The only time most of us meet a police officer in the line of duty is when he or she is writing out a ticket for a minor traffic violation. We may grumble a bit at the time, but when it is 3 a.m. and someone is trying to break into our house, those blue uniforms and red flashing lights are a welcome sight indeed.
We never consider that every time a police officer – or for that matter, a firefighter, paramedic or other emergency responder – puts on the uniform, that person is risking his or her life.
Last week we received a tragic reminder of how dangerous it is to be a police officer, with the shooting death of 37-year-old Const. Vu Pham of Wingham, a 15-year OPP veteran. He was responding to a call near Walton at about 10 a.m. on March 8 when something went terribly wrong. A man opened fire on Pham as he was getting out of his cruiser, and the officer was critically injured. He was airlifted to London and died later that day.
Most police officers have stories about a call that should have been routine (if there is such a thing) – a traffic stop that uncovered a veritable arsenal of firearms; an amiable drunk being escorted out of a bar who suddenly tried to grab the officer’s firearm; a domestic dispute in which both victim and assailant attacked the officer. Most such stories end uneventfully, but in the century that the OPP has existed, there have been 104 officers killed in the line of duty. That is about one a year, on average, and does not include the officers who succumb to job-related illnesses and stress.
The vast majority of us could not begin to imagine going to work every day, knowing some young fool (or old one) might be sufficiently drunk, high on drugs, greedy, angry or simply fed up, to shoot at us. Yet this is the reality police officers, and their families, live with, day in and day out, year in and year out.
It is also the reality for ordinary citizens in many countries. There are many places in the world where everyone, from business owners to government officials, needs armed escorts to travel between home and office. Anyone who looks reasonably prosperous might be kidnapped off the streets and held for ransom. Paying protection money to local thugs (some of whom are government officials) is regarded as a normal business expense.
We do not live like that. Canadians have a level of freedom that is almost unheard of in the rest of the world. This does not mean we do whatever we want, but as long as we live within the laws of this country, we are safe to pursue a wide range of business and educational opportunities, maintain the lifestyle we want (within reason), raise our families, and enjoy many forms of recreation. And we are free to vote for the government that represents us and makes our laws. We regard this freedom as our right.
We have that freedom because we have police to protect us from those who violate our laws and rights. With remarkably few exceptions, they do so with honesty, dedication and tremendous courage. The job is often thankless, sometimes frustrating and from time to time, deadly.
We are fortunate to have people like Const. Vu Pham, for they are literally all that stands between us and anarchy. A law is only as good as the people responsible for enforcing it.
Let this be not only a salute to a fallen officer, but an expression of gratitude to all his comrades who continue to wear the uniform and keep the monsters at bay.