OpinionJune 10, 2015

Law enforcement has always been a difficult job -- long hours, low pay and the ever present possibility of danger. But recent well-publicized incidents that we can all recite by heart have put law enforcement in the crosshairs. And there is a highly orchestrated effort by the progressive movement to keep law enforcement on the defensive...

Law enforcement has always been a difficult job -- long hours, low pay and the ever present possibility of danger.

But recent well-publicized incidents that we can all recite by heart have put law enforcement in the crosshairs. And there is a highly orchestrated effort by the progressive movement to keep law enforcement on the defensive.

This shift in our national attitude toward law enforcement may not end well.

In Baltimore, for example, police were ordered by their progressive mayor and prosecutor to stand down on routine violations. The result is lower arrests and higher crime.

The stop-and-frisk order in New York was abandoned, and crime has spiked there as well.

The national media and their allies on the left -- aided by social media -- are moving the focus on the law enforcers and away from the law breakers.

At the very top of the food chain of those who seek to blame law enforcement is this administration and their Department of Justice.

When national leadership rushes to judgment in clashes between citizens and police, then the low information lemmings of society will surely follow.

And this diminished respect for law enforcement emboldens the criminal element, as we see with the crime increases in virtually every urban center.

When the Mayor of New York tells his teenage son to be leery of law enforcement, the message is clear.

"Black Lives Matter" and "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" have been used by the national leftist press to portray law enforcement as the problem and not the solution.

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Yet, despite all evidence to the contrary, those who seek to sow seeds of dissent in this country have crafted a narrative that threatens all of society.

When law enforcement in Ferguson is told to stand down and allow the looters to conduct their criminal business, it will take years of difficult work to rebuild the proper role of law enforcement in our society.

Through some odd thought process around the shadowy notion of political correctness, there are those who seek to blame the turmoil on law enforcement and not the thugs and thieves who are right in front of our eyes.

Common sense has evaporated from the national dialogue. When you reduce the role of law enforcement, the bad guys will only increase their crimes.

And yet the narrative of this administration revolves around more gun control and the militarization of police.

The emphasis should be on the brazen increase in crime because the criminal element knows that police are told to reduce their footprint in communities so as to reduce the potential traumatic "turmoil" to the public.

No one should fear law enforcement unless you're breaking the law.

As our sole defense against crime, we should respect those who wear that badge and thank them for standing between us and the criminal element.

Crime will never go away. But when we limit the ability and training of law enforcement to do their duty, the result will be higher crime and greater chaos.

You need not look beyond the headlines to see this glaring reality.

P.S.: Late Monday, acknowledging that the abandonment of the stop-and-frisk policy was a failure, the City of New York implemented an All Out Summer program designed to put more cops in hot spots.

On rare occasions, common sense prevails!

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