A tragedy we can never forget

There are many things that can make the job of a law enforcement officer difficult. Seeing how some people choose to destroy their lives by the choices they make, seeing the effects of those choices on children, the victims, and the community can be hard and something you never really get used to. But one of the hardest things to see is an officer lose his or her life while trying to make this chaotic world just a little bit better.

News that a Clinton Police Department officer, Gary Michael, had been murdered last week was, like any news of an officer’s death, sad and hard to take in. But it is always harder to hear when it is someone closer to home. Members of our Sheriff’s Office assisted in the efforts of patrolling and searching buildings in the Clinton area in the attempt to apprehend the killer and bring him to justice.

The dispatch recording of the incident sends chills down your spine and reminds us all that officers are not made of steel, they are in fact only human. From the first day in the police academy to the first day on the job, they teach you that the good guys will always win, that is the only option. But they do not tell you about the feeling you will have when you hear that an officer has been killed.

I remember our defensive tactics instructor telling us that we do not have time to worry about what is happening to us while we are fighting the bad guy. He would often say, “If I’m inured I’ll deal with that later, right now I have a job to do.”

When hearing of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, it is common to hear that the officer was able to return fire before they died. The last line of duty death in our area was Deputy Mathew Chisem, who was shot and killed, also returned fire before passing away.

The sacrifice made by these brave officers is not just the fact that they patrol the streets, make arrests for warrants, and respond to emergency calls, the sacrifice made is the willingness to put aside one’s own safety in order to finish the job they started. The mindset is that you will win no matter what and that you must make sure the community, and your loved ones, are safe from people who would commit such acts. Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

Another officer has died while protecting his community from a killer roaming the streets. A family will be changed forever, and while life will return to what we call normal, there will always be a void that cannot be filled. We will now place a black band over our badge in honor of the fallen hero, and we will observe a moment of silence on his behalf. Please take just a moment of your time to also remember the fallen officer who gave his life to protect his community from something most people will never have to face.