Sam Graves: What it really means to back the blue

(From Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves)

I’ve heard a lot of bad ideas over the years. But one of them, this notion that we should “defund the police,” really takes the cake.

There’s no substitute for the brave law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe. When you call 911, and I pray that day never comes for you, you expect an armed police officer to respond, not a social worker. But that’s exactly what some of the out-of-touch liberals want to happen.

They want to defund our police departments and send unarmed social workers to do the job of law enforcement professionals. That’s a recipe for disaster. You don’t stop rising crime by sending social workers to do the job of cops and letting criminals off the hook. You stop rising crime by supporting our police officers and cracking down on violent criminals. That seems fairly easy to understand.

This isn’t some harmless, obscure political debate. These kinds of ideas and policies are having real impacts on our communities. The Biden Administration’s decision to turn their backs on law-enforcement agents at the border has allowed deadly fentanyl to flood into our communities at an unpredicted rate.

I don’t just mean border towns in Texas and Arizona. Almost every other day, I see a new story of a teen or toddler stolen from us too soon—in places like Kansas City and Chillicothe. None of this nonsense has done anything to fight back against the crime plaguing our country. In fact, it’s only emboldened criminals to attack and target our law enforcement officers.

In May, the FBI released data showing that the number of law-enforcement officers intentionally killed in the line of duty reached the highest level our country has seen since September 11, 2001. That’s completely unacceptable.

I cosponsored the Protect and Serve Act to enhance penalties for the cowardly criminals that target our police officers. It’s time we got serious about cracking down on violent criminals. Back the blue shouldn't just be a catchy slogan. It should be something we all try to live up to—to fight back against all these attacks on our police officers and this "defund the police" nonsense.