OKC Police Department Rocked by First Killing in 87 Years, Chief Points to the Left's Anti-Cop Frenzy
An Oklahoma City police officer was killed in the line of duty on Monday, which marked the first police slaying the department has seen in 87 years.
And Police Chief Wade Gourley is pretty sure he knows exactly what is to blame.
“I think a lot of the rhetoric against police has got to stop. I feel like there’s people out there who feel like they’re justified in committing acts of violence against police, and it’s happening more and more,” Gourley told Fox News on Thursday.
On Monday, Sgt. Bobby Swartz and his fellow officers were serving eviction papers to a residence when a suspect opened fire. Swartz was shot and killed and another officer was wounded, KFOR reported.
“Our officers had responded to this address about five times fairly recently,” Gourley said to “Fox & Friends First” host Carley Shimkus. “The incidents we were responding to were related to the mother of the suspect trying to evict the suspect from her home.”
Police knew the suspect was likely to be violent, Gourley explained.
“Through our interview with him and through evidence in the house, he knew this [eviction process] was coming… and he was very determined that, whatever law enforcement… whoever showed up at that house, he was going to take deadly action, and he did,” he told Shimkus.
Family members described Swartz, a 25-year-veteran of the force, as “an amazing man, father and grandfather” who was known as “papa policemen” to his grandchildren.
“He was always proud to serve the people in his community, and took great pride in helping others,” a statement from the grieving family read, as reported by KFOR.
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Ideas have consequences, and the dangerous anti-police rhetoric that has dominated our culture for years, first in the music industry and popular culture, now in mainstream left-wing politics, is costing lives.
Because while we mourn the loss of Officer Swartz, it is not just the lives of officers of the peace who are at risk. It is the members of the public they are sworn to protect and serve.
This is what those who capitalize on police shootings for political gain are hoping you’ll miss — officers use force to prevent dangerous people from committing acts of violence.
The postmodern, leftist worldview seeks to explain everything by identifying corruption within social systems; thus, they believe that characterizing policing as racist and defunding police departments will bring about a post-racist utopia, or something.
One understands why these ideas are alluring; every human being is made in the image of God, and we all seek the answer to the agonizing problem of corruption and sin. Yet is a dangerous game to believe that with the right ideology, the right policy and the right mainstream social dogma, we will one day live in a sin-free utopia.
The Christian worldview, on the other hand, recognizes that every single human being is fallen and capable of sin.
There will always be people out there who want to hurt, rob and kill other people. The police’s job is to use the objective moral standard that recognizes the worth of human life to prevent those with no such regard for their fellow creatures from causing harm.
Now, we all recognize that it doesn’t always happen this way. There is a sore need for police reform in a great many areas, and we should all be able to respond with nonpartisan indignation when police abuse their power and neglect their responsibilities.
But it is precisely because we have solid expectations for police officers to maintain the peace and fight crime ethically that we should all be outraged when they behave corruptly.
It makes no sense whatsoever to do away with our expectations for police officers all together over those who act poorly, and the more comfortable criminals get with committing acts of violence against police officers, the less police officers will be able to do their jobs.
And people who have no qualms committing acts of violence against police officers are the sorts of people who have no qualms committing acts of violence against innocent, unarmed civilians.
What else does the “defund the police” crew think is going to happen to dangerous criminals? They’ll be so delighted to see radical leftist policies dismantling police departments that they’ll lay down their weapons and join the social justice revolution?
I mean, come on.
True justice necessitates the confrontation of injustice, and there are significantly more violent, deranged and callous individuals out there that need to be held responsible for their behavior than there are corrupt police officers.
Those who sign up to put their lives at risk to protect the lives of others are doing some of the most selfless and important work we can do to achieve justice.
It’s time to stop confusing this issue with hysterical rhetoric and return to a solid understanding of what justice really means.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
