Penny Thoughts: Props for Our Cops
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of The West Alabama Watchman.
This piece was submitted and published on Oct. 25, 2019. It has been submitted now so that it might prompt some reflection as some communities in America are considering defunding or even eliminating law enforcement.
It is probably our atmosphere and world view here in the Deep South but, as I was engaged in a phone discussion with a fraternity brother of mine a while ago about the attitudes some of the Yankees (Northeasterners) and Californians (West Coast Libs) express towards their policer officers, the profound differences of our two regions became more pronounced.
My fraternity brother’s name is Al and he is the former Chief of Detectives in Philadelhia, Pa. Both of us were fuming about the water dousing some Police Officers in New York City had endured. One of Al’s detectives had moved to NYC and Al was vexed to the core, to put it mildly, that his friend had to tolerate such disrespect. I commented, “Hey, Al, that would never happen here! We respect and support our law enforcement officers without exception!” And it got me to thinking about the depth of that comment, so I will share a further examination of what I meant.
To begin with – and here is this column’s history lesson, of course – most people do not know what “COP” means or its etymology (word history). Some believe it means “Constable on Patrol”, but Snopes disputes this. Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins, a noted linguistic researcher, points out that “COP” comes from an ancient Anglo-Saxon verb for “catch, grab or capture” possibly dating back to the 1100’s. Still, it denotes an action which law enforcement officers perform on a regular basis.
Other designations cite that it comes from “copper” referring to the copper badges New York police had as part of their uniforms in the 19th Century. Dr. Jenkins observed that the first documented use of the term “copper” meaning “arrest” was 1844, but, as a reference to a police officer, its use was confirmed in 1846. Through the years, “copper” has been shortened to “cop”, which prevails today.
As a population at-large, it is my perspective that we take our police officers and what they do every day for granted. We enjoy the protection they provide for a civil society, for a sound society, for a safe environment and, in an ironic sense, we complain when we are pulled over for a traffic offense. Sometimes we seem to tire of their patrols and anticipate only the worst when we see one of their vehicles moving near our immediate vicinity.
But when we need them, we believe that, “By God they better be there,” to give us the protection we demand without exception! And if they were not, we want to know exactly why they were not.
In reality, nevertheless, our police officers represent and guarantee the protection of that “Blue Line” or “Blue Wall” which keeps us safe and guards our civil society from those who would destroy it or who would violate us in some fashion. They hold us together, for lack of a better image. Without them chaos would reign. Lawlessness would be the norm. Brutality and raw force would be common behavior. In short, we would NOT have the comfortable and secure society we enjoy now.
It is our law enforcement officers which ensure this!
One other point here: how many of us, except those in our military, leave our abodes every day and reflect on the fact that we may not return at the end our workdays?
And the families and spouses of police officers may very well sublimate the overpowering fact of the insecurity of their return as they bid their cops farewell when they leave to go to “work”. I challenge any one of us to project themselves into such an atmosphere when we send our family members off to work!
And for that mere fact alone we owe our law enforcement officers an overwhelming debt of thanks.
After cursing and damning those thoughtless hoodlums who found great folly in soaking the NYC Police Officers and began strutting around without fear of retribution, I asked Al, “But what can we who are not officers do on a daily basis to reassure them?”
Al said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Hell, just thank them…and MEAN it!” I reflected on the fact that there has always been beauty in simplicity.
So, to our Law Enforcement Officers in Demopolis, our Marengo County Sheriff’s Officers, and every Law Enforcement Officer in each of our Black Belt communities, as well as he rest of America, THANK YOU…with the sincerest and heart-felt meaning!!