Police officers are being disrespected and even harmed. Where is the outrage?

There are parts of Philly that feel like Gotham City.

Granted, it’s not everywhere. There are sections of Philadelphia that remain largely untouched by gun violence. But the headlines, the TV news stories of shootings, and accounts of looting and mayhem can make it seem as if the entire city is in turmoil.

Meanwhile, Mayor Jim Kenney is on his way out of office, and sometimes acting like it. Many residents are on edge, and a lot of people are mad about the state of things. That frustration is epitomized in a now-viral video taken outside of Dobbins High School last week.

The video begins with an unnamed police officer surrounded by young people. Soon after, the officer is kicked from behind and he falls onto the pavement in front of the jeering crowd. As he is escorted away from the scene by a fellow officer, his emotions boil over and he throws his baton onto the pavement. Then, a student reaches up and slaps the cop on his head before running away.

I watched the video over and over, each time wincing a little.

It was an infuriating moment. Not just for the cop, but for every law-abiding Philadelphian.

What happened to the officer is completely unacceptable. What are the city’s leaders up to, and why haven’t they publicly denounced what has happened? Also, how is it that video of the incident is posted all over social media with people commenting on it, but outside of that, there has been no widespread public outcry?

“I’m still shocked by it, that he got slapped in the face and kicked [in the back],” David Fisher, president of the National Black Police Association Greater Philadelphia, an advocacy organization for Black officers, told me. “There was no respect for the police out there.”

To him, this video is another example of why police officers say they don’t feel supported by the communities they serve, and why so many have left the force in recent years. “People should be outraged. If this can be done to the community’s last line of defense with no consequences, then we’re all in trouble,” added Fisher, a 29-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department.

Granted, Philly police have faced far deadlier incidents lately.

Philadelphia Police Officer Richard Mendez was fatally wounded, and his partner, Officer Raul Ortiz, was shot in the arm last week while responding to a car theft in a parking garage at Philadelphia International Airport. A week earlier, three other officers were shot in the Rhawnhurst section of Philadelphia while responding to a report of a domestic shooting. (Authorities arrested a suspect from Camden in the airport case on Monday; the shooter in the Rhawnhurst case was killed on the scene after cops returned fire.)

Much already has been written about both of those cases and rightly so. Mendez made the ultimate sacrifice for his city.

I realize that many view law enforcement with suspicion. Some of the students outside Dobbins last week may have heard stories about police brutality or corruption, or been victims of that themselves. They may be angry about the recent Municipal Court decision that dropped charges against the officer who killed motorist Eddie Irizarry during a traffic stop.

But that is no reason to brutalize an officer. If this kind of lawlessness isn’t addressed, it will get worse.

“Our community has to hold ourselves accountable,” said Terence Harrell, who runs the popular NoGunZone page on Instagram.

According to 6abc, police arrested a suspect in the Dobbins incident after he was spotted running eastbound on Lehigh Avenue toward 21st Street. Others reportedly also were arrested for assault on a police officer and cited for disorderly conduct. This is important because young people need to see there will be repercussions for this kind of behavior. They also need to be reminded that police officers — despite the ones who do wrong — serve an important role in our city, especially in those neighborhoods where residents no longer feel safe.

“People don’t care about the police,” Fisher said. “They don’t care about the police until they need them.”