KICKED TO THE CURB

During the pandemic, we heard our legislators offer endless praise for the “heroes” who selflessly dedicated themselves to serving a society suffering under the yoke of a disease and all the calamity that came with it.

Who were those “heroes” they were referring to? Many were in the medical profession, no question. The others were the law enforcement personnel such as police and corrections officers. Also included, and deservedly so, were the firefighters, EMTs, and other first responders.

Over ten years ago, a bill was introduced into congress that provided for additional aggravating circumstances in a death penalty case for any of these officers or first responders that were killed in the line of duty. This bill was hopefully a kind of deterrent to those who would consider committing such an act. The bill I refer to is called “THE THIN BLUE LINE ACT.” This bill has passed the House on one occasion in the past but never made it through the senate. The Thin Blue Line Act (HR130 and S459) was once again reintroduced into the House and Senate in the 118th Congress where it is stagnated and dying.

Those same individuals who were hailed as heroes have seemingly served their purpose in the eyes of their legislators, and may now be “kicked to the curb.” Coming to their aide by passing this bill is just not fitting some current political narratives, which we all know that politicians deem far more important than the increased number of police officers shot to death in ambushes, increased numbers of corrections officers severely beaten almost to death, fire fighters fired at by snipers, and EMTs beaten and attacked to steal drugs from ambulances. And let us remember that the majority of a community firefighters and ambulance personnel are ordinary citizens who VOLUNTEER.

As a society, we count on the services of all of these people. Where would we be without them? But they obviously they cannot count on their government to “serve and protect “them. So, let us do so. We all need to reach out to our legislators in the House and Senate and insist that they come to the aide of law enforcement and first responders. PASS THE THIN BLUE LINE BILL.