Standing Up For the Cops

Earlier this month, de Blasio -- in a lame attempt to relate to an African-American audience -- made an inappropriate comment about how he taught his multiracial son to be leery of police officers. Being on guard against the police isn't easy to do when the security detail guarding you is made up of police officers.

During the unrest several weeks ago in Ferguson, Mo., liberal sympathizers in the media turned rioting and looting into a form of free speech. Now some police officers are exercising their free speech by turning their backs on de Blasio at public events.

Bravo for them. The cops have the right to be upset at the mayor, and they also have the right to show it.

Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo seems intent on not upsetting anyone.

"The mayor has my full support," Cuomo said during a recent interview. "The union leaders have my full support. The community activists have my full support."

Thank you, governor. That was helpful. Once protests become "anti-police," as many now have, you can't support both protesters and police.

Protesting excessive force by police officers is not like protesting for equal pay, or trade embargoes, or immigration reform. In this narrative, there's a villain and he wears a uniform. Should we be surprised that cops would take exception?

It's not new for those who protect and serve to feel unappreciated. But what they can do without is feeling unsafe.

As I imagine officers getting ready for their shifts by strapping on their bulletproof vests and checking their guns, I hear my father's voice, saying how -- in a phrase well-known to cops -- he'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.

There might be people out there who are so outraged by the killing -- by police -- of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York, 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, and others that they're eager to retaliate.

At a recent protest in New York, someone called out, "What do we want?" And someone else answered, "Dead cops!"

When someone kills police officers, they're threatening the social order. Back in frontier days, when lawmen had names like Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok, killing a sheriff or marshal would get someone a quick hanging. Murdering lawmen was tantamount to anarchy. After all, if you killed enough of them, you could take over a town.

To this day, in what is supposed to be a deterrent, killing a law enforcement officer is a "special circumstance" crime that will usually get an assailant the death penalty.

I would imagine that most 10-year-olds don't know that, but I did. And it gave me comfort.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.