131 NEVER CAME HOME

by M.C. Newberry

Monday 1st June 2020 9:55 pm

The other side of the coin that rarely gets any currency in a country that has arbitrary death in its DNA.

....................................................................

One hundred and thirty one left for work

During the year two oh one nine.

They never returned to kith and kin,

Nor did any retire or resign.

"Killed in the line of duty" remains the log line

Added to the annual toll that's kept

On public record that demands such things

As the price of the risks that they accept.

The year before it was one sixty six

Who left home and never came back

Who knows if any had a premonition

That they would succumb to some fatal attack..

They say 'fifty nine was a "good" year

When one hundred and twenty two never came back.

But each year is always a bad year

For the cops who are slain...white, brown and black..

.........................................................................................

Comments

jennifer Malden

Sun 7th Jun 2020 14:57

Very moving - violence breeds more violence of course. It's a country where there are far too many guns, and where it is absurdly easy to procure one, which means violent death is ever possible. I remember the 2011 riots in London,which were really shocking. Protest is absolutely legit, but not looting.

Jennifer

M.C. Newberry

Wed 3rd Jun 2020 13:30

Rogue actions by individual officers must always be held to account,
but not by mobs on the street or by individuals who attack when
inflamed by media reports. I don't recall "protests" on London streets
when Pc Keith Blakelock and young serviceman Lee Rigby were
mercilessly hacked to death. Would those offering platitudes and
excuses for such behaviour following the death of George Floyd
have been eager to condone it here in London in the two instances I. have mentioned? Somehow, I think not.

Philipos

Tue 2nd Jun 2020 23:39

Hi MC, can remember still the Brixton riots and Notting hill events - seething with undercurrents and laments - you put your statistics well. There is always an uncertain aura about these occasions,and when rioters approach with gnashing teeth it's then you feel their saliva hit the back of your neck before the cs gas arrives and leaves everybody gasping for breath with stinging eyes - then the cavalry is called in, and mayhem erupts amongst the populace. No win, win, situations for any one of them. It is a sadness shared. P

M.C. Newberry

Tue 2nd Jun 2020 21:21

The figures are a salutary reminder that law enforcement in the USA is a daily dalliance with duty and death. One officer had a citation for
saving a family in the wake of Hurricane Katrina while another saved
a woman from a burning house. How easy to slag them off in the
collective sense as happens when there's a "racial" element to promote. An added poignancy is the number of non-white officers among the victims.
..

Adam Whitworth

Tue 2nd Jun 2020 10:18

Deft and moving. It must be- I'm reading it over and over. Thank you.

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131 NEVER CAME HOME

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