It’s time to speak up and defend our police, who defend our rights

If you’re hoping to win friends and influence people, standing before a group of politicians — Democrats and Republicans — who spent more than a year of their life, and tens of thousands of dollars to campaign and then be elected to serve the people, please take note: This is not the way to do it.

When it comes to the art of persuasion, this comment, too, can be written off as a failed tactic that won’t be remembered in the halls of great public speech.

Public comment time during the Prince William Board of County Supervisors meetings, which has been pushed later and later in recent months, preventing would-be speakers from being heard before critical votes are taken, has gotten more interesting, if not, sadly, more entertaining.

It’s been a place for young adults to come and act like children, exploding and cursing at elected officials telling them to “f_” off, to demean minorities — including Yesli Vega, the first Latina to be elected to the county’s Board of Supervisors — and to hurl faceless accusations of abuse of power at a police department that not only enjoys but had earned a 95% citizen satisfaction rating.

The vocal attacks on the county police continued this week, as school resource officers — those who protect children at school — the types of officers our community demanded after a string of mass school shootings two years ago — are now, apparently, frowned upon as part of the “prison industrial complex.”

And efforts to train officers on how to work with troubled youth, apparently, aren’t good enough either, as progressives continue to attack the Democrats who hold a majority on the Board of County Supervisors.

No police department or sheriff’s office is perfect. After covering public safety for nearly 15 years, I know officers are continually trained on new methods and best practices for keeping our community safe.

The response to riots in our community this past summer put a spotlight on the importance of police of having properly trained police officers, and we congratulate the Manassas City Police Department on its reaccreditation.

The majority of people like their police department. It’s what they call when their rights are being threatened.

It’s a comfort to know the police are there to protect our rights, as it would be left up to us to use any means necessary to defend them if a police officer could not be dispatched to help us.

That’s why we applaud Supervisor Peter Candland’s call to remove any mention of defunding or reallocating funding to the Prince William County Police Department, in the county’s upcoming strategic plan.

We hope his fellow Supervisors will heed this call and show support for a department that is, unquestionably respected, and very much needed in a growing, diverse community.