It didn’t take long after Officer Michael Johnson was fatally gunned down for the platitudes to begin. The shooting reminds us, Scott Herhold intoned, the “the job is fundamentally different than other dangerous lines of work.” Reminds us, the columnist wrote. Implying something all of us always knew. An editorial quickly followed. It righteously observed, “For all of our political wrangling over pensions and such, we know the men and women of this police department put their lives on the line for every one of us.” We know, the editorial asserts. All of us, right?
A persuasive case can be made to leave disagreements to another day…to do nothing now but grieve and to practice the spiritual devotions of one’s faith. But the fact that the jobs of police officers and firefighters and other public servants who put themselves in harm’s way are fundamentally different than the work the rest of us carry out wasn’t a side issue during the past years of political wrangling. It was the core issue.
The harsh reality is that some of us don’t know or believe these jobs are fundamentally different than the work of a software engineer at Google or an investment analyst at a venture capital firm.
Those people spoke out during the past years of debate. They angrily argued that the retirement benefits cops and firefighters received should be the same as those in the private sector. They insisted that there should be no reason to fear the loss of experienced personnel – because throngs of people would be available to do these jobs at dramatically reduced pay. Many elected officials nodded appreciatively and offered no criticism in response.
I remember on numerous occasions making public statements that referenced the September 11th catastrophe. Every private sector worker that could leave the stricken towers did so (tragically many could not escape). But the public sector workers went into the towers from which hundreds did not return. I insisted – that’s a difference isn’t it? My argument often could not penetrate the walls of ideology.
I long to see a day when all of us do acknowledge the fundamental difference that characterizes these jobs dedicated to public health and safety. I dream of hearing legislators all agree that cops and firefighters bear burdens and accept risks that are different at the core, that the public health nurse who steps forward to treat the Ebola patient is different than the CFO of a health insurance firm.
But for that day to arrive, the voices of the media and of political leaders will have to assert and defend this truth in the normal course of business, again and again, and in the face of opposition… not just at funerals.
Bob Brownstein is Policy and Research Director for Working Partnerships USA.
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