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Blue Line Flags Are Cheap, Cops Are Goddamn Expensive
Supporting law enforcement in the wake of a policeman’s brutal on-duty murder
I’ve never been enthusiastic about living in Delmar, that’s not a secret, but I’m writing this with a heavy heart lightened only by a swelling pride in my town’s response to tragedy. As I write this there are literally about 1,000 people in the ballpark that abuts my backyard.
They’re holding a fundraising event for a dead policeman’s family. Music, concessions, a memorial softball tournament, and a 50/50 raffle. The roads are thick with cars, pickup trucks, and motorcycles all flying the problematic Blue Line flag.
These are people who want with all their heart to help the officer’s family and show solidarity with the police. While I am not among them, I am overcome with a deep sadness at the loss and a simmering rage at the manner of death.
Corporal Keith Heacook was beaten to death answering a home invasion call. The man who killed him had been on something of a spree, beating an old couple in a nearby apartment before moving on to another unit.
Details in the press release were sketchy about the beginning of the confrontation but graphic about its conclusion: the murderer allegedly stomped the police officer to death.
One theory about why we commit murder at so much higher a rate than any other species is, since humans aren’t born with claws or fangs, we don’t have the same disposition against killing members of our own species that, say, wolves do.
Practically speaking, we’re about 10 flipped houses away from being mostly owned by landlords and low-income-housing conglomerates.
Killing a person with one’s bare hands is so difficult that it ought to be enough to all but eliminate murder, evolutionarily. I think of it that way often. It takes a particular kind of fear or cruelty…
