Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 23, 1995                   TAG: 9511270091
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-30   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: ROGER HARRIS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POLICE OFFICERS CAN'T TURN AND RUN

I'm pleased to see that leaders of the Roanoke City Police Department are so concerned about my fellow officers that they're willing to make a public issue of the lack of deterrence against assaults upon them.

Many citizens will not understand why police officers should expect their attackers to receive more punishment than those who attack unarmed citizens, so I feel obliged to offer my opinion - one policeman's perspective.

If police officers had our choice, we would like to provide more protection for all citizens through deterrence and incapacitation.

Police officers have a right to expect extra protection from the courts for several reasons. Unlike the ordinary citizen, a police officer doesn't have the privilege to back away from a confrontation. When the officer has a warrant or when investigation calls for the arrest of an offender, the officer is sworn to make the arrest - and it's not optional. We can discourage resistance and provide for our own protection through numbers and preparation, if we have the opportunity.

When an offender assaults an officer, thus causing the officer to use whatever force is necessary to overcome the resistance, the officer's career and his life are at stake. Many officers are injured because they had rather risk their lives than their careers.

There are no friendly legislators who can write laws that will keep all officers from being assaulted, but they have provided us the same avenues of protection that have been provided to every citizen.

I've heard judges comment in court that it's part of a police officer's job to be assaulted, and that we should expect to be assaulted. I have a different opinion. We don't expect to be assaulted any more than a doctor expects to get AIDS or a judge expects to be sued as a result of his opinions.

Roger Harris, of Boones Mill, is a detective with the Roanoke City Police Department.