Have We Hit Rock Bottom Yet?

The following are a few tragic stories that reached my desk just this past week alone. Given that much of the media doesn’t report news unless it aligns with a prescribed narrative, you may not be aware of these.

Note the common theme with these tragedies: They could have likely been averted had government fulfilled its obligation to protect the citizenry.

Warning! These are very upsetting.

• A young mother was beheaded in front of her children. Read: In the United States of America. The suspect allegedly had an “extensive, violent criminal past and a history of mental illness.”
• Two suspects were arrested for murdering a sheriff’s deputy in the Houston area. Both suspects were out on bond for previous capital murder cases! A judge set one of the suspect’s bond at just $200,000, only for another judge to lower it to $75,000. Even after violating his bond, the prosecutor and judge didn’t revoke it. The judge in the other suspect’s case set bail at $35,000. When he violated the terms of the bond, it was raised to a paltry $75,000.
• The suspect accused of going on a murderous shooting rampage in Memphis(and livestreaming it) was previously charged with first-degree attempted murder. He was instead allowed to plead guilty to aggravated assault, was sentenced to three years in prison, where he served just three.

In continuing with the upward trend of ambushes on police officers,

• Two Cobb County (Georgia) sheriff’s deputies were ambushed and murdered in cold blood for the act of serving a warrant.

Instead of learning from this failed social experiment, Illinois is on track to eliminate its cash bail system in 2023. In part,

“Under the new law, entire categories of crime, such as aggravated batteries, robberies, burglaries, hate crimes, aggravated DUIs, vehicular homicide, drug induced homicides, all drug offenses, including delivery of fentanyl and trafficking cases, are not eligible for detention no matter the severity of the crime or the defendant’s risk to a specific person or the community, unless the People prove by clear and convincing evidence the person has a “high likelihood of willful flight to avoid prosecution.”

You and I, and those we love are at a statistically increased risk for becoming victims. Nothing makes us exempt.

There are also fewer places to hide. Crime once most prominent in urban areas are spilling into suburbs, and even into rural areas.

What We Can and Can’t Control

We have an opportunity to right this ship with the upcoming midterms. I’ve been busy identifying candidates who I believe are pro-police and -public safety. Once they’re sworn into office (provided they win) I plan to lobby.

A top priority is to create legislation deterring ambushes and attacks against police officers. When police are protected, defended, and supported, they are in a much better position to serve us.

If you’d like to be placed on my list of volunteers, please reach me at [email protected]. Please understand that I have full-time obligations outside of police advocacy, so I may not respond immediately.

It’s natural to not want to think about any of this, and I know this issue is depressing and overwhelming as heck. I’m just not sure complacency is a viable solution anymore.