Homeless in Arizona

Sheila Polk gives us more lies and BS on how cops risk their lives to protect us.

The police unions give us this BS all the time to get pay raises for cops.

In reality being a cop isn't dangerous at all.

Year in and year out the top 3 most dangerous jobs per the US Department of Labor statics are fishermen, loggers, and construction workers.

Cops rarely make it into the top 10 most dangerous jobs. I have only seen that happen once and the cops were at a lowly #7.

Any job that requires driving is more dangerous then jobs that don't. And since cops drive a lot their jobs are slightly more dangerous then jobs that don't.

With that in mind the job of a cop is about as dangerous as the job of the mailman who delivers your mail, the ice cream truck driver who sells your kids cold treats in the summer, or your paperboy who delivers the morning paper.

While cops do get killed on the job, most criminals are smart enough not to rob victims that can defend themselves like armed police officers.

The most dangerous jobs when it comes to being murdered are convenience store clerks, liquor store clerks and hotel clerks, not cops.

If you want to thank somebody for risking their life for you, thank the fisherman who caught that salmon you are eating for dinner, or the logger who harvested the wood to build your home, or the electrician who fixes those downed power lines that happen during the monsoons.

F*ck the police, instead of hunting down real criminals who hurt people like robbers, rapists and mugger, they are usually hunting down harmless pot smokers.

For all they do, say thank you to a cop

Sheila Polk, AZ I See It 8:04 p.m. MST August 14, 2015

My Turn: Coverage of rare fatal encounters are taking a toll on rank and file police officers, says Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk.

It is easy to see why we take cops for granted. They are there for us when we need them and, unless they do something exceptionally great or really bad, we never hear much about them.

But we owe them our expressions of gratitude, nonetheless, for the staggering array of things we expect from them, and which they consistently do quite well.

Every single day each officer must be prepared:

- To act as a first responder.

- Make split-second analyses of complex, irrational situations, rapidly sorting out who poses a danger and who needs help.

- Witness gruesome accident and crime scenes, and administer often life-saving first aid.

- Implement road safety measures.

- Detect drug and alcohol impairment, and reverse a heroin overdose with Narcan shots.

We ask them to become experts on a wide range of topics including mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, terrorism, geography, psychology, animal control, drug identification, federal, state, county and local laws, weapons, self-defense, transportation and to have an intimate knowledge of the people, places and things in their own communities.

They memorize stacks of legal standards, compose mountains of reports recalling every minute detail, and become masters of the legal system where they are called to tell the stories of their work with the utmost veracity.

It is almost cliché to say they put their lives on the line for us, but we have way too many examples of officers who have done just that. Yet they continue to serve, in all kinds of weather, at all hours of the day and even when they are off-duty, appearing at community meetings, helping underprivileged kids, working security at events and sometimes when trying to just live as private citizens.

Sadly, around 600 of the millions of police-public encounters each year result in fatalities, about a third of which are “suicide by cop.”

Lately, incidents like these are impacting the rank and file. Some of my colleagues are discouraging their children and grandchildren from following in their footsteps. They are feeling beat up, disrespected and under-appreciated. In other words, the risks are outweighing the rewards.

Yes, we need accountability; without it our system crumbles. Holding public servants accountable is an appropriate role of the free press in a democratic society.

But we also need to maintain the proper perspective and recognize these incidents are the exception and not the rule. To whom will we turn if we cannot depend on an officer to come when our burglar alarm goes off, or our relative is stranded by the side of the road, or violence erupts out of a domestic dispute?

The vast majority of the men and women who wear the uniform take pride in their oath and perform to the best of their ability. The next time you see a police officer just doing his or her job, take a moment to say thank you. It will mean more to them than you may realize.

Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County attorney.