Hero: Not Just a Sandwich Anymore

Maybe you never heard this one, but dead cops are always called "heroes" by somebody, usually a family member or small-time political hack in interview/eulogy mode.

But you know what I realized the other day? They really are heroes.

Before you call on me to burn my CPUSA membership card, or peel the "Bad Cop! No Donut!" sticker off my Prius, hear me out.

Cops are there to serve, first, and protect, second. Nothing in there about using deadly force or beating nigras, but I digress...

"Protect and Serve" it would seem, refers to protecting life and property and serving the public. That is, the whole public, which of course includes criminales (isn't that Spanish for "criminals"?) but does not include the cops themselves.

So, when confronted with a dangerous suspect or a threatening situation, the cop has pledged to be the sacrificial lamb. How did we get to that assumption? Easy: the cop is there in a professional capacity; it is the cop's responsibility to assess and mitigate the situation. For all purposes, the civilian(s) involved bear no responsibility whatsoever. The cop, on the other hand, has as his sworn duty to protect the life of not only any bystander, but also the suspect.

When and if conditions arise that cause the situation to move beyond the cop's control--when there is a moment of uncertainty in which it is not clear whether the suspect intends to submit or fight--it is the cop, and only the cop, who has the responsibility to wait and see what happens.

If that means that the cop gets killed, then so be it.

That is the job. It is exactly what the cop signed up for. Therefore we may conclude that the only good cop is, indeed, a dead cop. He did his job perfectly.

Are dead cops heroes, then? Certainly.

But firemen aren't, no matter what they did.