Mitchell Oakley: Leaders must change attitude toward law enforcement

Remember when Democrats supported a “Defund the Police” slogan? Or, when other groups marched against police with a rallying cry of “pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon?”

Guess what folks? All that negativity has become a burden to police across the country. It is responsible for the way police are being treated today, where deadly assaults against officers have seemingly become routine.

I’m the first to know that police aren’t perfect. Police chiefs across the country should rid their departments of bad apples. Fellow officers should support good officers and help rid those who would sully the name of their agency. It takes everyone to have good policing.

Despite the imperfections of law enforcement — that also mirror the flaws of society — political leaders who articulate anti-police sentiment should change their attitude toward defunding and making the police the targets. Police are being killed. The Fraternal Order of Police reported 378 police officers were shot in 2023, a 14 percent increase, although fewer officers died by gunshots than the previous year.

I’ll mention a case that is under investigation in Lenoir County now. A sheriff’s deputy was called to a fight at the Lenoir County Learning Academy. The fight was between two juvenile students, according to a post on Facebook by the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Department. The deputy apparently tried to break up the fight and was assaulted, receiving a horrible cut on the back of his skull that resulted in 18 staples.

Both juveniles were charged with felony assault inflicting serious injury, resisting arrest and damage to property. The juveniles were not injured, according to the Facebook post. The fact that these two were juveniles means we won’t ever know their identity. It is also doubtful we’ll know very many other details, either.

Don’t forget that the North Carolina General Assembly has raised the juvenile ages to 16 and 17. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds in the state were once charged with crimes and treated as adults, including the release of their names. A report conducted by the state’s judicial system gave reasons why raising the juvenile age would be more helpful in dealing with and turning around wayward youth. It’s going to be interesting to see if the statistics will substantiate the claim.

Know, too, that Gov. Kathy Hochul and her state’s liberal policies on crime aren’t setting well with the New York Police Department (NYPD), especially after the death of officer Jonathan Diller. The New York Post reported that Hochul went to the officer’s wake and was told by a family member that “his blood is on your hands.” The Post also reported that Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James requested to speak at Diller’s funeral, but both were rejected by the family.

Many political leaders have used the police for political reasons in garnering votes at election time and in so doing, have set many police departments, and their men and women, up for ridicule. It’s wrong. So why would a grieving family want any politician speaking at a loved one’s funeral? Why would a politician even ask, except to make some political statement that would benefit them?

Stephanie Diller, wife of the slain police officer, provided her husband’s eulogy.According to the Post, in her speech, she remembered when another widow two years before pleaded for change at her husband’s funeral. He, too, was a police officer killed while on duty. Diller said, “… the change never came. And now my son has to grow up without his father.”

Diller was killed, according to the Post report, when he made a routine traffic stop. The suspect, Guy Rivera, shot Diller as he approached the car. The shot went under Diller’s vest, hitting him in the stomach. Rivera had 21 prior arrests. There was a second person in the car and there were two guns found in the vehicle. Can you count 21 arrests? Makes me wonder why Rivera wasn’t in jail for a lengthy term, except for the laxity of the state’s laws.

So, folks when you want to turn the criminal segment against the police, making it perfectly OK for them to challenge an arrest, this is what we will get time and time again. If you don’t think this attitude toward police doesn’t exist in your locale, just wait. You will wake up to it one day, and when you do, blame those who want to slap violent criminals on the wrist and turn them loose while being disingenuous to police officers everywhere.