Cop Block meme shows how out of touch they are

A meme from CopBlock has been making the rounds. It says that Firefighters and EMS workers don’t go looking for calls, thus police should stop looking for criminals. I think this meme shows how clueless the CopBlock movement is.

11813434_10153081031661234_521674248007104124_nThink about some of the criminals caught by a “routine traffic stop”. Officers out doing traffic enforcement have been responsible for catching serial killers, terrorists, and countless other felons. The officers were not looking for the felons, just looking at traffic enforcement.

In addition traffic enforcement saves lives. How many people are killed each year because of traffic crashes? How much higher would that number be if police were not trying to reduce speeding, drunk driving and other violations?

CopBlock sees traffic enforcement as nothing but a fund raiser for a city. When in reality officers are doing a lot more than revenue generation.

Interestingly CopBlock seems to have forgotten about the fire prevention mission of the fire department. On a regular basis firefighters are walking around businesses doing code enforcement. Which does include writing tickets to people in violation of fire codes.

In addition during when rural areas are under burn warning fire departments do go out on fire patrols. When there is a long dry spell local officials might ban all bon fires and recreational fire pits. To enforce the bans the FD goes out and looks for people burning. If they find a fire guess what, they put it out.

Lastly the EMS issue. Granted most EMS services don’t go looking for sick people. Yet many companies are exploring the concept of “community paramedics”. I have seen or heard about EMS workers setting up in parking lots giving health screenings, going to businesses to give flu shots and other proactive health care outreach.

So it seems in their hate of all things police CopBlock has proven they are clueless about public safety overall.