LAPD Officer Deon Joseph is speaking out against the unchecked increase in violence directed against police officers after 13 law enforcement personnel suffered gunshot wounds within 24 hours nationwide, while six were killed in the line of duty already this year alone.
Joseph, who has worked L.A.’s skid row for decades, joined “America’s Newsroom” Monday morning to discuss the lawlessness, urging Americans to respect the men and women in blue and calling them the “living embodiment of the law,” Fox News reported.
“Law enforcement needs to be respected, not because we were angels who walk on water, but because we’re the living embodiment of the law,” Joseph told co-host Bill Hemmer. “And when you don’t even respect or value the life of the living embodiment of that individual enforcing the law, you’re going to have lawlessness that’s going to come.”
“Now what you have is this propaganda being regurgitated over and over again, which is all cops hate people of color,” Joseph continued.
“That’s dangerous on its own, but when activists get a hold of it and see a way to take advantage of it and push their cause, when educators start teaching it to kids… What’s even worse is when politicians start espousing the same rhetoric; it creates a very dangerous environment for cops, and it devalues us as human beings,” he declared.
There were nine police officers wounded in Phoenix, two officers shot in Maryland, one in New Mexico, and another officer shot in Pennsylvania last week in a matter of 24 hours.
“It ends when we stop engaging in propaganda that devalues the lives of police officers,” Joseph emphasized.
In the meantime, according to FBI data, there were 73 police officers intentionally killed while wearing the badge last year. This is an astonishing 59% increase from 2020.
Joseph made news last year when he openly challenged Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James who had criticized an Ohio police officer following the shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant.
Bryant was shot by the officer as she was attacking another teen with a knife, Law Officer reported at the time.
“Your tweet that targeted a police officer in Ohio who saved a young woman’s life was irresponsible and disturbing,” Joseph wrote. “It showed a complete lack of understanding of the challenge of our job in the heat of a moment. You basically put a target on the back of a human being who had to make a split second decision to save a life from a deadly attack.”
“Instead of apologizing, you deflected,” he added. “You said you took your tweet down because you did not want it to be used for hate, when the tweet itself was the embodiment of hatred, rooted in a lack of understanding of the danger of the situation.”
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