Will This Be The Summer Of Blood Version 2021?

It's Saturday morning, June the 5th, 2021 and it feels like it's still 2020, or rather I'm realizing that there's no sign of an end to the horror show that could be aptly titled America. Over the past years, we have all had to bear witness to the horrors of life in America. Police have been at the center of these controversial times in America as the public outcry for justice reform carries on. I honestly feel for the men and women who put on the badge and try to do the job every day. As a former Law Enforcement officer, I have fears for the future of policing and for those that might want to be in the profession. There just simply doesn't appear to be an end to the horror show that is life in America.

Scenes of officers on the streets in tactical gear become all too familiar after a while and today it's happening again. We've been through a year of these news reports, seeing the outrage and disturbing videos played over and over until they are burnt into our memories. It's like gang warfare at times, one side lashing out at the other, the opposing side coming with more and more men and women, larger weapons, flashbangs, smoke grenades, beanbag guns, mace, and tasers. Crowds gather on both sides of the line, one pushing the line as far as they can, the other praying to get home that night and questioning why they chose such a profession.

No cop that I ever worked around as a Deputy for twenty-three years has ever wanted to do this. I've known guys that were different, girls that were unique to the job, but none of them ever came in and uttered the words "I really want to fight someone." It's just an unfortunate side of the job. Then, unfortunately, there are times when the job requires a greater degree of force just to get home at the end of the day. They have families like everybody else. Cops have forever been the first responding emergency responders to any and every call there is out there. They go to everything from an unruly teenager to mass destruction or terrorist event, with every call in between. When their lives, or the lives of others, are unlawfully threatened they are vested with the authority to use "deadly force." In the video above, this subject turns to a hostile encounter in just seconds. Fortunately, everybody survives even though it could have been much worse.

Ever since the unfortunate events of 2020, America has been on a downhill spiral. Rioters, looters, and hooligans have taken advantage of the opportunity to seek real change and brought about a country filled with fear, and I'd dare say a growing mistrust and division that was until a few years ago getting better. 2020 may have been the fuse but 2020 was just at the top of the explosive powder keg. The changes that have taken place in our culture since things started going downhill in 2009 were noticeable. In 2017 things were heating up to the point that it was felt everywhere. Mostly because of some bad actors in uniform, some very bad calls that were made, and a perceived amount of injustice, even though trials were held, and prison sentences were handed out. I remember speaking with one of the members of our local community and being told that I'd get famous when "one of our people shoots you." As someone who was having a casual chat with a former inmate at a facility I worked, an inmate who was congratulating me on a promotion he didn't know about, I thought it was disheartening to hear that from his "buddy." Until last year, I would never have imagined that it was that mentality of thinking that might lead to the use of troops against our own citizens in this country. The video above shows an alarming use of force on people in the doorway of a residential home.

It's been over a year since the incident in Minneapolis involving George Floyd and unfortunately, that area is back in the headlines as unrest and disorder have begun again. Reading the news reports, I am of the mindset that as long as things are above board, the police did their job. The allegations are that a man fired a weapon and police fired back. There's a lot of sayings that people will use on social media. However, it really is simple, if you shoot your weapon in an assaultive fashion, with the possibility of doing serious bodily harm or taking a life, you have just placed yourself in the line of fire. However, that's something that the properly vested authorities will have to decide. What sickens most Americans is that there isn't even an investigation and already there's been fires in dumpsters, civil disorder, and situations that are ripe with potential peril for all involved.

I'll admit that the system is far from perfect and that there are always chances things can go wrong. However, for those that scream and cry for justice, there has to be a process for justice to work, because it's oftentimes too complicated for it to be swift. What we really need are news agencies and politicians that would stand up for things when they're done correctly instead of condemning an entire system that has hundreds of thousands of good men and women fighting a daily war on our streets. We should be hearing more about the heroic acts, more about the acts of citizens and police that are already working together. When was the last time you heard about something like that?

These stories are all too common in America regardless of what the rest of the world may think. A rookie deputy is struggling to keep a suspect from taking a deputy's gun which would have put everybody at risk in that area. Three citizens come to the deputy's aid and help to overpower the assailant and keep the gun from the suspect.

This story, above, should have gone nationwide when it hit the news. Daylan Mclee went to jail for a year before being found innocent. If anyone has a reason not to like police it would be Daylan Mclee. McLee left his house to look for an accident and see if he could help. He found a bad accident with a police officer stuck in his squad, flames starting on the car, and the other cop on the scene unable to get the door open. Mclee was a hero that day and the two sides came together. McLee's statements make

I want people to start looking at everybody as American's and not, he's white, he's black, he's Asian. We're people. We start doing that and things will get better.

Daylan Mclee

I completely agree with Daylan Mclee's sentiment. Much like my time in law enforcement I learned nobody is perfect. Not on either side of the story. But, I know, that I would rather see more of this, than more of the violence and horror we've seen in the past years, even if I have to tell the stories myself. And, I only hope that the country can get behind the people of Minneapolis, as they're going to need that moral support, yet again.