NYPD Murder Shows a Pattern.....

The news was numbing when I heard it. A New York City Policewoman was shot in the head and killed while sitting in a police vehicle. It was a totally unprovoked attack. The shooter was confronted later by police, shot and killed.

Miosotis Familia

Miosotis Familia was a 48 year old mother of three, including 12 year old twins. She was a 12 year veteran of the New York Police Department. She had made 76 arrests in her career, including 23 felonies. The Police Commissioner has called her killing "an assassination." Saying she was killed because of her uniform.

The suspect had a long criminal record. He received an 8 year sentence for first degree robbery, but was released after 3 years with post-release supervision. But he also had a history of severe mental health issues. He also had made anti-police posting on social media. He used a stolen gun for the murder.

So it would be easy to say this was just a bad guy acting out due to an illness. This was a one in a million incident. Nothing to do but shake your head. Right? Not so fast there.

In 2014 two New York City Police officers were shot and killed at point plank range while sitting in their police car. No warning, no provocation. The shooter had traveled from Baltimore vowing to kill officers. He used a semi-automatic handgun, had a long criminal record, and had a history of severe mental illness.

So who or what do we blame here? A justice system that might be releasing too many dangerous people from an overcrowded prison system? The availability of weapons getting into the wrong hands? The mental health system that needs to track and treat severely ill patients better? Take your pick. The truth is none of these issues will ever be totally solved. But Police especially seem to be targets.

There are times I'm not the biggest fan of Police either. Like when I'm driving downhill in very light traffic doing 37 in a 25 zone. Good thing there wasn't an election with a Police Department tax issue on the ballot that night. But other than incidents like that, I rarely have contact with any police. But there are parts of our society that see Police as the devil.

One of the 5 officers shot in Dallas in 2016.

In 2016 two Des Moines, Iowa officers were ambushed and shot in their car. Also in 2016, five Dallas officers were shot and killed while providing protection to protesters. Yes, they were protesting unrelated Police killings.

The have been a number of incidents lately where Police have shot suspects with questionable and/or unfortunate circumstances. I'm not here to say who was right or wrong. Only the Lord knows what was in their heart. But the bottom line is this - we need police. We need better police.

In Dallas, 99 cops quit in 10 weeks. The Dallas Police Department is at a record low. They are not alone. People are questioning that career at this time in our country. I would be happy to extend my hand in friendship to any officer. Yet, there are parts of our society that would just spit on their hand.

Outside of their uniform, they are just regular folks. But for some reason they have been called to protect and serve in their community. Whether they are arresting a felon, or doing crowd control for a parade, they are all heroes to me.