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Noticed the article in T/D about Florence police officer receiving the PH. While I respect the police officers and the job they do very much and could not do without them, I don't believe the award that they gave should be called the Purple Heart. They can call it anything but that. I believe the use of the term Purple Heart should be as intended and that is for military personel wounded in combat. If this injury had happen in combat, it would not rise to the standard of receiving the Purple Heart. Everyone relates the words Purple Heart to wounds received in combat & I think that is how it should be remembered. When someone says the words Purple Heart, it is automatic that they are talking about the military. I sure hope they did not use the same design as the military Purple Heart. I have nothing against rewarding police officers as I was in the military police myself, but not in this manner.
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quote:
Originally posted by jmmgj5:
Noticed the article in T/D about Florence police officer receiving the PH. While I respect the police officers and the job they do very much and could not do without them, I don't believe the award that they gave should be called the Purple Heart. They can call it anything but that. I believe the use of the term Purple Heart should be as intended and that is for military personel wounded in combat. If this injury had happen in combat, it would not rise to the standard of receiving the Purple Heart. Everyone relates the words Purple Heart to wounds received in combat & I think that is how it should be remembered. When someone says the words Purple Heart, it is automatic that they are talking about the military. I sure hope they did not use the same design as the military Purple Heart. I have nothing against rewarding police officers as I was in the military police myself, but not in this manner.


It is actually identified as the "Law Enforcement Purple Heart" to differentiate between the military one. Being awarded the Law Enforcement Purple Heart requires being injured in the line of duty to the extent that medical care holds the officer off duty for at least three days.

Law Enforcement mirrors the military in rank, structure, awards and other ideals. I agree that a more distinct name would have been better, but then, no one would have recognized it like they do by including the words "Purple Heart".
Thank you, Luke, for your service to the community. No matter what the award is called, your actions are deserving of recognition. Every time a LEO puts on a uniform he becomes a target as illustrated earlier this week in WA. Just as with military personnel, the dangers of the job have to be at the forefront of every officer’s mind every time he/she goes to work, but they do it anyway. The bravery and valor within LEOs is the same bravery and valor found within our military personnel. Thank you to all officers and military personnel for your service to my family and me.


When Surreal Justice gets carpal tunnel from all these useless posts, I will be the first to nominate him for the Purple Twinkie Award.
quote:
Originally posted by Surreal Justice:
A cop makes a stupid move and gets rewarded for it. What kind of idiot allows himself to get 'caught' by a car?


Example of SL law enforcement logic…

“The Army LEO was trying to save her own ass. Too bad she allowed 12 to be killed in the process.”

[News - The ballad of Surreal… page 2, 12-01-09]

What kind of a "stupid idiot" can’t back up it’s statements?

Your words, SJ. Not mine. Just following your lead.
Sassy, actually it is not stated in the headlines that it is for law enforcement. When I clicked on the newspaper web page it said officer receives Purple Heart. My first though was that he was in the national guard or reserves and received it for Iraq. As I know serveral officers I wanted to read the article to see if I knew who it was. That's when I was disappointed to see how it was used. No where in the article did it say it was a law enforcement PH, it did say it was given to a police officer. The only way law enforcement mirrors the military is that they use some of the rank names and then not all of them. Everyone has supervisors so that in it self does not mirror the military. Having served in the military police and having knowledge of the police rank chain, I can say that the rank chain and operates are not the same. The title of the article was very misleading, again not to say officers should not be given awards, but come up with your own award names. In the real world being a police officer is nothing close to being a soldier in combat. The duty and dangers are not even close. I don't think the police would give or copy an award named the Congressal Medal of Honor or Nobel prize as a local award, so why do it with the PH. The PH is second only to the Medal of Honor in respect for the awardee. That respect should be honored by not copying it for local reasons. As the police officers badge is silver in color they could call theirs the silver badge or gold badge of duty or something like that.
quote:
Originally posted by jmmgj5:
Sassy, actually it is not stated in the headlines that it is for law enforcement. When I clicked on the newspaper web page it said officer receives Purple Heart. My first though was that he was in the national guard or reserves and received it for Iraq. As I know serveral officers I wanted to read the article to see if I knew who it was. That's when I was disappointed to see how it was used. No where in the article did it say it was a law enforcement PH, it did say it was given to a police officer. The only way law enforcement mirrors the military is that they use some of the rank names and then not all of them. Everyone has supervisors so that in it self does not mirror the military. Having served in the military police and having knowledge of the police rank chain, I can say that the rank chain and operates are not the same. The title of the article was very misleading, again not to say officers should not be given awards, but come up with your own award names. In the real world being a police officer is nothing close to being a soldier in combat. The duty and dangers are not even close. I don't think the police would give or copy an award named the Congressal Medal of Honor or Nobel prize as a local award, so why do it with the PH. The PH is second only to the Medal of Honor in respect for the awardee. That respect should be honored by not copying it for local reasons. As the police officers badge is silver in color they could call theirs the silver badge or gold badge of duty or something like that.


I agree that it's not properly identified in the article. That is the responsibility of the reporter and the T/D, not the cop who was awarded it.

Law Enforcement and Military both copy each other. What is originally developed for the military eventually ends up being used by Law Enforcement, and vice versa. This relates to everything from uniforms to less that lethal weapons to medals and awards. Law Enforcement does have Medals of Honor, Medals of Valor, Service Crosses, and various other Medals based on ones originated in the military.

I don't see it changing any time soon. I just make sure I use the proper terminology, and encourage others to do so also. Law Enforcement means no disrespect to the Military by using the name.

As to the duties and dangers of Law Enforcement as compared to the Military, I think the families of several dead cops nationwide would disagree with you currently.
I'm proud of him and don't care that its called the Purple Heart. He is a brave man and a good friend. Your posts are getting old. A former DI at Parris Island and Alabama State Trooper said his career in Law Enforcement was combat everyday he put his uniform on. Until you walk in the boots of a police officer you really have no clue.
As of today, if my math is correct, 1,638 Police Officers have been killed in the line of duty since Jan. 1, 2000. 524 of those were from Gunfire. 72 of those during 9/11. I'm a huge supporter of our troops and the job they do and the sacrifices of over 5,000 men and women since 9/11. It's sad either way that so many have had to die in either capacity regardless the type of death that occurred.

As far as comparing the two? Well, I couldn't imagine being in an urban desert city going city block to city block with nothing between me and the Almighty but my M16 and my Brothers In Arms while gunfire rings out in the distance, knowing that other brothers and sisters might be getting killed. I'm sure that's undescribable. I know soldiers that have done this. However some of them don't understand how someone could walk into a drug dealers house, as a cop, alone, to discuss quantities of cocaine with 6 other guys standing around with Tech-9's and Mac-10's with nothing more than a subcompact 9mm in your waistband and back-up 4 blocks away. But it's done regularly and it's done in the Shoals.

Neither situation is pleasant for the human mind to deal with and they both present their own dangers. I agree that when soldiers are facing tanks, rpg's, ak-47's, landmines, and suicide bombers that's by far a much worse situation than an officer over here is being presented with. However, being pinned down by multiple suspects in a shooting with nothing more than a handgun is no cakewalk.
Yes, the reporter should have been very clear that it was a law enforcement decoration as opposed to a military decoration.

This isn't in any way meant to belittle the officer's decoration. The problem is with the reporter not the officer. I also think calling it the Purple Heart is a poor idea since it too closely identifies with the military decoration. This is based on my experience of being a retired peace officer with 30 yrs. experience.
quote:
Originally posted by wright35633:
I'm proud of him and don't care that its called the Purple Heart. He is a brave man and a good friend. Your posts are getting old. A former DI at Parris Island and Alabama State Trooper said his career in Law Enforcement was combat everyday he put his uniform on. Until you walk in the boots of a police officer you really have no clue.


Just think of that badge and uniform as a "moving target" (reality check).

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