It has a been a rough few months for police officers in the United States. Police are under nightly attack in Portland, and routine attack in other cities across America. In the wake of George Floyd, cries for defunding the police have gone up and police budgets are being cut from New York to Los Angeles. Teacher’s unions in some places are holding the school year hostage to demands to “defund.” At the same time, police are painfully aware that they lack support from the politicians they work for, even in “red” areas like Central Florida.
But the last few months haven’t been kind to many average Americans, either. Police in many cities obeyed orders to stand down while rioters caused billions of dollars in damages to homes and businesses. Whole areas of some cities burned while the police retreated. We heard frantic 9-11 calls on the evening news from business owners pleading for help as their locations were destroyed and their lives threatened. No help ever came. In the chaos, some police forces even ran away from their own precincts. All across America, police left American lives, business, and property defenseless.
While riots continue in some cities, an even more widespread surge in violent crime is occurring. We’ve almost gotten used to the Monday-morning tally of fresh shootings and murders in places like Chicago. Even kids riding in cars in formerly safe areas have been killed.
Churches are being attacked, even while parishioners are inside worshiping. Religious icons are openly desecrated, such as this statue of Jesus that was decapitated. The 
situation is so lawless in some cities that now federal law enforcement is being brought in to restore some semblance of order.
Many police, of course, claim that they are only following orders and it is not their fault. The politicians in charge told them to stand down, and they have no choice but to comply with those instructions.
That might sound somewhat convincing, except that defending public order is actually the primary job of the police. One might argue that regardless of the spinelessness of the politicians, police have a responsibility to protect their operational areas under any and all circumstances. That is, quite literally, why law enforcement agencies even exist. But the police have not defended us. In fact, some citizens who chose to defend themselves and their property have been targeted by local prosecutors.
An example is the indictment of the Mccloskeys in St. Louis for defending themselves against an unruly mob that threatened their lives and property. Police couldn’t defend their gated community, but they were more than happy to confiscate the guns the couple used to defend themselves. These same police will probably be back at some point to take the McCloskey’s into custody. Just following orders, you understand.
We can rely on the police to shut down businesses while enforcing unconstitutional executive orders. But we can’t rely on police to defend those businesses from rioters. BLM has a right to protest, but business owners do not have a right to make a living. We can rely on police to close churches to make Gavin Newsome happy, but we can’t rely on police to protect those churches. We cannot rely on police to protect us and our homes, but we can rely on them arresting us and confiscating our guns if our attempts at self-defense anger a Marxist attorney general.
The situation of police abandonment has gotten so bad, that Denver police stood down and allowed BLM / Antifa thugs to violently “shut down” a Law Enforcement Appreciation Day rally.
Citizens who took the time to come out and support the police were attacked, beaten, and silenced while the police looked on and did nothing. 
Look at the picture of Law Enforcement Day Organizer Ron MacLachlan. Do you think he is proud of having sustained such a beat down in support of police who watched it happen? How many citizens of Denver are ready to go back out there and “back-the-blue” after that performance?
The friction between the Christian and business communities (often overlapping) and police has been there for some time. Even before the Covid-19 lock downs, many normal citizens had issues with policing. Use of police as revenue-generators, lack of respect for civil rights, militarization, ever-expanding regulations with severe enforcement, no-knock raids (too often at the wrong addresses), use of SWAT for low-level warrants, and very selective enforcement of laws are just a few of the issues. The police have been on thin-ice with many traditional conservative law and order types for years.
And now here comes the Covid-19 orders, where some police issue tickets to productive citizens for petty infractions, even as homeless people defecate on the sidewalk next to their patrol cars.
In the utopia in which many conservative commentators live, police are always good and we must always support the police. We don’t live in that utopia. We live in the real world, and in the real world police, at every level and within every agency, need to hear two very hard truths.
Following orders to stand-down and abandon your communities proves that you should be defunded.
and
You cannot be our protector and our oppressor at the same time.
As Orthodox Christians, we pray for the police and all those in public service. We really mean it. We appreciate the good things they do, and we want nothing but the best for all police and their families.
But as far as practical support, outside the liturgy, that is not guaranteed. The police need the average business owner, the average committed Christian, to support them. They need us to help vote out the current crop of politicians that have fed them to the wolves. They need us to turn out and support keeping their budgets and benefits high enough to make the job livable.
If police officers want us to be there for them, then they need to be there for us. Stop turning a blind eye to wanton destruction by mobs. Police should tell the politicians that their first duty is to the people. Police Unions can take the lead in this if they get their members to commit to effective policing and shutting down lawlessness. If it makes the politicians go nuts, then so be it. The people in the businesses, the Churches, and the homes need police to step up. If they do, then we will help push back against the cowardly politicians. Courage is contagious.
If we can’t rely on the police to defend us, then why keep paying taxes to fund them? If we are on-our-own out here, then maybe we can cut taxes and keep part of that money to buy guns and pay private security? Please police officers, do not think that our patience is inexhaustible. It has limits, and we are getting close to them now. If police want us to support them, then they had better defend us, our businesses, and our churches.
Conservative commentators, like those that live on Fox News’ platforms, consistently blame governors and mayors for the executive orders that close some businesses and churches, while making other businesses practically impossible to run. Conservative pundits do this to avoid a truth that would run counter to their relentless cheer leading for all police all the time. Governor Cuomo is not going around New York with an AR-15 and threatening bar owners. Governor Newsome is not personally putting a gun to a pastor’s head and forcing him to keep his church closed or to stop his choir from singing. In Chicago, the city threatened to actually demolish two churches if they don’t start complying with tyrannical Covid restrictions. Mayor Lightfoot will not be toting a shotgun to protect demolition crews when that action is undertaken.
Every business closed, every church closed, every citizen cited for just trying to live in this country – all that is done by police officers who swore to uphold the Constitution. A Constitution, by the way, which includes the 1st and 2nd Amendments. Petty tyrants seem to always find police officers willing to bust down church doors, close businesses through force, and throw law-abiding, peaceful citizens into jails that are currently deemed too dangerous for hardened criminals. The police can’t bring themselves to use violence to stop looters, but imagine how rough police will be on those who try to peacefully resist the closure of their businesses or the demolition of their churches?
Let us remind you of a stunning video produced by Port of Seattle Police Officer Greg Anderson about enforcing unconstitutional orders. In the video, which cost him his job, Anderson said, “I don’t care if it’s your sergeant or your Chief of Police, we don’t get to violate people’s constitutional rights because somebody in our chain of command tells us otherwise.” We highly recommend watching his original and follow-up videos. We need Officer Anderson’s everywhere to step up and defend the Constitution, even if that means disobeying orders.
Our dear police officers, if you refuse to defend us, our businesses, and our churches, then you are useless to us, so why fund your jobs?
Further, if you actively follow unconstitutional executive orders to close and/or destroy our businesses and our churches, then you are actually our enemies and the enemies of freedom. And if you are 
forcing churches to close, who else do you have as an enemy? Do you believe that at the Last Judgement, God will give a pass to police officers who closed, oppressed, or assisted in destruction of churches simply because a governor or mayor said so? The voices over at Fox News will not warn of Divine Judgement, but we care way more about the souls of police officers than we do about their paychecks.
It is time to make a choice. We need good police officers dedicated to public service and willing to refuse to enforce tyranny. Those police officers we will back to the hilt. We will stand with them because they stand with us.
For the others, when the baying mobs, the feckless politicians, or the grim reaper comes for you, don’t look around for us. We won’t be standing there with you.
