Today there was a funeral for a Des Moines police officer, one of two killed last week in a late night interstate highway collision. The officers were transporting an inmate from another jurisdiction when they were hit by a presumed drunk driver, who was driving on the wrong side of the road.
As with the other officer buried earlier in the week, there were scores of other law enforcement personnel in attendance from other parts of Iowa and the country. That’s not a surprise. What is a surprise, at least to me, is the production scope of the visitation and funeral ceremonies, and the media attention being given to these events.
For the past four days, main roads have been shut down for extended periods so the bodies could be transported from funeral homes to churches to burial sites. These transports have included processions of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of police and fire department vehicles, with hundreds, if not thousands, of people paying their respects at the churches, or by standing along these procession routes. And in something I believe to be unprecedented, there has been live TV coverage of the funerals on multiple stations.
Don’t get me wrong, the death of these police officers (plus two others, including the driver of the other car and the prisoner being transported) is tragic. But can we at least agree that relative to other tragic deaths, the amount of attention being given to their funerals is somewhat disproportional to what happened.
Yes, they were on duty, and the law enforcement code rightfully gives them and their families an outpouring of support and respect. However, they were not doing anything heroic. Being killed by a (allegedly) drunk driver isn’t the same as being killed by taking a bullet, or running into a burning house, or trying to quell a riot. The manner in which they died could have, and has, happened to countless others before them, both on the job and off. And while those incidents often garner much support and attention, it isn’t anything like this. Not even close.
To put it into more perspective, consider a military member killed on the other side of the world in Iraq or Afghanistan or some other god forsaken place. Yes, the military gives that person tremendous respect, and the funeral is given much attention. However, it receives nowhere near the attention that the public and media are giving to these officers. And let’s be real, that military member deserves at least as much, probably more attention, given their sacrifice. They are doing something extraordinary, just being on the other side of the world for months or years, regardless of the cause of death.
I blame the local media for whipping up public sentiment beyond the pale. They’ve made it a race to see which TV or radio or newspaper or even social media outlet can show that they have more empathy about the local police officer deaths. Consequently, people are paying more than the usual amount of attention. That isn’t the fault of the officers, or their families, or I suppose even the police department. But the whole thing is out of proportion nonetheless.
It reminds me of many years ago when Princess Diana died, and then Mother Teresa of Calcutta died days later. Diana’s funeral became worldwide spectacle, covered live by international media. Mother Teresa’s funeral deserved every bit as much coverage, probably more given the circumstances, but only grudgingly got some. Ratings, you know. It might have gotten none at all without the guilt of the networks for their over-the-top coverage of Diana.
I’ve privately mentioned my surprise to a few folks, and no one disagrees, but no one dares say it out loud. Let’s just say the next time a local soldier is killed, I’d better see wall-to-wall media coverage about it. It’s just a matter of time before another law enforcement or military funeral doesn’t have the same coverage, when there will be some public backlash.
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