Blue Lives Matter

Today some of you are going to be offended. But let it be known that my sole intentions are to evaluate the validity of the Blue Lives Matter movement from a perspective independent of my own personal experiences and beliefs.

The Black Lives and Blue Lives movements are on complete opposite ends of the political spectrum. While the one if a far-left progressive movement, the other is a heavily conservative measure taken to promote police everywhere. Somewhere in the middle, between these two movements is the truth. Neither side is right about everything, nor are they entirely wrong. There’s are a few fundamental flaws with the Blue Lives Matter movement, some of which I believe are worse than BLM.

The first issue is the fact that it is a reactionary organization. Instead of actively pursuing the solutions to already existing problems, Blue Lives was formed as a direct consequence of the BLM movement. To be fair, this shouldn’t be a surprise, especially when you read some of the propaganda put out against the police.

Police departments everywhere took the bait by falling for the same collective ideological tendencies that those on the far left have perpetuated. Instead of grouping every police officer into one unified group, officers should be independently recognized for their involvements with their achievements and community involvement. Like I said on Monday, rewarding the best officers for their work promotes good behavior among all officers.

Think of this in terms of a team sport. As a coach, you can choose to do one of two things. Either you can reward the group as a whole, or reward the best members of your team seperately. The first ignores the existence of bad team members. The latter differentiates the good players from the bad. Ironically, it is through this second method that team growth is actually generated.

So in reference to police departments, initiatives like these allow the public to differentiate the general “police officer” from the “outstanding officer”. Like the chairman that represents a board, it gives a face with which the public can recognize upstanding, moral citizenship.

So my second issue with Blue Lives Matters is that it ignores the existence of bad police officers. There are, without a doubt, men and women everywhere who should not have been granted the privilege of working as an officer. A certain amount of people will abuse whatever power they are given. This movement ignores that those people exist.

Finally, the organization offers no solution to the issues presented by BLM. If BLM stands for everyone who is mistreated by officers, Blue Lives is the side of the argument that says, “So what?” In fact, I believe some officers use this is a method by which they can attribute their own victimhood. The BLM movement has been used as a tool police departments can use push their own agenda, instead of solving the problems that do actually exist.

So if Blue Lives Matter is a horrible misrepresentation of police everywhere, then what would be an appropriate replacement? I’ll give an example. Last week I received a copy of the biographies of several officers in our area who were asked why they chose to enter law enforcement These accounts are in the process of being put together in a book entitled Behind the Blue Line. This book recognizes the individual achievements of each person, without overtly lumping everyone into the same group. It provides what I believe to be the best response to the critiques made by those who view police negatively.

On my last day of school, our school resource officer, a sheriff's deputy, stopped my car. He shook my hand and wished me the best of luck on this next chapter of my life. Moments like these should be recognized. Police aren’t the animals BLM makes them out to be. They’re people too. They care about the citizens they serve and genuinely want what’s best for the community. I hope that through this upcoming book, our community can gain an appreciation for the dedication and service of those serving in uniform.