As I was scrolling through my social media last Friday, I saw that an Illinois state trooper, Nick Hopkins, died in an exchange of gunfire in East St. Louis. All he did that morning was go to a house to serve a search warrant, and minutes later he was shot. 

He died that evening at the hospital.

 It seems there have been more officer shootings in the last couple of years, especially since the Michael Brown case in St. Louis happened five years ago. 

According to Forbes, in 2018 alone, “A total of 106 police officers lost their lives on duty last year, a 13 percent increase on 2017. Fifty-five officers were feloniously killed while 51 died accidentally.” 

It seems there is constantly something in the news about an officer being shot. A few years ago, it happened in my hometown. 

An officer was killed point-blank in the line of duty, and he left behind a wife and toddler. 

I understand that not all cops are good cops, but I like to believe that there are more good ones out there than bad ones. 

I see the horrible news of a cop killing an innocent black person for no reason, and that is despicable, but I do not clump all officers into that category as bad ones. 

There are still cops that give cute teddy bears to innocent children when they stop by to answer a call. I was once one of those children. 

Children should feel safe when they see an officer, not scared, and with the heavy saturation of  “bad cops” in lots of media, I can see why some children might be scared of them.

Law enforcement officials are people too. They have spouses and kids, and when police officers are killed doing their jobs, their children have to grow up without one of their parents and the spouses have to become single parents and fill both roles. 

It is a crime to take a life; whether the person killed is a law enforcement official or not, they are all still human and they have families, just like anyone else.

Law enforcement members do a lot of good for the community. 

Their job is to keep us safe and out of harm’s way. They solve cases, new and old. They save lives. Cops deserve our respect. It’s not an easy job to have these days. 

I am not against the Black Lives Matter movement, and I am for the Blue Lives Matter movement. 

I believe that there are good cops out there and bad ones as well, but we have to see the good in people and not judge them just by the uniform.

Kate Rehwinkel is a senior business management major and she can be reached at kerehwinkel@eiu.edu.