Two Des Moines Police Officers Ambushed

Burke M. Pitz                                                                 11/22/2016, Des Moines, Iowa

On the morning of November 2nd, Scott Michael Greene ambushed two Des Moines police officer, Officer Justin Martin and Sgt. Anthony Beminio. They were two separate attacks that happened at 1:06 AM and 1:26 AM.

The first ambush occurred at the intersection of 70th street and Aurora Avenue, the second at the intersection of Merle Hay Road and Sheridan Avenue. There appears to be no motive for the ambushes because neither officer reported a confrontation or made a distress call. Both officers were found shot in their cars at said intersections.

So, when Cooper Craiger was asked about how he felt about the shootings, he said, "It's really sad whenever any innocent lives are taken. It is even sadder when the people killed are police officers who were just doing their job. They were just trying to keep our area civilized and safe. They did not deserve this, nobody deserves this. Nobody".

The police force has been around since 1838, and was created to decrease crime and keep citizens safe. However, throughout the past few months, everything in the media seems to be about the police wrongfully killing or injuring someone, and this is giving officers everywhere a bed reputation. There have been people across the entire country protesting police brutality, and many people have strong opinions about the police in the United States.

However, in the past few months, there have also been several attacks against the police officers in several cities, including the one here in Des Moines. There are theories that there is a direct relationship and that some of the attacks against the police are a kind of retaliation and revenge for police officers who have killed civilians. There is not enough evidence to support these theories, but they appear to be highly likely. This behavior between some officers and some civilians demonstrates that the United States is not a utopia. There are flaws, but the United States was built on the Founding Fathers attempting to minimize the flaws in society and form, "a more perfect Union". So, mistakes are going to be made, such as those recent mistakes involving incidents between the police force and civilians, but it must be understood that America is a "more perfect Union", not a perfect Union.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/us/iowa-police-shooting/

http://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/history-policing-united-states-part-1