14 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: AUGUST 2017 by Ron Hernandez O n July 5 New Yo r k C i t y Police Offi- cer Miosotis Familia was assassinated while sitting in a mobile command center in the Bronx. This cold-blooded mur- der of a police officer, killed simply because she was wearing a police uni- form, has occurred far too often in the past three years. In 2014, NYPD Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were assassinated in Brooklyn while seated in their patrol car. In 2016, cold-blooded ambush killings of police officers occurred in Dal- las, where police officers Brent Thompson, Michael Krol and Patricio “Pat- rick” Zamarripa, Corporal Lorne Ahrens and Sergeant Michael Smith were assas- sinated in an ambush. Ten days later in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Deputy Brad Garafola and Offi- cers Matthew Gerald and Montrell Jackson were ambushed and murdered. Then in November in Iowa, Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Officer Justin Martin were ambushed and murdered while sitting in their patrol cars. We repeat those names because few people outside of the loved ones and agen- cies of those we list above even know their names, unlike those who may have been killed during a police shooting. While there won’t be any marches or protests for the murder of Officer Familia, we can’t say it any better than United States Senator Tom Cotton: “The only thing Officer Miosotis Familia could be accused of doing was protecting the community she served – until the very end. “This was an especially The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Asso- ciation recently named its Officer of the Year. Minneapolis police of- ficer Brent Rasmussen re- ceived the association’s highest honor for an inci- dent where he disarmed a man aiming a gun at an- other person’s head outside a police station. St. Paul Police Officer Joseph Sauer also received honors for saving a seven- year-old girl who was kid- napped along with Hen- nepin County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Marshall. As for the tale of Sauer’s rescue, we have to go back to May 2016. August James Ruthaferd abducted the seven-year- old girl after she had briefly gone out of her father’s sight. After responding to the call Sauer quickly noticed cameras outside the loca- tion where the abduction was reported. Employees of the business told police they had seen a man car- rying a girl to one of the rooms in a nearby board- ing house. The officers could hear the man inside but the doors were heavy-duty security doors and could not be kicked in. So Sauer went to work and removed the pins from the door’s hinges. That allowed officers to force the door open to the point where they could see the girl and her abductor. Sauer immediately rushed to the girl and offered her aid and comfort. She had been sexually assaulted. Ruthaferd was arrested, charged and indefinitely committed to the Minne- sota Sex Offender Treat- ment Program. senseless and wanton mur- der. And it shows how much we owe the men and women in blue, who spent their holiday week- end working while the rest of us celebrated, and how much we need to push back against the toxic forces that demean and defame police work.” We extend our condo- lences to Officer Familia’s family and her fellow offi- cers of the New York City Police Department. Ron Hernandez is the presi- dent of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (AL- ADS), the collective bargain- ing agent representing more than 7,900 deputy sheriffs and district attorney investi- gators working in Los Angeles County. Officer honored for disarming gunman An especially senseless and wanton murder On left, Minneapolis Officer Brent Rasmussen was named Officer of the Year. Brotherhood means laying down your life for somebody, really willing to sacrifice yourself for somebody else. – Tim Hetherington