These past few weeks have been excellent ones for New Jersey. Out of concern that people in the other 49 were running out of reasons to make fun of New Jersey, we went and got an astounding number of public officials arrested. It was a national news scandal, to be sure. The icing on the cake was the realization that the New Jersey Attorney General’s office is so corrupt that the FBI had to conduct the investigation instead. For those of you wondering, the answer is yes, political affairs in New Jersey are more of a Charlie Foxtrot than in Rhode Island. Astonishing, yet true.
But believe it or not, New Jersey has decent public servants, and they made headline news last week as well. Unfortunately, their headlines were simpler, much less deserved, and much more tragic. The story: Five cops in Jersey City intended to make a drug bust. The shootout that ensued killed two assailants and one cop. EMTs on location described the scene as a “horror movie.” “Scary wasn’t the word,” they said. I know several Jersey City EMTs (which doesn’t say much about my connections; a trained monkey could get a job with Jersey City EMS), and it startles me to think that any one of them could have been dispatched to this massacre.
As EMTs, we are all familiar with the mantra, “Scene safety, BSI.” (Summer students, commit it to memory if you want to pass!) Scarcely do we stop to think about the fact that it is the police (and the fire department) who provide that scene safety, who are that scene safety. It is the police who secure the scene, who clear out the violence and vermin. It is the police, therefore, who allow us to do our job. And because of that, there ought to be a lot more cop appreciation around EMS quarters, at Brown, across the state of New Jersey, and everywhere.
New Jersey residents, where is your outrage? I’ve been listening, and I don’t hear much. EMTs, where is your sorrow? After all, the prerequisite for emergency medical care is provided by the police department.
Perhaps the fatal shooting of a cop happens too frequently to stir any real emotions.
I wonder if the time will ever come when people no longer shoot cops. The answer is easy: When New Jersey residents elect an honest politician.
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