Photo source: Facebook; The Law Enforcement Officers Memorial of Allegheny County
For the second time this year, The Law Enforcement Officers Memorial on Pittsburgh’s North Shore had been vandalized, this time with pink anti-law-enforcement graffiti, according to a Pittsburgh Post Gazette news report.
Donna Best, president of the organization that supports the memorial, said, it was an act of “total disrespect to law enforcement officers.” And aside from the act of vandalism, Best remarked “ACAB — that’s a coward’s comment.”
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And after serving 35 years in law enforcement herself, retiring as a commander with the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, Best is certainly qualified to distinguish the acts of a cowards, from those of heroes.
In more derogatory parlance and anti-police-speak, “ACAB” is an acronym that stands for “All Cops Are Bastards.”
Shortly after being notified, the city of Pittsburgh graffiti clean-up crew had responded and cleaned the offensive graffiti from the law officers’ memorial—within 30 minutes after receiving the initial report about the vandalism.
Best was grateful for the team’s quick response, and offered praise for their efforts: “I want to thank the City of Pittsburgh for how quickly they responded and what a great job they did cleaning up. It was still wet when I got there from the water.”
Aside from her decades-long tenure in law enforcement, and serving the organization that supports the memorial, Best has another vested, albeit tragic interest in the memorial: the name of her husband is etched upon the memorial along with other local area officers.
Best’s husband, James R. Milcarek, was a sergeant with the sheriff’s office when he was killed in an on-duty car accident in 1983.
An investigation into the vandalism of the law officers’ memorial has been opened by the Pittsburgh police department.
Best also offered remarks to KDKA news, that bear the paradox of policing in speaking of whoever vandalized the memorial: “They don’t do the job police officers do, they wouldn’t dare doing the job police officers do, police officers keep the community safe, they keep thugs like this safe, believe or not…”
See the Facebook page for The Law Enforcement Officers Memorial of Allegheny County
