There’s another Memorial Day that is missed by the American people. It’s National Peace Officer Memorial Day. Started by President Kennedy in 1962, it was created to commemorate law enforcement and correctional officers who were killed or disabled in the line of duty.

It’s May 15th every year. The week in which it falls is called National Police Week. Most people have never heard of it. Certainly, it appears, news people don’t seem to know of it.

I watched all the major networks and the local news here during that week and on the 15th. No one said a thing about it.

All we see about police is the bad. Once in a while you might see a story about officers who rushed in to save a life, or who did something cute. Otherwise, it’s one re-run of George Floyd after another.

From 2014 to 2021—according to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed summaries—751 American law enforcement and correctional officers were killed, either due to accidents or felonious assault.

None of us were drafted into this work. Every one was a volunteer. You had to pass tests and maintain proficiencies to get and keep the job.

And you had to suit up every day and step out into harm’s way, hoping in the back of your mind that you were going to get home that night.

We don’t value the police in this country. We are—and have always been—a lawless people. We don’t care about rules and laws. And we revile the very people we hire to enforce those rules and laws.

If officers do it wrong or--worse--misbehave, they're on the news cycle forever. But if one of them dies, they get a moment’s mention in the night’s infotainment, and it’s off to the next “exclusive.”

Who really wants a life like that?

Terry