Publicly Honoring Fallen Law Enforcement
It's no mistake that I am as pro-law enforcement as anyone. Even as a kid, I was fascinated by the life of the True Crime Detectives, and even the cops who drove around the neighborhood. From Batman to Starsky and Hutch, I was drawn to the Jeckyl/Hyde aspect of law enforcement.
As I became an adult, I benefitted from the expertise of those officers (I was also on the other side of a few of those investigations) and appreciated more the mostly under appreciated work they did on a day-to-day basis.
Then, a couple of my friends went through the academy, and I saw into the private lives of cops as they lived it. I could never do it. The stories alone weren't about high speed chases and bringing down the bad guys. They were more about trying to fix broken families, and navigate endless paperwork while always under the threat of knowing this might be the day they wouldn't come home.
It's even worse today. Maybe it's because I live in a small town, but these cops are woven into the fabric of our everyday lives and when one goes down in the line of duty--I feel it personally. Maybe in a bigger city there is a disconnect between the cops and the public. But not for me--not in my state. I just found out about these support plates for the families of these fallen officers, and I'm going to put one on my car. Well--one of the cars.
It was easy for me until recently to say, "Oh they're just trying to get out of a ticket," when I saw a car with one of these plates. Then the two officers were shot in Urbandale and Des Moines. Now it's personal.
Check them out at the Iowa DOT.
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