Washington, DC - Police across the nation are being targeted at random. They are being shot at and, so far this year, more than two dozen cops have been murdered. Meanwhile, anonymous phone calls have been logged by 911 exchanges in at least two cities, with threats like this one: "we are about to start striking fear shooting down all cops that we see by themselves."
Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens, calls the situation alarming. He is challenging elected officials, at every level of government, to come forward "not with rhetoric but with concrete proposals for ending this barbaric movement to target first responders. Non-elected community leaders, if they want to lead, must also be in the forefront of a desperately needed solution to a problem that directly impacts each and every citizen."
Weber says that while economic forces may be at work to encourage outright contempt for authority, so-called activists at local and national levels bear responsibility as well. "The lingering Obama recession has caused a lot of hardship and resentment, but the silence of community leaders has been deafening. We have not heard them raise their voices in pleas for calm and restraint no matter how vile and violent the anti-cop rhetoric gets. Slogans such as the newest one from the Black Lives Matter movement, "Pigs in a blanket, fry em like bacon," are incendiary at best. At worst, they inspire anarchy that can easily ignite a war on democracy."
Harry Truman said, "the buck stops here," on the desk of the President of the United States, says Weber. "And so, we call on President Obama to assume the responsibilities of his office and to speak out forcefully against the kinds of protests that have created chaos and turmoil and that have had the most egregious of consequences-the deaths of police officers. We want our leadership to acknowledge the problem and to supply a real solution. We don't need any more excuses or hesitant calls for peace."
Meanwhile, the cop killings have had a chilling impact on police departments from coast to coast, including a very negative impact on their efforts to recruit new officers.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told CBS News recently that: "Right now, policing is not the most attractive occupation that they could probably get into." In New York, at least one would-be cop who was slated to attend the NYPD's Police Academy opted not to pursue a career in law enforcement. He put it this way when asked why: "I saw all this anti-cop propaganda and I was like, 'Who needs this?'"
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