This is in response to the letter of Nick Lopez concerning the well-deserved Law Enforcement Purple Heart awarded to Officer Huff.
Murray City Police Department is not the first to award a Law Enforcement Purple Heart to one of their own. Law Enforcement Purple Hearts have been awarded to many injured officers or families of officers killed in the line of duty in this country, and unfortunately as long as the "war" by criminals ("enemies") against the citizens of the United States continues, many more Law Enforcement Purple Hearts will be awarded.The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., is inscribed with the names of nearly 15,000 officers who have been killed in the line of duty, dating back to the first recorded death in 1794. Over the past decade, there have been an average of 160 law enforcement fatalities each year, along with 63,000 assaults on police officers, resulting in more than 21,000 injuries ("wounded, maimed and disfigured").
I see no difference between fighting the enemy at home or fighting the enemy abroad.
I am so very thankful that Officer Huff is alive and was able to accept the Purple Heart personally, and I hope and pray that soon he will be able to go back to fighting crime under the same physical and mental conditions he was before he got shot by one of our many "enemies."
Brigitte Dawson
Sandy