Dear next President:

The safety of our first responders is being threatened day in and day out now. Fire, EMS, and Police departments have to constantly face life-threatening actions when they join the service, but now these men and women are being targeted by civilians. These men and women don’t want to have to worry every time they are in their department or on a call about being shot or even killed by someone they are either trying to help or someone who is just targeting the departments. Each branch of the first responders has suffered many losses due to attacks on first responders.

Fire and EMS departments in the last few years have had many first responders injured and killed due to civilian attacks. Some of these attacks have severely hurt some departments. One of these attacks was right outside of a fire house. A firefighter was outside of his department when a vehicle went by and the person inside the car shot him. This firefighter never thought that he wouldn’t make it home that night. Another shooting incident in Maryland left a firefighter dead and another seriously hurt. There was an article posted on firerescue1.com that was titled "West Virginia officials seek to provide firefighters with ballistic vests." It described how some departments now issue ballistic vests to their first responders.  On the same site, there was another article posted called "Firefighter shot and killed on EMS call." This article described how people who want to take out first responders have started to attack while the crews are responding to calls. I have a very strong concern with first responders being targeted because I happen to be a first responder myself and every time I run a call now I wonder if I'm going to be shot at or maybe something even worse. These are just some issues from the fire and EMS side.

There are also several articles posted every day about a police officers being shot, stabbed etc.  This past summer there was an incident that had many articles written about it: the Dallas police officers who were shot while protecting those involved in a Black Lives Matter protest. A main target people are going after are police. It's gotten so bad that an officer was shot while pumping gas into his patrol car. In another article described how a Georgia officer was shot and killed responding to a call. This has gotten way out of hand, so some first responders are leaving their jobs due to these attacks. These first responders don't want to think of the question, "Am I going to make it home tonight?" 

As previously stated, Fire, EMS and Police have been targeted. This needs to come to an end; these responders don't need to have to worry about being hurt on scene by someone. So dear President, please take a stand to fight for the safety of first responders. The safety and well-being of our great nation depend on the safety and well-being of our first responders .

Sincerely,

Greg B.