When did it become acceptable, almost fashionable, to bash police officers?

Not just verbally, in some instances, physically.

From violent protesters to elected officials to news anchors, newspapers, and mega-corporations, brutally criticizing and denouncing the police is the hot new trend. Especially for folks that like to comment on issues they know nothing about or have tunnel vision.

This attitude came to the forefront on Memorial Day when four Minneapolis police officers aggressively arrested George Floyd, an unarmed black man suspected of passing counterfeit money.

The aggressive actions included an officer placing his knee on Floyd’s neck in a seldom-used police procedure to detain someone.

Not long after, George Floyd died at the young age of 46.

No matter if the arresting officers were overly cautious, too defensive, or simply had a knee jerk reaction, they acted incorrectly and need to be held responsible for those actions.

Unfortunately, in some individuals’ opinion, the instant Floyd was killed, all police officers across the country became a target for rage and hate. Suddenly all police were perceived as racists, renegades, and above the law regarding police brutality.

As a result, the police became criminals and deserved little or no respect.

To make matters worse, “defund the police” has become the battle cry for a small group of resentful people wanting to punish every police officer for the mistakes of a few.

Defunding the police means taking money from a police department’s budget and using it elsewhere.

Instead of using the funds for more police officers on the street and patrolling neighborhoods, instead of giving the cops better protective gear or training, money taken from a police departments’ budget could go towards additional low-income housing, community programs, and social services.

Unless you’ve worked as a police officer, you could never fully understand what these men and women experience during their careers, from dealing with horrific and bloody auto accidents, responding to armed robberies, and violent domestic disturbances. The police enforce the law and work to keep drunk drivers off the streets.

The police deal with highly emotional and difficult situations, such as detailing and reporting rape, elder abuse, suicide, and child abuse.

Recently and locally, the police dealt with the ongoing war on drugs by arresting drug dealers and slowing the pipeline of drugs from Philadelphia. Last year local police were involved in a deadly 12-hour standoff with an armed and wanted man barricaded inside a home in Lock Haven. Months later, the police dealt with a convenience store robbery in Newberry, where a customer was shot dead at close range.

Every day when a police officer reports to work, they realize there’s a chance they could get shot, stabbed, or killed while trying to keep the community safe.

Yes, over the years, there have been cops who acted recklessly and were never disciplined for their mistakes — instances like these need to be dealt with and prevented.

But that number is a small percentage of the country’s police force. Their actions do not reflect the majority of police officers that are heroes for keeping the entire community safe.

Since May 25, cities across the nation have been home to many peaceful protests; however, some protests have turned into riots with looting, burning buildings, crowded streets, gunshots, and death.

And the police are there too, trying to keep the city safe.

The irony with all this police bashing? If the people that degrade the police and call for police defunding, if their lives were in danger and they needed help immediately, what would they do?

They would seek help from the police they want to punish.

And the police officers would show up, possibly risking their own lives to save someone else.