(Courageous Leadership): Like many of you, I’ve experienced a very difficult week. There isn’t much I could say that has not already been said, but the time for ignorance in our country and by leaders needs to end.
Our country has what I would call a “political supremacy” problem.
There is a specific ideology that believes its view of the world is so morally correct and that its political opponents are so dangerous that assassinations are the answer.
While the talking heads and the lying mainstream media are making mental leaps to convince you that the assassination of Charlie Kirk was the work of a single insane person, we must come to terms with the fact that we live in a violent society that will not hesitate to turn that violence on you.
Political Violence
I could turn your attention to the numerous examples of the past violent attacks on college campuses, the burning of Teslas, and the murder of individuals inside a church or school. I could remind you that others held the murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as a folk hero, but law enforcement knows better.
Long before we endured the burning of police buildings and the countless violent actions by “peaceful” protestors in 2020 and beyond, law enforcement knew all too well the ramifications of these political supremacists.
The FBI Assailant Study states that 28% of cop killers did so “for social and/or political reasons.”
“They believed that attacking police officers was their way to ‘get justice’ for those who had been, in their view, unjustly killed by law enforcement.”
The FBI identified the media and Black Lives Matter as the influence for these killings, and if you haven’t heard this, your leaders are failing you.
While Charlie Kirk faced this hatred on a college campus on Wednesday, law enforcement officers face it every day. If we can learn anything in the midst of this national tragedy, it is that we need to wake up and do what it takes to fight the enemy among us.
The Enemy
Don’t fall for the lie that a few unstable and insane individuals are conducting this violence. While a few are shooting the bullets, the indoctrination of violence has reached the masses.
Charlie Kirk himself pointed to a Rutgers University study called “The Assassination Culture.” While the study said that “a broader ‘assassination culture’ appears to be emerging within segments of the U.S. public on the extreme left,” the findings reveal something much more sinister around us.
Of the respondents in the study who identified as “left of center,” over 50% said that there was justification for the murder of President Trump and Elon Musk. 40% said it was acceptable to destroy property (left of center doesn’t sound like extreme left).
If you don’t believe those numbers, feel free to go online today and read what these demons are posting about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Law enforcement has seen similar postings after the death of their own.
The Call To Action
You don’t have to call for an assassination of someone; all you have to do is give insane people a reason to do it. Long before President Trump, Charlie Kirk, and MAGA were called Hitler, Nazis, Fascists, and deplorables every day of the week, cops endured that and more, and few took issue with it.
We were labeled racists, white supremacists, and boot lickers long before the events of this week, and we will continue to suffer the consequences if we do not take action immediately.
There can no longer be a tolerance for speech that gives others the excuse for violence, and according to the data, this country has millions of people who will endorse and even commit that violence. If the Secret Service will open an investigation on someone posting this vitriol, why are police leaders turning their heads when it happens to their employees?
Be Ready…Don’t Get Ready
Leaders need to take their heads out of the sand and face reality. Law enforcement endured 85,000 assaults last year. While it was a record high, only 50% of the agencies participated in the study. The training and technology at our disposal should be reducing violence against the profession. Still, we are seeing cops more scared of what “others” will think about them rather than protecting themselves from the violence around them. That is the fault of law enforcement leaders.
I have offered to provide my training to help the profession, but few leaders or the organizations that claim to support law enforcement will even acknowledge it. I recently left a metropolitan area with 10,000 police officers. Nine came to training, and most came on duty, away from agency approval.
If only we would put the same emphasis on survival tactics that we place on real-time crime centers, we would be in a better and safer place in this profession.
What Now?
It was just a year ago that we watched as President Trump came a millimeter from the same fate, and nothing changed with society. The Assassination Culture is so prevalent that I see nothing changing, so we must adapt to it.
The good in our society should never want violence, but they need to be prepared to use it when the demons that seek to kill and destroy come for you.
I pray that the good among us stand up and remain on guard…It’s the only answer.
Dr. Travis Yates retired as a commander with a large municipal police department after 30 years of service. He is the author of “The Courageous Police Leader: A Survival Guide for Combating Cowards, Chaos & Lies.” His risk management and leadership seminars have been taught to thousands of professionals across the world. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy with a Doctorate Degree in Strategic Leadership and the CEO of the Courageous Police Leadership Alliance.
