheriff Tom Dart of Cook County IL. appears to be a lone public voice in this growing problem.  We in law enforcement have to rise up and lend our voices to this problem that isn’t going away.

The U.S. Supreme Court will address this problem in the coming months with the case of Sheehan v. City/County of San Francisco.  It deals with a police shooting of someone diagnosed with mental illness.  Who know the direction will take and what further implications that might pose for us in law enforcement?