Police Officers, Not Unarmed Black Men, Are Being Killed Wantonly – Opinion

(The opinions expressed in visitor op-eds are these of the author and don’t essentially symbolize the views of Opinion.com.)

As soon as upon a time, law enforcement officials had been considered as heroes by most People. Law enforcement officials, not like virtually all different professions, actually put their lives on the road each day so the remainder of us can reside in a protected society.

Nonetheless, in recent times, law enforcement officials have change into persona non grata resulting from a concerted marketing campaign by leftwing teams and the legacy media who intention to painting legislation enforcement as racist wrongdoers.

Though the left’s campaign to tar and feather law enforcement officials has a protracted and sordid historical past, it gained mainstream attraction after the loss of life of George Floyd in the summertime of 2020.

Following the tragic loss of life of Floyd, the “defund the police” motion was born. Teams comparable to Black Lives Matter had been instrumental in perpetuating many myths about law enforcement officials, particularly that they excessively homicide unarmed black males.

In fact, these pernicious lies are utterly unfounded. There may be not, nor has been, a spate of law enforcement officials killing unarmed black males. As an example, in 2021, 4 unarmed black People had been shot and killed by police. That very same 12 months, seven unarmed white People had been shot and killed by police.

However, we now have witnessed an enormous rise in unprovoked assaults on law enforcement officials in recent times.

Take into account. In 2021, 73 law enforcement officials had been killed resulting from felonious exercise, a virtually 60 % enhance from one 12 months in the past. What’s extra, among the many 73 officers killed within the line of obligation final 12 months, 24 had been killed in unprovoked assaults.

In different phrases, in 2021, only one 12 months after the George Floyd riots, unprovoked assaults on law enforcement officials elevated to the best quantity on document. For comparability sake, in 2019, seven law enforcement officials had been killed in unprovoked assaults. In 2020, the quantity was 10.

Much more stunning, in 2021, eight extra officers had been killed throughout “premediated ambushes,” which suggests 32 legislation enforcement officers had been principally executed final 12 months.

Whereas it’s inconceivable to find out the diploma of causation or correlation in regards to the sudden rise of the defund the police motion and the spike in police officer killings, it actually appears logical that the previous is driving the latter.

Even earlier than the 2020 nationwide riots in opposition to “systemic police brutality,” the seed had been planted that law enforcement officials, by and enormous, had been the unhealthy guys. From the “palms up don’t shoot” lie concerning the loss of life of Michael Brown to the fabrications surrounding the loss of life of Freddie Grey, the mainstream media and leftwing anti-police activists have been fast to throw police underneath the bus.

It stands to motive that the fixed drumbeat of falsehoods concerning law enforcement officials over current years has created a skewed societal mindset, which has led to the present zeitgeist through which far too many law enforcement officials are depicted as inherently evil as a substitute of protectors of the group.

Simply to point out how out-of-touch many People, particularly these on the left, are when it comes to the truth concerning police killings of unarmed blacks, greater than 50 % of People who self-identify as “very liberal” consider law enforcement officials killed 1,000 or extra unarmed black males in 2019.

Much more disturbing, 14 % of those that name themselves “very liberal” stated about 10,000 unarmed black males had been killed by cops in 2019 whereas 8 % stated greater than 10,000.

Sadly, the pattern of police assassinations doesn’t appear to be abating in 2022. In New York Metropolis, two officers had been not too long ago killed after they responded to a “routine” home disturbance name. Shortly after getting into the residence, each had been killed in chilly blood.

All through historical past, the collapse of legislation and order has foreshadowed the breakdown of civilization. If America doesn’t reverse course, the civil society we take without any consideration may very well be on the brink.

 Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is senior editor at The Heartland Institute.