Temple officer’s death underscores the increasing risks faced by the police
It should not be a surprise that at a time when anti-law enforcement rhetoric from the left is at an all-time high, attacks on the police are increasing, too.
When they laid Temple University Police Officer Christopher Fitzgerald to rest in Center City on Friday, patrol cars and police motorcycles bearing the insignias of departments near and far sat parked in orderly diagonal rows on either side of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
In all, the vehicles stretched for about a mile from the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul — where Fitzgerald’s funeral service was held — to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as hundreds of officers from around the country donned their dress uniforms to give Fitzgerald, borne in a flag-draped coffin, one final crisp salute.
“Anyone that’s wearing a badge is well aware that it could be us any given day,” Lt. David Chasmer of the police department in Union City, N.J., told The Inquirer shortly before the service began. “It’s just the ultimate show of respect.”
And it is a ritual that, according to law enforcement figures, is sadly becoming ever more common. In 2021, according to FBI data, 73 officers were killed in the line of duty — the most since 2001, when 72 officers were killed in a single day during the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The FBI has not yet released last year’s statistics on the killing of law enforcement officers. But a new report by the National Fraternal Order of Police indicates that at least 60 police officers were killed while on duty in 2022.
» READ MORE: What we know about the Temple police officer shooting
National FOP president Patrick Yoes labeled 2022 “one of the most dangerous years for law enforcement in recent history.”
No wonder hardly anybody wants to become a cop.
There are 1,200 law enforcement vacancies in Pennsylvania. As Gov. Josh Shapiro said, “Fewer young people are deciding to make law enforcement their career … That’s a problem. And it’s going to lead to long-term negative consequences in our communities.”
It’s not “going to” lead to negative consequences — it already has. Last week, a 2-year-old girl was among seven people wounded in a shooting in North Philadelphia. Crime is soaring, and it’s making innocent people feel vulnerable and afraid. That we know.
Moving forward, we need to come to terms with the progressive left’s contribution to fewer people wanting to join the force.
A 2016 report, summarized in an FBI document released to law enforcement agencies in May 2017, may give us a clue why fewer people are stepping up to be a cop. The report examined 50 shootings of police officers. “The main reasons expressed by assailants as to why they wanted to attack law enforcement officers were for social and/or political reasons or they had a hatred of law enforcement,” the FBI reported.
» READ MORE: The hypocrisy of Democrats on crime | Jennifer Stefano
It notes those attacking officers saw it as their way to “get justice” for those who had been, in their view, unjustly killed by law enforcement.
In at least two attacks on police, the assailants “said they were influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement, and their belief that law enforcement was targeting black males,” the FBI document said.
I have a high bar for what does and does not incite violence. I do not believe words, ideas, or calls for political protests in and of themselves inspire violence — unless there is an explicit and intentional call for individuals to take up violent action.
The official Black Lives Matter website says its mission is to “eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.”
The movement’s organizers and their progressive allies have tried to achieve that mission by crafting proposals to defund the police — a failed policy proposal that most Americans, including many people of color, reject. In a “Survey of Black Voters” by The Grio and the Kaiser Family Foundation in the run-up to the 2022 election, 82% of respondents said they support either keeping police funding levels the same or increasing them. Fewer than a fifth of the survey’s respondents thought spending less money on the police was a good idea.
But that has not deterred the Black Lives Matter movement’s sustained anti-police activism, which has succeeded in eroding public confidence, support, and respect for the officers who risk their lives to keep us safe.
Law enforcement officers haven’t been helped by progressive prosecutors like Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, whose refusal to prosecute many offenses has led to a drastic decline in conviction rates for serious crime in Philadelphia.
» READ MORE: The case for impeaching Krasner | Jennifer Stefano
The toxicity of the progressive left’s ideas and policies has not only discouraged many members of younger generations from pursuing law enforcement careers — it may have also helped prompt veterans to flee the profession. The Philadelphia Police Department is likely to see 200 officers retire every year for the next four years. In 2022, only 120 cadets signed up to join the force to fill those spots. This comes on top of 600 vacancies in the department.
There are better ways to go about law enforcement reform than anti-police rhetoric. Officer Christopher Fitzgerald’s family said his life’s mission was to help people — and that’s true for so many officers. Maybe honor Officer Fitzgerald and others like him by making the police allies, not enemies, of sensible reform and a return to safe communities.