Killed in the Line of Duty

[Katherine Brengle]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-fwofficer_18met.ART.North.Edition1.3dfac3e.html

Dwayne Freeto, age 34, killed when a car his his patrol car as he was stopped in the middle of the night helping a stranded motorist. Survived by his wife and two daughters.

http://www.policeone.com/officer-down/138206

Dennis Stepnowski, age 33, killed in a shootout at an apartment complex. Survived by his wife.

http://www.policeone.com/officer-down/1186427

Robert Langly, age 30, killed when the driver he had pulled over for a routine traffic stop tried to drive off and dragged him along with him. Survived by his wife, two sons, and two stepdaughters. Langly also served with the National Guard in Afganistan.

http://www.policeone.com/officer-down/126582

James McGrane Jr, age 38, shot to death while performing a routine traffic stop. Survived by his wife.

http://www.policeone.com/officer-down/508927

Brent Clearman, age 33, killed by a hit and run driver. Served with the United States Marine Corps in Iraq. Survived by his wife.

http://www.policeone.com/officer-down/633969

Jonathan Schroeder, age 37, shot to death while serving a warrant. Survived by his wife and 10 month old son.

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I've taken flack here for defending the police, but I don't care. This needs to be said.

Not all police officers are good people. Not all soldiers are good people. Not all politicians are good people. Not all teachers are good people. Not all parents are good people.

Not all people with power are good people. But in the end, most people are good. And most people try to live their lives doing the right thing.

Please don't lose sight of that just because a police officer kills someone, or a soldier tortures someone, or a politician lies, or a teacher rapes, or a parent murders...

Most of US don't. Most of them don't.

And some of them do pay the ultimate price to keep you and me safe. Focusing only on the bad makes that sacrifice cheap and meaningless.

Pay attention to abuses of power. Do everything in your power to check theirs, and always question authority. Just keep in mind that these people are human just like you and me.

[Colobo]

1. I trust the police

Yeah, there are some rotten apples, but that's everywhere.

[Katherine Brengle]

6. Thank you.

Yes, of course there are - there are in all population groups.

[lonestarnot]

25. I too trust them. "Most" of them.

[ourbluenation]

2. I got no problem with any of this. thx for posting. n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. Absofuckinlutely And Well Said! K&R Bigtime.

[Horse with no Name]

4. Very sad that during the Freeto hockey game

Another officer went down with a heart attack.
There is good everywhere...not everyone is bad.
Thanks for the reminder.
http://cbs11tv.com/local/local_story_042093325.html
An event organizer said the officer did not have a pulse at one point. A Fire and Rescue worker continued to administer CPR as the officer was taken away on a gurney and placed into an ambulance. A spokesperson from Harris Methodist Hospital said the officer was in critical condition late Saturday night.

Proceeds from Saturday's hockey game will benefit the Freeto family. The 34-year-old police officer died Dec. 17, 2006. According to reports, Freeto had stopped to assist a motorist when his patrol car was struck from behind. Police charged that driver --- 21-year-old driver, Samuel Lee Hilburn --- with intoxication manslaughter. He was released from jail after posting $100,000 bail.

[Katherine Brengle]

7. We had an officer die here while going door to door giving out parking permits

so people wouldn't get tickets for parking along the street during a city festival. Knocked on the door of a man who had a warrant out for him, wasn't there to arrest him, shot dead.

Fucking wasted life.

:(

[poiuytsister]

5. I love cops, I was raised to trust and respect them and I have never

been disappointed. The idea that grown men who play kids games for a living make million while men and women who risk their lives for me make crap wages infuriates me.

[Katherine Brengle]

8. Yes it is.

Our soldiers don't get paid very well either.

That's how the system works in this country. Rape this country, laugh all the way to the bank. Die to protect it, get a $12K life insurance policy and seeya later.

[frogcycle]

9. May they RIP

The stories of abuses get too much play. Whether Rodney King or Abu Ghraib, while the stories should be told, they should not be extrapolated to the vast majority of those who put their lives on the line for us for inadequate pay.

Thanks for the post.

[alarimer]

22. They get only what they deserve

When someone ABUSES their power, they deserve every bit of criticism and more. Put a uniform on some people and they get off on abusing that power. They have too much authority as it is and we have to be every vigilant. People who are racially profiled or stopped because they are in the "wrong" neighborhood after dark (and it happens ALL the time) know they should not trust cops. They ones in this town are nothing but ignorant hicks who couldn't go to college so they became cops. And they suck.

[Katherine Brengle]

24. And one finally comes out of the woodowork...

"When someone ABUSES their power, they deserve every bit of criticism and more. Put a uniform on some people and they get off on abusing that power. They have too much authority as it is and we have to be every vigilant. People who are racially profiled or stopped because they are in the "wrong" neighborhood after dark (and it happens ALL the time) know they should not trust cops. They ones in this town are nothing but ignorant hicks who couldn't go to college so they became cops. And they suck."

This is exactly the kind of attitude I was talking about. Are you aware that in many places, becoming a police officer is a long and arduous process? You are tested, then your test scores are compiled with the test scores of everyone else who took the test in that year (here the test is done every two years) in order from highest percentage to lowest. Then these scores are combined with other criteria - here that includes military service/veteran status and residency. The list is redone to apply the credit given for these things as well.

THEN, you are considered IF your precinct needs to hire any new recruits. If you are high up enough on the list, you will be invited to attend a police academy. Here, that academy takes 6 months to complete - 5 days a week, 9-5, plus a few extralong days for special testing - the academy involved academic-style learning as well as practical job and weapons training. Once you get to the end of the academy (*if* bc it is not easy), you need to take a final exam like you would in any other schooling. THEN, if you have graduated, you are hired by your precinct on a probationary basis for one year. During this year, you can be fired at any time for any transgression. The first 4 weeks or so of this year are spent working with a field training officer, who is there to make sure you know what you are doing and that if you missed something in the academy, you learn it before getting out there on your own.

For this, you get paid maybe twice the hourly rate of a Starbucks employee, only you run the risk every shift that you will be shot or stabbed or stuck with a dirty needle.

Some areas are certainly worse than others, but I maintain that the vast majority of cops, like all other people, are good people trying to do their best for their communities.

[Bucky]

26. I was going to ask you how helping a stranded motorist deserves getting hit by a car

But let me just change my comment to "Shoo, fly, shoo."

[Katherine Brengle]

10. kick bc I'm sick of my threads dying

Next time a celeb dies I'm going to jump all over it.

:eyes:

[Telly Savalas]

11. Omar Sharif to get 2 years probation for punching a valet!

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-sharif14feb14,0,3782929.story?coll=la-home-entertainment

:kick:

[Katherine Brengle]

14. Best. Kick. Ever.

lmao

[Truthiness Inspector]

12. You know what's saddest about your thread?

The fact that you had to add disclaimers that not all cops are good.

I'm sorry but FUCK THAT. (Not at you, read further)

You are coming from a good place on this matter, so this not directed at you at all. It's sad that you had to make those disclaimers in the first place to avoid being flamed.

I would invite anyone and everyone who bashes police officers to go give it a try him/herself and get a clue. It's a dangerous, thankless job where members of the jaded public are more than happy to second-guess you and assume they would behave differently...an opinion held in sheer, unmitigated shameless ignorance the VAST majority of the time.

Oh, and thank you for this thread.

[Katherine Brengle]

13. You are absolutely right.

I just had a quick phone call with my husband - he's working right now (police officer) - and I got a chance to talk to him about this for a minute. He basically said the same thing you just did.

The shit he deals with on a daily basis... people who have never done the job will never be able to understand it. Getting punched and kicked and spit on and called every foul word on earth, bled on and needing emergency antivirals, working 16 hours out of 24... never knowing if the next call you respond to will be a total waste of time or the last thing you ever do...

I've noticed that the usual anti-cop rabble haven't shown their faces in this thread - but I hope they read it.

[Truthiness Inspector]

15. I hope they read it too. n/t

[frogcycle]

16. i'm not familiar with that group...

I have seen some ignorant flames suggesting all our military are war criminals and baby killers. Same crowd, no doubt.

For the same reason I maintain my Fallen website, and joined the Patriot Guard Riders for a while this weekend, I say to your husband and all his fellow police officers, I thank you and salute you for being who you are and doing what you do. The vocal minority is all too visible, and we of the "Great Silent Majority" are too invisible.

The cops who stayed on the job at great personal peril and sacrifice during Katrina's aftermath didn't make the news; the ones who cracked under the strain or put their families first did, and then the ones who were bad all along really did. We know there are a very few bad cops and a very few bad soldiers. I'm sorry you felt you needed to make that case.

Incidentally, I had the pleasure of seeing the Chicago Police Department's Emerald Society band "up close and personal" last summer. It was at an Irish Festival, so not a sad event at all. When they played Amazing Grace, though, I pictured them at oh-so-many funerals over the years... quite a moving experience.

[Truthiness Inspector]

17. Kick n/t

[Truthiness Inspector]

18. Kick again

[eridani]

19. You still need civilian review boards

--with real power, to balance to power we delegate to the police.

[Katherine Brengle]

20. I wouldn't argue with that, but

that doesn't change my original point in the slightest.

[w8liftinglady]

21. I remember the cop who stayed with me when I was in a wreck

I was 16(30 years ago)He helped me not be afraid,even though I'd been hurt pretty badly.I suspect he had a daughter my age.I have the utmost respect for our police officers,just like I do for our soldiers.There are bad nurses out there,too-but I don't want people judging me by their behaviors.

[Katherine Brengle]

23. Amen!

And I'm glad you made it through that - sounds terrifying.