Column: Something About Nothing

I dedicate this column to Montana Highway Patrol Trooper David DeLaittre. David was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Dec. 1. As I write this column on Dec. 7, David is being remembered at a memorial service in Three Forks, Mont., attended by more than 2,000 people.

David was 23 years old. He was the son of Dennis and Nancy. He was a brother, grandson, nephew and friend. David was a fifth-generation law enforcement person. David was living his dream job.

You might wonder why I am writing about a state trooper from Montana. Montana seems a long way from Minnesota. But David’s death reaches across borders and boundaries to the state of Minnesota.

I didn’t know David. I feel as if I knew him a little bit. David’s grandmother lives next door to me and is a good friend. Over the past couple of years she has shared stories and pictures from David’s life. In those stories were words of love for a young man who wanted to make our world a safer place.

David’s death made me think about taking those who work in law enforcement for granted. Each day that the men and women from our state patrol, county sheriff’s office and city police departments walk out of the door of their home is a day we should be thankful for. These men and women leave their homes and their families to go to a career where they protect us and put their safety at risk.

We all complain at times about law enforcement. Whose fault is it if we get a speeding ticket? It is never ours. It always seems to be the fault of the officer who stopped us. Whose fault is it if we get stopped and get a ticket for not wearing a seat belt? I have heard the rants and raves against officers because of seat belt stops, speeding tickets and even drunken driving arrests. Who was it that was breaking the law during those stops? Certainly not the officer.

Who do we call when we feel unsafe and feel threatened? Who do we call when we have property damage? Who do we call when someone has broken into a home or a business? Who do we call in domestic abuse cases? Who do we call to investigate something when we are scared to venture into a scary situation? Who helps in times of car accidents?

I will admit at times I have complained about law enforcement, never thinking to be thankful they were there to aid in a traffic accident even if I was not happy about the way they handled the situation. Looking back I probably didn’t handle the situation very good either, and I wasn’t the one in the accident.

My point is that we need to be thankful we have people that are willing to put their life on the line for our safety. Yes, that does mean traffic stops for speeding and seat belt use. Those stops may save your life.

We don’t walk in the shoes of our law enforcement officers. A few weeks ago I wrote a column on violence, not realizing senseless violence would soon touch someone I know. I stated that we need to do something about the violence that is changing our world. Maybe one of the things that we have to do is to support our law enforcement officers.

David DeLaittre joined the patrol to help people. During his memorial, one of the speakers talked about the frustrating days of being a patrolman where people were not appreciative of the help and rarely said thank you. This speaker also said that it didn’t stop David from having the heart to want to help people and to perform his job to the best his ability to make our world a safer place.

I suspect that David represents all our law officers who joined a profession that doesn’t always pay well and is dangerous. He represents them because they too probably joined this profession to make the world a better place and to help us.

The chaplain, Warren Hiebert, at David’s memorial spoke these words about David’s final moments: “To the end, he had his gun, his magazines, and no one took them from him. Multiple rounds fired, he fought as a warrior with tenacity and bravery.”

A Montana Highway Patrol badge has seven points. They represent seven traits troopers are expected to possess. They are integrity, judgment, character, loyalty, courtesy, honor and knowledge. You wore those traits well, David. Thank you.

And thank you to all the law enforcement officers who walk out the doors of their home each day in service to us.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send e-mail to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net. Her blog is paringdown.wordpress.com. Listen to KBEW AM radio 1:30 p.m. Sundays for “Something About Nothing.”