One police officer slain in the line of duty is one too many. Seventy-two is 72 too many. The latest FBI data reports that 72 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty during 2011. That’s a tragedy, and SIAC extends its condolences to all those affected families.
The men and women who choose to put on the uniform are unique in many ways, not the least of which is that they are willing to risk their lives to protect ours. That takes a special individual.
Through our work on alarm ordinances and other activities with local jurisdictions, we have developed many close working relationships with members of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), National Sheriff’s Association (NSA) and State Association of Chiefs of Police (SACOP). We’ve learned the one constant that has shown through is how dedicated to their mission the law enforcement community is.
That is a theme that binds: We both want to improve public safety in communities across North America, while also ensuring security systems are managed properly. We don’t pretend to paint our industry in the same light as these dedicated professionals but it is our sincere hope that working together to greatly reduce the numbers of calls these officers respond to will in some small way contribute to their safety.
We plan to continue developing these relationships in the years ahead. We hope the technologies deployed by the electronic security industry also help to drive down the numbers of officers who are attacked in the line of duty. It’s one small thing we can do to give back after all the officers do for so many every day they hit the streets.
