#blue alert

This is apparently an alert to announce that a cop has been injured.

First: Why is that a fucking thing? Amber Alerts and Silver Alerts make sense (although I rarely get alerts for anything in my area, so tbh I don't pay them much mind 99% of the time) but this feels... like an abuse of the emergency alert system

Second: EVEN IF IT MATTERED, why am I getting alerts about an injured cop roughly 500 miles away from me

Today I got that loud alarm on my phone that usually signals an Amber Alert, but it said "Blue Alert." Confused, I looked it up - it's about the manhunt for a cop shooter.

Look, I hope they catch the shooter, I do. I hope the officer pulls through and fully recovers. 

But this should not be treated the same as a Amber or Silver Alert, which is a missing child or elderly person who is in immediate danger. 

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, a Blue Alert is a request for assistance from the public following the disappearance, assault, or death of a law enforcement officer. For the first item on the list, I endorse it - mostly. For the rest, no. If a police officer or other first responder was missing in action, an alert might be warranted, but today, the officer is out of harm's way and receiving medical treatment. 

There are plenty of alerts and ads available to alert the public about a wanted criminal, even an armed and dangerous one - we don't need to dilute the message of the Amber/Silver Alerts for a fugitive just because the authorities are really mad about it. (Seriously, we don't even get those for mass shooters!) 

This "Blue" stuff just keeps growing and contributing to this effort to venerate police officers and treat them as larger than life, angels made flesh, and worst of all, above the law. This is why even making a cop angry is treated so often by other civilians, the media, and worst of all, the justice system as a crime deserving of any punishment that cop sees fit to impose. 

A suspect who assaults or kills a cop receives the undivided attention and resources of the media and law enforcement, beyond what is focused on those who assault or kill civilians. A cop who assaults or kills a civilian is surrounded by a massive effort to excuse their actions, not holding them properly to a higher standard than civilians but to a lower standard.

The as-yet-unnamed officer is 26, shot in the head. This is the nightmare of every law enforcement officer and every member of their family. I understand that. I've been disowned by the LEOs in my family, but every report of violence against an LEO gives me chills. If it takes place in their state, I save the report and hit refresh over and over until the name is released. I understand as much as an extended relative of an LEO can.

But is that horror so much more worthy of mass attention, public outrage, and government reaction than the horror that falls on any man, woman, or child who is the victim of senseless violence? Is the agony of a parent, spouse, child, sibling, or cousin of a 26-year-old who is shot in a street fight, or a mass shooting, or a drive-by, or a robbery really so much less? Yes, the job is particularly dangerous and treated as public service. But so is firefighting, search-and-rescue, and front line healthcare against infectious disease. 

This is America. We celebrate freedom, liberty, and justice for all and emphasize the rule of law. The former comes under attack when the latter is treated as, rather than the rule of law, the rule of law enforcers. The latter is contrary to every concept of freedom and liberty. There should be no notion of "contempt of cop". 

The "Blue Alert" in the context it was used today is just a symptom of that toxic "thin blue line" disease afflicting this nation. To treat them as the only thing standing between "order and chaos" is to make them gods who answer to no one. To treat the hunt for a suspect responsible for harming one of them as equal to the search for a kidnapped child is to do the same.