“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could’ve done them better, the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” 26th President Theodore Roosevelt stated this famous quote from his speech, “Citizenship in a Republic,” and it became forever ingrained into the history books and will remain so for generations to come. Despite the pushback, ostracization, and anti-rhetoric, the fact remains that the vast majority of police officers are heroes of their respective communities.
Journalism and News media outlets are notorious for their reporting on primarily negative material, and with outlets that have a political bias and/or agenda; they will always favor the incident where a police officer kills someone rather than the rescues and emergencies they respond to on a daily basis (NCJA). When you first call 911 in the case of an emergency it’s the police dispatchers who pick up. Dispatcher means “a person whose job is to receive messages and organize the movement of people or vehicles, especially in the emergency services.” according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Police officers are the first responders to nearly every single emergency that occurs. In fact, according to a police1.com article, police departments have been prioritizing medical emergency training, with a poll that states roughly 83% of all police officers have administered CPR more than one time.
Furthermore, under 3E of the New Jersey document, “Mandatory In-Service Law Enforcement Training” it states, “CPR refresher training is recommended and can be accomplished in one to four hours according to the American Heart Association. First aid refresher training is also recommended for all police officers.” The majority of police officers will have some form of training for CPR and first aid response, and even in the small circumstances where they are not certified, they will be able to follow procedures and have backup to help save lives.
When you google “how many lives are saved by police officers every year” the algorithm graces you with many statistics on how many people are killed by police rather than saved, when there are plenty of stories like those above and first-hand accounts that display the complete opposite. Police officers are life savers. And in many cases, these statistics of police officer-related deaths neglect to account for the lives saved by killing felons.
For example, the Nashville Police Department’s killing of a female school shooter in Nashville on March 27, 2023 may have saved the lives of multiple more kids and staff members with their quick response. Given the massively successful response time of the police department, this story was far less circulated than that of the shooting in Uvalde, where police officers failed to respond in an acceptable amount of time. In this case, news networks proceeded to continue bashing on police officers due to the actions of one department.
If you ask any experienced police officer, you should almost always expect them to confirm that they have saved the life of at least one individual, for instance, the American Enterprise Institute states that “a Google search of the phrase ‘Cop Saves Life’ yields nearly 10,000 results and a Google search of the phrase ‘Police Officer Saves Life’ found more than 5,000 examples of stories and news reports of law enforcement heroes saving multiple thousands of lives while on duty, including the lives of thousands of infants, babies and children like in the example above in Sterling Heights.” The Institute continues by posing an interesting rhetorical question, as it asks, “If police departments are defunded and the number of police officers declines significantly, what will happen to the number of people whose lives are saved in the future by police officers, like the Sterling Heights cop who saved the life of a 3-week old infant last week? Common sense suggests that the number of lives saved will decline.”
Backtracking a little bit, note the term “at least,” for responding to emergencies is a daily occurrence for police officers. When put into practice, it is not an abnormal occurrence for a police officer to save a life of another individual, unless the police officer works in a very small community, you can expect officers to have saved the lives of many more than just one individual. The American Enterprise Institute even stated that defunding the police could result in “the number of [people’s] lives saved [declining].” For example, wtnh.com reported on a touching story in 2023 of how deputy Michael Harton of a local Connecticut police department saved the life of a choking baby girl in a movie theater, would become the godfather of the baby, and is now incredibly close with the family.
Furthermore, a similarly titled article by CNN is a whole separate incident taking place in 2016, Officer Kenneth Knox of a local community in Georgia saved the life of a choking baby and also subsequently became the godfather of said child and incredibly close to the family. If defunding the police is the route taken, are we willing to risk the chance of these two innocent babies, innocent people, losing their lives because the cars provided for the police aren’t fast enough, or the police haven’t received CPR training? These are just a mere two instances of the many hundreds of thousands of lives that have been saved by police officers.
Moreover, Michigan Officer Jeff Ginn, according to an article by CNN, “has saved five lives, including a missing toddler, in rural Michigan.” The article states that Ginn is “still quite humble, despite all the lives he’s saved and the recognition he has received. ‘My assignment is fantastic,’ he says. ‘I love where I work. We have so much to do.’ (2019)” In a 2016 police1 article, six separate instances are listed of heroic police officers saving lives, stating that, “There are many citizens who will be enjoying Christmas this year thanks to the courage and decisiveness of these knights in blue.” This article includes officers crawling inside and saving a man from a burning vehicle, multiple instances of officers combating malicious shooters, and more.
Officers are people, too. Not only do they save the lives of many, but tragically, they bravely sacrifice their lives for the good of our communities. For instance, during the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, 72 officers were killed in the line of duty, saving lives, and doing their job as not only officers but as fellow human beings. Unfortunately, a further 229 have subsequently passed because of 9/11-related illnesses. That is 301 officers who sacrificed their lives for the good of the people and our country. Although this particular instance may be an anomaly of what is normal, these are still the same police officers, the same police departments, that strive to protect our communities today (nleomf.org).
A tragic and recent example of the risk these police officers face occurred on the 25th of March, 2024. New York Police Department Officer Jonathan Diller was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, while he was simply doing his job. He leaves behind a wife and a one-year-old son. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz made a statement regarding the charges for the murderer, stating, “We will not rest until we have achieved justice for Officer Diller, his family, and his brothers and sisters in the NYPD who put their lives on the line to protect us.”
According to an FOP Study, “Fewer police officers died in the line of duty in 2023, but [a] ‘scary number’ was shot.” which, with a simple Google search would tell us that 378 officers were shot in the line of duty… 378! The study continues, stating, “Though firearms overtook COVID-19 as the leading cause of death for police officers in 2023, the number of officers killed by gunfire declined and remained far below the number of firearms-related officer deaths seen 50 years ago. “I really do suspect that 2023 might be an anomaly in terms of the total number of men and women who die by gunfire, particularly given the number of men and women who were shot and thankfully survived,” he said. “But it is a scary number, and I do worry that 2024 will result in a much higher number than what we had in 2023.’”
Society will never be perfect, there will always be flaws and foibles, especially in the individual people of the communities, and the police force is no exception. However, these men and women bravely put their lives on the line every single day and deserve the utmost respect, as many of them are heroes. Many of these heroes don’t get their own exclusive stories like the ones mentioned above, nevertheless, they are just as heroic and brave as the ones mentioned. They are not just police; they are people, men and women who are often among the bravest of our society.
Photo courtesy of Facebook, PBS, FOX News, KSL News, American Police Beat
