Perhaps it’s fitting that a stretch of beautiful weather was interrupted by overcast skies and light rain on Thursday as thousands gathered to honor and lay to rest Deputy Richard Herzog. Deputy Herzog was killed Saturday in a struggle with a man along Coal Creek Parkway in suburban Newcastle.
It’s a scene we’ve experienced in our own community following the loss of Snohomish County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. James Kinard and Everett Police Officer Brian Dibucci.
More than 500 vehicles carrying police personnel lined up in an empty mall parking lot early on Thursday to begin the solemn processional that would snake past the growing memorial marking the location of Deputy Herzog’s death. It was an emotional and moving scene. Coal Creek Parkway was lined by hundreds of citizens standing silently near the growing roadside memorial packed with flowers, balloons and notes. As the processional passed the site and under two huge ladders suspending an American flag from the tops of Bellevue fire trucks, tears fell quietly all across Western Washington.
The nature of the officer’s death brings to the surface a number of complex and sometimes conflicting emotions. Anger, frustration and fear mingle openly with pride and support. It’s inexcusable that it takes a tragedy of this magnitude for officers to feel appreciated. Too often, words of thanks are drowned out by the voices of critics who question the motive and methods employed by law enforcement personnel. Rather than waves of support accompanied by friendly smiles, local police officers report that they ‘re more often met with single finger salutes in many of our neighborhoods. Mix in the challenge raised by inadequate mental health solutions and the raging power of illegal drugs and you have the ultimate recipe for tragedy. The kind of tragedy that unfolded this past Saturday.
As law enforcement mourns the loss of a member of their family, the larger community ought to mourn the loss of something even more important — respect for those doing a job most of us would never consider, but all of us rely on everyday.
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