(Editors note: Jeff Roorda is the author of the soon-to-be-published "The War on Police: How the Ferguson Effect is Making America Unsafe." Released by WND Books in late 2016, "The War on Police" is a cop's-eye view of one of the most tumultuous times in recent history for law enforcement.)
I suppose I should have seen it coming. I mean, the NFL is nothing if not predictable in its disdainful attitude toward law enforcement. But, what it did in Dallas last week was unforgivable.
I've had my run-ins with the NFL over its anti-police bent, but you have to give it points for consistency. My first dust-up with the NFL came in 2013 when the league instituted a policy that prohibited off-duty and plainclothes police officers from carrying their guns inside of NFL stadiums.
No, no. I'm not making this up.
And, guess when the NFL issued this policy. Why, Patriot Day of course. To commemorate the solemnity of the 12th anniversary of Sept. 11, the deadliest day in law enforcement history when 72 officers perished heroically in the service of their fellow man, the NFL chose to say "screw you" instead of "thank you."
I protested the move on behalf of the St. Louis police officers whom I represent in my position with the Fraternal Order of Police, as did the FOP Grand Lodge, our national organization. But the NFL didn't care. Maybe it thought it was unfair to the players, since so many of them are convicted felons and can't lawfully carry a gun. Perhaps it just wanted a level playing field with the cops attending on game day.
Seriously, though, does the NFL not understand that cops are on-duty 24/7? They should, as many times as off-duty cops have intervened in crimes in progress or other emergencies at NFL stadiums. Does the NFL not understand that we live in a society where mass shootings occur with alarming frequency at places where large crowds of people gather, let's say, oh for instance, at a professional sporting venue?
Maybe it doesn't care that those hard-to-spot off-duty cops could save fans' lives if an active-shooter situation broke out. I guess, to the NFL, the word "safety" strictly refers to a defensive back. The league seems to care more about the size of Tom Brady's balls than it does about the well-being of its fans.
"The War on Police" by Jeff Roorda is a cop's-eye view of one of the most tumultuous times in recent history for law enforcement, which has spawned a growing movement, fueled by a biased news media and Black Lives Matter, to demonize police across the country. Pre-order your copy today and receive it weeks before the Nov. 10, 2016, release date!
My fight with the NFL to try to allow police officers who were lawfully in possession of concealed firearms to carry in their precious taxpayer-financed coliseums was frustrating. But it wasn't nearly as frustrating as my next encounter with the bajillion-dollar sports league. That battle came in late 2014 when the receiver corps of the St. Louis Rams took to the field displaying the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture just six days after Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson was fully exonerated of any wrongdoing by a grand-jury investigation that proved beyond any shadow of a hint of a whiff of a doubt that "hands up, don't shoot" was a hoax. I guess the players couldn't afford newspapers on their multi-million dollar salaries.
The Rams and the NFL were quick to insist that they do not censor their players or interfere with their free expression of speech. Malarkey! As I detail in my book, "The War on Police," in the chapter titled "RAMifications," the league is apt to discipline its players when they say something that doesn't square-up with the NFL's political agenda. But when players engage in furthering a false narrative that endangers cops and jeopardizes civil society, it is an act of free speech to be celebrated and cherished. Have I said malarkey yet?
By the way, while the Rams players were safely inside their Coleridgian pleasure dome, outside, a hundred St. Louis police officers stood sentry at the behest of the hapless franchise, which had made a panicked demand for more police presence. You see, Ferguson protesters had gathered at their gates, and the team was worried that the riot-prone hoard would engage in some behavior that would cut into their precious profits. Hypocrites!
Now I know what you're thinking right about now: "Don't NFL teams regularly honor cops and military servicemen?" Well, from my perspective, they don't do nearly enough to celebrate cops on or off the field. But I will admit, they do honor the military with great frequency. And, it's a multi-million dollar industry! That's right, according to a 2015 CBS report, the Defense Department paid NFL teams $5.4 million over a four-year period to "honor" our fighting heroes in the military. I suppose the State Department is paying the NFL to fly flags at the stadium and to sing the national anthem at the beginning of the games, too. And this league has the nerve to name one of its teams the "Patriots." I guess the name "Money-Grubbing Jackasses" wouldn't fit on a helmet.
And that leads us to the biggest foul yet. Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, much to his credit, wanted his team to wear the "Arm in Arm" decal on their helmet to show solidarity with the five Dallas police officers who were brutally assassinated by the deranged killer who was inspired by the "hands up, don't shoot" myth. The NFL said it doesn't allow non-uniform expressions to be worn by its players.
That's not what the NFL said when a Cleveland Browns player wore a "Justice for Tamir Rice" shirt during on-field, pre-game warm-ups.
That's not what the NFL said when players wore "I can't breathe" on their wrist tape.
That's not what the NFL said when players wrote Michael Brown's name or some other tribute to would-be cop killers on the uniform cleats they wore during games.
The NFL engages in this double-talk because, well ... because it just sucks. It cares more about pandering to guys who can catch a football than it does about the guys who catch murderers, rapists and drug dealers.
Maybe it's because some of the murderers, rapists and drug dealers who cops catch are football stars.
At least all of this resolves the issue of cops not being allowed to carry their weapons at NFL games, because all of the cops I know have stopped going to football games.
That's because the NFL is "Not for Lawmen." And lawmen – and the law-abiding citizens we defend every day – should not be for the NFL.
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