Political snakes: Empty words of politicians when law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty

PALMDALE, CA- As sure as death and taxes, one thing that can be counted on when a police officer needlessly loses their life is for politicians to weigh in with platitudes and empty condolences.

One incident we recently saw was in Connecticut, where Hartford police officer Robert Garten was killed after the cruiser he was in was struck by an 18-year-old high school junior fleeing a traffic stop.

The usual suspects, such as Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D), who led the charge in 2020 to nearly wholly tie the hands of Connecticut police officers through “criminal justice reform,” offered their worthless words of sympathy. Those words, as well as those of other Connecticut Democrats, rang hollow for Connecticut police officers.

This past Saturday, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, Ryan Clinkunbroomer, was assassinated as he sat in his patrol vehicle at an intersection in Palmdale, California. The suspect car, described as a dark-colored 2012-2016 Toyota Corolla, pulled alongside the deputy’s vehicle, and he was shot without warning.

Fox News reported Sunday that a “person of interest” had been identified and taken into custody by the LACSD Special Enforcement Bureau tactical team. As expected, the same chorus of anti-cop demagogues sprang forth to offer their sympathies. California police officers likely couldn’t care less what they say. Actions speak louder than words, after all.

For whatever reason, California always seems to lead the United States when it comes to loony leftist politicians. For years, ever since the Rodney King incident and probably before, anti-cop rhetoric from the Golden State far surpasses anything positive the ruling class in that state has to say about police officers.

Aside from their vocal criticism of police, California politicians put their money where their mouths are. The state leads the nation in passing anti-police legislation, which makes it easy for criminals and hard on law enforcement to do their job.

Writing in RedState in August, police officer Matt Dempsey wrote:

“Since the passage of AB109 and Props 47 and 57, state Democrats have made an already hard job almost impossible. A Deputy Sheriff in Southern California, whose identity RedState is not publishing due to the nature of their career, said, ‘We took a vote, just the patrol guys, and we agreed that we wouldn’t do any more t-stops [traffic] unless we absolutely have to, like a deuce (drunk driver) or stolen car.

If we do, we’re requesting a unit backup and a sergeant. We basically just want to shut it down. We’re more afraid of our own department trying to fire us than we are of getting hurt or killed. It’s just not worth it anymore.’

“California Democrats, along with Sen. Bradford, are hell-bent on destroying policing as we know it. A perfect example of this would be West Hollywood and their infamous ‘safety ambassadors,’ who are just unarmed city employees who just watch the crime happen and report it.

Oh, and they eliminated five Sheriff’s Deputies from the contract budget to hire the ambassadors. Your car is getting damaged by a crazed lunatic right in front of the Sheriff’s Station? They’ll just watch.”

Props 47 and 57 reduced a number of felonies to misdemeanors while decriminalizing other offenses. AB109 is a measure that diverts those convicted of “less-serious” offenses to serve their time in local jails instead of state prisons.

This brings us back to the death of Deputy Clinkunboomer. On cue, some leftist politicians took to X, formerly Twitter, and expressed their sympathies. They likely do so because they have to. They make it appear that they support the men and women who wear the blue or khaki and put their lives on the line to keep us safe. Not doing so would look bad, and if there is anything politicians care about more than their self-importance, it is how they look to the public.

Some are sincere, and police officers can usually know who they are. They are the ones who genuinely support police officers and show it not only through their words but through their deeds.

Dempsey described one such politician, Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA), whom Dempsey said he admired “due to his authenticity and steadfast devotion to the Constitution.”

Garcia, a former Navy fighter pilot, expressed his genuine, heartfelt thoughts on X, “Heartbreaking news out of Palmdale for one of our precious sheriff deputies and his family and our community. My thoughts are with the Clinkunbroomer family. See below for my thoughts on this senseless tragedy.”

Garcia posted a video expressing his condolences.

As the chief executive of California, one might think that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), he of the slicked-back, Brylcreem-saturated hair, might convene a press event and show up in person to condemn the execution of Deputy Clinkunbroomer. Newsom, who fancies himself a future presidential candidate, had to issue a statement, even though it would no doubt enrage portions of the Democrat Party base, especially those who hate police.

Newsom (or his press department) spouted the usual “sympathies” to Cllinkunbroomer’s “fiancée, his loved ones, and the men and women of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Clinkunbroomer’s devotion to community and country will never be forgotten.”

It is pretty much a guarantee that Newsom forgot Deputy Clinkunbroomer’s devotion to his career, his community, and his country as soon as he hit send on the tweet. After all, there are far-left policies to pursue, especially those that tie the hands of law enforcement. Newsom never met an anti-cop law he didn’t like.

Newsom was joined in the empty condolence parade by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, another anti-police zealot. As Dempsey wrote, the left always condemns the “thoughts and prayers” messages when it involves memorializing a mass shooting. They automatically turn to wanting to confiscate everyone’s guns, even though they don’t come out and say that.

If leftist politicians like Newsom and Banta truly cared about police officers, they would stop advocating for laws that nearly completely tie their hands. If Democrats cared half as much about police and law-abiding citizens as they do about the criminal element in this country, we would be much better off as a society.

Dempsey expressed a sentiment that most police officers, at least in blue cities and states, hold. That is, in the event one of us is killed in the line of duty, the last people we need speaking at our funerals or coming to our memorial services are leftist politicians who didn’t give a damn about us while we were alive.

In the case of Dempsey, he specifically identified former Gov. Jerry Brown or anyone in his administration as being so banned.

“I knew, just like everyone else, that most politicians in California really don’t give a damn about us, so why in the world would I let them use my funeral and my family’s grief to make themselves look human?”
Because they are not. In the case of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Dempsey said that “between the state government and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, they have either publicly denounced us all, or worse.”

Dempsey closed with the following verse from the Book of Matthew (Mat 5:9), which all police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and state troopers should take to heart, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

When our time on earth is over, and we appear before St. Peter’s Gates, we know our place in heaven is secure. For those who oppose us, perhaps their place somewhere a little warmer is also protected.