Congressman Trey Gowdy (R – S.C.) closed out National Police Week 2018 with references to gratitude for those who pushback against certain anarchy, emphasizing that if it were not for the law enforcement profession, we’d be destined for doom. Illustrating his point was the recent Santa Fe High School mass shooting in which one deranged young killer armed with a shotgun and handgun was apprehended by a sole policeman armed with his firearm, handcuffs, courage, training and an oath. Although the death toll reached 10, if it were not for that lone police officer, the fatality quantity would weigh heavier.
While National Police Week attendees experienced vigils, speeches, and survivorship spotlights, two more cops gave their lives in service to citizens while several other police officers were buried after succumbing to line-of-duty incidents the prior week. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP), there are 60 line-of-duty-deaths (LODDs) thus far in 2018.
Like President Donald Trump, Rep. Gowdy harbors a special honor and adoration for our nation’s law enforcement personnel. Often, he will orate on the House floor and lift up our police men and women who enforce our laws.
Closing out National Police Week was met with a Gowdy-esque memorandum written with the typical acuity and convictions for which he is known. Titled “Honoring Our Law Enforcement Officers,” Mr. Gowdy wrote the following accolades: “Law enforcement officers dedicate their lives to the precept that undergirds our country respect for and adherence to the rule of law. They courageously propel themselves toward danger while others have the luxury of running from it, and they fight for the safety of others while putting their own lives at risk. Officers deal daily with people and incidents most of us prefer to avoid, all the while missing out on some of life’s most precious experiences.
“Each year during National Police Week law enforcement officers from all across the country meet at our nation’s capital to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice. As we honor and remember our fallen officers, I urge our communities to take a moment to consider what our lives would look like without the protection of law enforcement. May we never miss a chance to thank our officers and their families for doing a job that is sometimes only fully noticed when an officer is killed in the line of duty.”
It doesn’t get any more Gowdy than that: from a man who tackles our country’s challenges with unimpeded vigor, spoken directly on behalf of cops who take up challenges on our streets. Congressman Gowdy’s statement honoring cops also incorporated the opioid scourge in America. Being a friend to many police officers across the nation, Mr. Gowdy hit the point home that no one is seemingly protected against opioid addiction, ruminating the final factor of overdose as well as those who were saved by the advent of Narcan used by law enforcement to pull addicts from the brink of death.
But not all episodes have a happy ending.
The choked-back tears and lump-in-throat words spoken by Rep. Gowdy were palpable as he related a law enforcement officer/friend whose life was not lost but was somewhat hollowed. Speaking before the House Oversight Committee which he chairs, Rep. Gowdy iterated a real-life story of an actual cop who lost his daughter to heroin addiction. In a rather bifurcated message, Gowdy telegraphed that cops are not invincible and immune to society’s woes while also implying we have plenty of work to do still. Opioids’ ability to dwindle lives until nothing is left but humans without a compass is witnessed by beat cops every day. Encountering folks walking in an abyss sometimes results in a death report and sometimes in a report of salvation and transport to the local hospital. Precluding either of those opioid-based reports is the objective, though.
As a cop, I witnessed souls whose eyes expressed Please save me! while being desperately pulled by the powerful, destructive and evil magnet of drug addiction. Here is one such story orated by Congressman Gowdy:
That account depicts a policeman and father whose field work crossed the threshold at his homestead. As you just heard in that brief video, all efforts were expended…to no avail.
A fusion of disappointment/understanding was within me when Rep. Gowdy announced his disinterest in running for reelection in November. He truly was/is a diehard lawmaker with everyone’s interests at heart. With him will go an air of legitimacy, an unparalleled intellect, and a prowess for the rule of law which not many surpass…at least not on the Hill where it so dearly counts. His reasoning for departing politics? “I don’t love it [anymore]!” He’s always been a straight-up professional.
In a tweet, Rep. Gowdy said the following: “There is a time to come and a time to go. This is the right time, for me, to leave politics and return to the justice system.” Increased respect and props for a man who is candid and qualifies his decisions in a very modest fashion. His realness and absence will be noticed.
Have I eagerly booked on Mr. Gowdy as our country’s director of the FBI or its US attorney general? You bet I did! I wrote about it and was dismayed. Naysayers claimed “he was just another politician, like all the rest.” Countering that kind of voice were multitudes who still cajole him to reconsider leaving office while also encouraging him to consider a run for the US presidency.
A man of deep introspection and gut instinct complimented by sheer brilliance, who knows what is in store for the gentleman from South Carolina? Some research material I came across divulged Mr. Gowdy uttering that he may seek to join a pre-existing law firm in his local South Carolina area. He also hinted at practicing on the civil law side and not necessarily criminal law.
After his announcement to leave Congress, the NY Daily News printed Gowdy’s summation for doing so: “Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system.” As Rep. Gowdy always implored of others: fill in the blanks with specificity.
I bet South Carolina folks are happy to have him come home and remain there. But, thanks to social media content, Gowdy’s work will live on in the annals of Congress and among Gowdy’s legacy.
Rep. Gowdy’s speeches are like condensed golden nuggets which, ordinarily, might take a professor an entire semester to cover. He does possess magical oratory skills and some of the most critical thinking skills on the planet. His Liberty University convocation speech will continue to amaze and influence folks of all ages.
Similarly, Rep. Gowdy gave what many consider the “most emotional speech of his life” during National Police Week 2017 in which he recognized law enforcement officers who did the job not many care to do, the same job which hordes of folks will readily condemn when it doesn’t go according to a their textbook.
While mischaracterizations and murmurs from main stream media persist, those not in cartoon-land can relate to reality that policing has always been an against-the-odds career. Law enforcement has evolved tremendously. Despite pros/cons of social changes, cops adapt and fulfill their duties. A good thing for them as well as a benefit to the citizenry to whom they avowed justice principles, often with life-ending consequences.
Among those who embrace law enforcers and do so openly, the words “humanity of police officers” ring from Gowdy’s mouth and remain a poignant echo of assurance and organic reach.
A commenter replying to one of Trey Gowdy’s retirement announcements said he wears a face of cowardice and leaving politics only proves it. It is as easy for me as it is for that offensive cynic to write from behind a screen, albeit with entirely different tone.
To Mr. Gowdy for his service to nation and stellar constitution, let’s hope you change your mind and ponder a certain Oval Office seat. And to every law enforcement officer who bravely worked the streets, who continue to walk the beat, and those who are about to take the oath and get in the trenches…to you goes the glory as you navigate through murkiness.
