Let’s thank our cops
Mayor Eric Hogue in Wylie, Texas wrote this piece for his local newspaper. Think about sending something like this to your local paper.
The City of Wylie and our neighbors are fortunate to have outstanding police departments. Over the past year, Wylie’s crime rate has dropped 13 percent, even though our city continues to be one of the fastest growing communities in the country.
This drop in crime is due in a large part to the outstanding efforts of our police officers — men and women who go to work each day putting their lives on the line to protect our community.
Earlier this year, we joined with others to celebrate National Police Week from May 12 to 18. This event was established in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy as a week-long national time of memorial and observation dedicated to honoring our law enforcement community and those officers who hav lost their lives in the line of duty, the people who made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and protection of others.
“Thank a Police Officer Week” which began Sunday, was established in 2012 as a national way to recognize and honor the positive image and efforts of all police officers and a time to thank those officers who protect our communities as we sleep at night, watch over our children while they are at school, ensure our roads are safe and respond to us first in our greatest moments of need.
The men and women of our police force often receive little or no recognition for their daily efforts, yet each day they put themselves in harm’s way to protect our city.
“Thank a Police Officer Week” is a good time to begin saying “thank you” to our police officers. There’s so many simple things one can do to show our respect including writing a letter to the local newspaper, deliver a thank you note to the department, make a donation to a police officer memorial or have your children create a certificate of appreciation for their school resource officer. And Consider your last encounter with a police officer. Maybe you received a speeding ticket, were involved in a traffic accident or experienced an emergency in your home or office. How did you respond? Maybe the most important thing you can do for your officers is to respond with respect the next time you are stopped.
We should also remember and thank the families of our law enforcement officers who send out their loved ones every day to do this job. It’s good to think about the fear and concern they feel every time their spouse, parent or child puts on that uniform and heads to work.