Bull's Eye

There are two fallacies in life that grownups understand - Life is fair, and you are safe. Sergeant John Hitchens, Captain, US Army (ret), police sergeant (ret).

Two dudes sitting in a restaurant in Florida, eating lunch. Murdered for the simple reason that they were deputy sheriffs. Noel Ramirez was 30, a sergeant. Taylor Lindsey, at 25, was just getting his career underway. Some asshole walked up to them and shot them without provocation.

As I write this, word is coming over the internet that an NYPD officer has shot himself in the parking lot of a department facility. The very first comment on the article I read - "Cops don't take care of cops any more. Millennials are only in it for a paycheck."

Bullshit.

The men and women currently serving, and those trying desperately to get hired, are far from stupid. Recruits taught how to survive the job learn from officers who have lost friends to homicide and suicide. Dash and body cam videos replayed in basic, in-service and advanced schools replay the last moments of officers who fell in the line of duty. No one wearing a uniform - "on the job" - has any illusions of what happens sometimes.

Cops don't take care of cops? A friend, a quality individual, got home from work late one night having been on the scene of an officer involved shooting. He got up early the next morning and came out to help a young recruit qualify at the range. Late last year a local officer was killed, and the text/phone/messenger lines hummed between officers in multiple jurisdictions - "Do you need anything? Are you okay?"

In a few weeks several cycling friends will ride bikes to raise money, and awareness, for fallen officers. The trip ends at the Fallen Officer Memorial in Washington. One posted a picture on Facebook a few years ago, of Baltimore's baseball stadium as she rode by in a driving rain. I texted my youngest, then living in the Baltimore suburb of Perry Hall. "How's the weather?" "Pouring," she responded. "Biblical."

Would it surprise you to learn my friend has not missed a year since? None of them have.

All Millennials. All cops. It is my honor and privilege to serve alongside them. They know the risks, that they are not immune to them. They understand that, once again, officers have been murdered for just being cops. They all went to work today.

It isn't payday.