A Routine Day
Just today I drove past a large billboard that was advertising for some insurance company. The sign read, ‘The: that will never happen to me – just happened to me.’
Not too terribly long ago a local police officer in a rural area near where I live was on patrol and approached a man wanted for writing bad checks while the man was getting items from his vehicle in a well-known and occupied ‘Re-Po’ lot. The officer, a ten year veteran of the village police department, was somewhat aware of the situation into which he was driving and had called another jurisdiction for a back-up car to respond. However, the bad-check warrant is a very low degree crime and seldom gets jail time, so the officer had little reason to imagine that in seconds he would be shot four times, nearly fatally by the suspect for no apparent reason. The officer survived by taking cover under a truck awaiting help. The suspect had no hesitation, gave no warning signs, no verbal or physical cues to let you know there was something extremely violent about to happen; he simply refused to exit his vehicle. When a struggle ensued, the cop had his gun taken from him and barely lived to tell about it.
You are right, that guy in the ‘Re-Po’ lot was not a terrorist. No, he was a potential murderer who wanted to kill a cop. The terrorist who crossed that fence on Friday in Israel had one objective minimum. Sure, he wanted over that fence; but the way he was armed and ready to fire, he wanted to kill someone, preferably an IDF soldier. That he was killed as a result, for him he thought, was a plus. Perhaps the bad guy in the ‘Re-Po’ lot wasn’t hoping to die for some sensual eternal reward; maybe he just didn’t have anything for which he felt it was worth staying alive. He did stay alive though, and in 2008, only thirteen years after being sentenced to a “minimum 15 to 50 years”, he was up for parole. The officer, although back to work; in 2008 was still undergoing surgeries to repair damages done by the four shots he sustained. A newspaper article telling the story of the shooting of the police officer ran the headline, “A Routine Day.”[ii]
Can you see the connection? It can happen to you and since 9-11 here in the United States, we are at war. If you are in law enforcement, you are at war every day; because every day may be the routine day you have to fight for your life.
[Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Chief of Police Retired]
[i] http://www.policeone.com/legal/articles/1704436-Man-who-shot-Ohio-cop-up-for-parole/
[ii] http://www.jerusalemonline.com/dhome.asp
