'Back the Blue' is more than a slogan (OPINION)

Bonanza Valley Voice publisher's column

The phrase "Back the Blue" is more than just a slogan. It's more than something one can just latch into when it's convenient.

"Back the Blue" is part of my family's life, day after day after day for numerous reasons.

Small town police departments and rural sheriff's offices are not flush with staff to begin with, and when officers are pulled out of rotation either because they were killed, or they were involved in a shooting, it puts tremendous strain on the entire law enforcement system. Crime does not take a day off. It's ongoing.

Too many people take our law enforcement and even our EMT responders for granted. It's not just an automatic thing that these people magically appear when we are in distress. There's so much that goes into it that they are recruited, schooled, trained and then do the hard work of filling the shifts and providing the law enforcement response when things go badly.

At Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa schools and across Jaguar Country, we are fortunate to have men and women ready, able and willing to answer the call of duty whether it's part of the Belgrade-Brooten police department, area county sheriff's departments, ambulance crews and fire departments. They are all wonderful people. We cannot thank them enough.