Mary Jude Darrow: Pride in police

I was at the Crabtree Valley Mall when the “explosion” occurred. With me were two young ladies visiting from Iraq. As we left the mall, the Raleigh Police Department was arriving, and then the Wake County Sheriffs Office, ambulances and others.

As they left their cars, the officers ran at full speed into the mall with their rifles. At that point, I was both angry and sad that these young girls (15 and 16) experienced such chaos.

Instead, they taught me a lesson. “We like your police,” they said. The girls explained that in their country, the police and firefighters stay away or run away from such incidents. “Our police do nothing to help.” I explained that our police in the U.S., and firefighters, too, go toward the problem, not run from it. And our police do that day in and day out. They always come. And I was proud and thankful for the law enforcement officers we have, who put their lives at risk to save us.

Thank you to our officers!

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Mary Jude Darrow: Pride in police."