Lives must still be saved and protected. Even when the life of a fellow officer is lost.
It’s that attitude that keeps Milwaukee Police officers going even as they have had to endure the third line-of-duty death in eight months which came on Wednesday morning.
“As horrible as these situations are, they’re working right now, they’re working this afternoon, and they’re going to go to work tonight knowing exactly what happened,” said former Waukesha detective Steve Pederson on WTMJ’s Wisconsin’s Afternoon News.
“As horrible as these situations are, they’re working right now, they’re working this afternoon…going to go to work tonight knowing exactly what happened.” – Former Waukesha detective Steve Pederson on officers reacting to the death of a colleague https://t.co/4IpRwj9HF7 pic.twitter.com/rUfl51HIm7
— 620wtmj (@620wtmj) February 6, 2019
“It is extremely difficult. The law enforcement community is a huge family. This is not just affecting the officers with the Milwaukee Police Department, but this affects all the officers through the state of Wisconsin. Everyone is giving each other a hug, consoling, asking ‘What can we do to help our fellow brother and sister officers in the city of Milwaukee?’ ”
Pederson explains that the danger is always inherent in police work, but it’s even higher-level for people who work on tactical teams like the officer whom someone shot and killed Wednesday.
“Tactical officers are keenly aware that when they’re going out on assignments like this that the danger level is exponentially increased,” said Pederson.
You always think about the danger. You constantly have to be aware and have to evaluate all the time. Every second, you have to evaluate the situation that you’re in. The danger that goes with this type of job is constantly being evaluated by the officers. The danger is so great.”
With this being the third time a Milwaukee Police officer has died, is there simply a greater risk of that in general, or is this simply a deadly and painful coincidence?
“I hate to call it a bad streak, but I think that’s what it could be,” explained Pederson.
‘
“There was this long break of these types of officer-involved deaths in the line of duty, and now it’s happening much too much of a frequency. I don’t know if it’s a bad stretch or a barometer of something more that’s going on.