An op-ed piece by members of the Fort Wayne City Council:
OpEd submitted by Councilman John N. Crawford and others
The loss of any life is tragic. But the assassination of two New York police officers sitting in their car doing their duty to protect and serve is shocking. This senseless violence rips the very fabric of our society. Respect for the rule of law and police officers who represent that rule of law is what keeps us all safe.
When a person murders two minority police officers to insanely protest racism, this is the madness of unthinking revenge and anarchy. We have entered a time in our society when senseless violence stirred by poisonous rhetoric is bringing communities to their knees and dividing the nation.
The deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner are also tragic. Incidents such as these should always be thoroughly investigated and dealt with appropriately through our justice system. But the great, great majority of police interactions with citizens are handled well. Our police officers are doing the job they were called to and trained for. They act with professional conduct under often stressful circumstances.
When anti-police riots and violence cause property damage to innocent victims, things have gotten out of control. This has led to unreasonable condemnation of all police. Based on social media comments of the murderer in New York, this poisonous prejudicial thinking toward all police led to a revenge mentality and contributed to his actions.
Good officers deserve nothing but our gratitude and respect for doing a very difficult job as well as it can be done.
The purpose of this letter is to declare that we all strongly support the Fort Wayne Police and Allen County Sheriff’s departments. They do an admirable job on keeping us all safe. They need to know that we citizens, here, are firmly behind all the good law enforcement officers who serve and protect us during these difficult times. We all need to remember that we are a community where many groups work together toward addressing problems through respect, peace and greater understanding for all citizens.
Sincerely,
John N. Crawford, Council At-Large
Tom E. Smith, District 1
Russ W. Jehl, District 2
Tom F. Didier, District 3
Mitch V. Harper, District 4
Geoff Paddock, District 5
Marty A. Bender, Council At-Large
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