NATIONAL BLACK POLICE GROUP CONDEMNS RECENT ASSAULTS ON LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dated: Wednesday July 14, 2021
The National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, Inc. Board of Directors and General Membership, both as a body of career law enforcement professionals and individual members of the various African American communities we serve, join with the nation’s law enforcement community to express our outrage and dismay regarding the recent assaults on law enforcement officers in Baltimore, MD, Portland, OR, and Chicago, IL. These cowardly and despicable acts must, and should, be repudiated by all sensible and responsible persons, regardless of their racial background.
As it was so eloquently stated by former President Barack Obama in 2016 after the ambush and assassination of officers in Louisiana, “…nothing justifies attacks on police officers.” No amount of anger and frustration about the ills of the system should ever be used as a cause or excuse to assault or assassinate law enforcement officers who are simply doing their job. Regardless of community perceptions and beliefs pertaining to issues concerning police abuse, misconduct and excessive force, irrespective of the beliefs of those who wish to create mayhem – this is not the way to secure and sustain community justice. This type of insanity will not improve police-community relations; it will not bring about greater levels of police accountability; it will not advance the cause of social justice; it will not improve the status of life in the Black community; it will not bring an end to the shootings of Black men by the police.
While all must recognize that there is an ever growing divide between law enforcement and those we are sworn to both protect and serve, and that there are, in fact, some members of our profession who are a detriment to those of us who work tirelessly each day to make a significant difference in the life of our communities, no amount of anger and frustration about the ills of the system should be used as a cause or excuse to assault law enforcement officers who are simply doing their job.
It must be painfully clear to all that this act of vicious violence has no place in our communities, just as the past and continued unnecessary death of young black men at the hands of police officers has no place. Yet these wanton acts of cowardice will only serve to further increase the likelihood that police officers will react more aggressively, and sometimes haphazardly, when addressing the needs of the Black community.
These needless attacks on members of our law enforcement family are a burden that is shared by all who have chosen to dedicate themselves to serve and protect our communities, transcends the barriers of race and ethnicity, and brings despair to all who wear the uniform and badge.
The National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers, Inc, a 501.(c).(3) non-profit, is a premier national organization representing the interests and concerns of African American, Latino and other criminal justice practitioners of color serving in law enforcement, corrections, and investigative agencies throughout the United States, and the communities in which they serve.
