A few years ago, when I was still on the Mitchell City Council, I received an email from an irate Texan. He had been stopped by, in his words, “a badge heavy cop” in Mitchell and given a speeding citation. This irate Texan thought that I, as a City official, ought to know about the policeman’s attitude. I immediately emailed back and said something to the effect that several South Dakota law enforcement officers had been killed during traffic stops in the previous calendar year so our people were being extra cautious and that perhaps the Texan may have been speeding in a school zone or by a park or perhaps near a daycare that an out-of-towner wouldn’t necessarily know about which may explain the officer’s seemingly zealous approach. The Texan got even more livid and emailed back that he had been picked up coming up the hill into town south of the spillway and that I was full of shit for suggesting otherwise. He was insulted that the Mitchell police officer had placed him in the back of the cruiser like a common criminal when his status as a successful business owner was plain for all to see which his corporate logos on his expensive vehicle should have made clear to the cop. I referred the matter to then Chief of Police Lyndon Overweg to investigate further. It turns out the guy was excessively speeding, something like 60 mph coming into town, was belligerent (surprise!) and had an uncased, loaded shotgun in the front seat that the officer thought might be used for something other than pheasant hunting given the tenor of the conversation. The Mitchell police had recordings of the incident. Chief Overweg sent the particulars to the irate Texan concerning the three South Dakota officers (none from Mitchell) that had been killed recently in the line of duty during traffic stops. Chief Overweg also included the specifics of the Mitchell incident in question with the Texan’s verbatim comments recorded during the encounter and the added detail regarding the uncased shotgun lying on the front seat with the suggestion that was problematic for any officer in those circumstances. I never heard from the disgruntled Texan again.

For various reasons, there are lots of occupations I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. There are other jobs I’m not smart enough or qualified to apply for. When I was in college one of my majors was Criminal Justice (history was the other one). I took courses in Police Officer Standards and Training but my eyesight disqualified me for consideration as an officer. Recruiting police officers has always been somewhat of a challenge. The hours are terrible, as anyone who does shift work can tell you. Switching from 8-4, 4-midnight and midnight to 8 on a regular basis plays havoc with sleep cycles, family and social life. The work of a police officer can be boring when it isn’t terrifying or life threatening. According to the Springfield Republican, the Springfield, Massachusetts police set up a recruiting booth at a college job fair and got only one visitor and he was there only by accident. In June a survey was carried out by the Police Executive Research Forum that found midsize police departments experienced a 26% drop in their hiring rate and large police departments experienced a 36% decrease. That’s partly due to all of the unrest over police brutality cases like George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter and defund the police movements as well as partly due to “normal” concerns that always attend police work; relatively low pay, lousy hours and the fact that more than 2000 officers have been killed in the line of duty over the last ten years. The additional pressures and public condemnation of hardworking cops has led to a 45% increase in officer retirements and an 18% rise in officer resignations in the past year.

Regarding Black Lives Matter, the Civil Unrest and Presidential Election Study in February 2021 found that 27 unarmed African-American men were recorded as killed by police in 2019. Of all the people killed by police that year, 24.9% were African-American. That’s certainly a problem but not one of the magnitude that the media and the megaphones stirring up dissent would have you believe. According to a Gallup survey taken in the summer of 2020 81% of African-Americans want the same amount of policing in their neighborhoods despite reports of police shootings and high profile media coverage of cases like George Floyd. A USA Today/Ipsos poll found that 72% of Black Americans do not support defunding the police and a Civis Analytics poll found that 60% of those African-Americans surveyed actually support hiring more police officers for their high crime areas. Homicide and robbery rates in predominantly Black neighborhoods are four times higher than in White neighborhoods and crime tends to be a same race situation (White people victimize White people while Black people victimize Black people as a general rule).

Nobody likes to be pulled over by the cops. However, you know in your heart of hearts that when those lights appear behind you that you’re guilty and that for every time you’ve been pulled over for some violation there are ten or twenty other times you’ve gotten away with speeding or whatever. If may be disheartening for the morale of the individual officer but the truth of the matter is that the police are something nobody wants to see until they urgently need them and then we expect officers to respond PRONTO!

Police are an important part of our community. Law enforcement is necessary for an orderly society, for safe neighborhoods, for emergency response and for a sense of security. Support Your Local Police.