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An Open Letter to Murray Bishoff of the Monett Times

 

Mr. Bishoff,

Here we go again.  You have shared a viewpoint in your paper that quite frankly disturbs me.  It was brought to my attention by a person who is not in law enforcement but who was also greatly disturbed by how once again, you and this paper have negatively portrayed law enforcement. For those of you reading this, here is my disclaimer up front.  This letter will not be politically correct, I am not one of those people.  I am sick and tired of politically correct people who are ruining this country because they don't want to hurt someone's feelings.  Just as you have the right to put in pen what you felt, I have that same right.  Well folks, there will probably be feelings hurt.  So if you are one of those people, stop reading NOW.

I don't know if it is just the fact that you put to pen such an insult to law enforcement in general or if it is the fact that you did this on the eve of the 15th anniversary of 9/11 in which I lost 343 brothers and sisters.  Either way, I find it despicable.

First of all, I will agree with you on one thing you said.  "It never should have happened".  I completely agree with that statement, however the reasons greatly differ.  I am not defending the officer nor am I defending the victim but how dare you question the officer involved and arm-chair quarterback him.  You weren't there, you don't know what the circumstances were. 

"He was let down by his training", really?  It appears to me that his training may have saved his life.  No law enforcement officer EVER wants to be put into a position to take someone's life, EVER.  We don't wake up each morning or start each shift thinking to ourselves "Gee, who can I kill today?"  I wasn't there either so I too do not know all the facts.  I can tell you however my training tells me that if you come at me with a vehicle with the intent to seriously injure or kill me, one of us is not going home tonight and that Mr. Bishoff, I can assure you would be you or whoever was driving that vehicle.

We are trained constantly how to avoid fatal outcomes.  It is our duty and job to make sure everyone goes home unhurt.  That unfortunately doesn't always happen.  We take class after class on this.  And now thanks to the Ferguson incident, we are now required to take additional hours on how to "Hug a Thug" to make sure we don't hurt someone's feelings.  Even after Officer Wilson was found to have done his job despite the fact that the liberal media had crucified him as a guilty, worthless piece of crap to society.  We are still being punished for him doing the right thing.

The cry "He should have waited for backup" is something we always hear.  How nice would it be that we always have backup.  We don't.  Many times we are by ourselves.  If we are not, the closest backup may be over an hour away.  We don't have that luxury.

Let me put that into perspective for you.  Let's say an active shooter shows up at one of our schools and starts shooting, killing innocent children.  I guess by your standards before we do something we need to wait for backup.  We stand by and wait while innocent people, children, teachers, civilians are dying.  Good call.

My training, that you say fails us, tells me to go in and eliminate that threat.  I will not stand by and wait for backup.  I will go in with the purpose of eliminating that threat.  I will not try to find a way to talk him down.  It is my duty to protect the innocent.  And I sure as heck will not "shoot him in the foot" to make him stop shooting.  I will shoot that piece of crap in the head to make sure he never does it again.  I will make sure that I go home to my family that night.  That is what my training tells me.

 Mr. Bishoff, I invite you to ride with some of those officers, anytime.  See what they go through, see what they have to deal with, put on a ballistic vest, stand in front of a gun or try and get out of the way of a moving vehicle.  Stand in front of an abuser on a domestic violence call.  Stand between a child and their parents who are high and couldn't give two cents that they have just crushed their child's skull.  Then and maybe then you will have a better understanding of what we do and why we do it.  We never want to hurt someone.  But unfortunately sometimes we have no choice.  Even if we are justified. 

That is our training and it does exactly what it is was supposed to do.  Reunite us with our family's at the end of the day.  The bad guy made that choice, not us.

 

Signed,

Brad A. DeLay

Sheriff

Lawrence County, Missouri