Law enforcement's fears are changing amid anti-police rhetoric
'It’s no longer about the truth' says retired police sergeant
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Retired Tulsa police Sgt. Sean Larkin voiced his concern over a more hostile anti-police environment Saturday on "Watters’ World," noting the fears law enforcement officials in America experience amid a rise in crime and a push to make police the "bad guys."
"When I first started this job, I was told from the very beginning you are not going to be fearful of getting hurt at work, you are not going to be fearful of getting killed in the line of duty," Larkin said. "Is it a real threat? Of course. But you can’t work day-to-day thinking like that."
Larkin noted that the fears law enforcement have are no longer being hurt or killed in the line of duty, but rather being "smeared" for doing their job.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"What we are worried about, especially now, is having your name smeared through social media if there is something you didn’t do wrong," he noted. "It’s for being civilly sued for something you didn’t do wrong, for having your department investigate you cause of a bogus allegation that came and you are put on basically time-out on the department. Those are the things that we are worried about."
Following the death of George Floyd in May of 2020 and the push to cut funding for law enforcement, many major American cities have seen an uptick in violent crime, for which some Americans blame Democrat leadership.
Police retirements have also jumped during a year of protests as major U.S. cities such as New York, Minneapolis and Portland chose to cut their police budgets.
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"When I first came on in 1997, when we testified in court, we weren’t the bad guys, now every time we take the stand, defense attorneys are coming after us. It’s no longer about the truth. It’s how can we make this cop look bad on the stand and get my client off" said Larkin.