The official announcement goes out tomorrow, but I'm so excited that I want to share the great news with you now. Ok, it may not be "big news" to some of you, but here goes . . . Steve Fitzsimmons received the endorsement of the Madison Professional Police Officers Association (Local #1 of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association). In case you don't know, he's running for alder of district #10. Yahoo! I'm biased, but ask anyone who knows Steve how hard he's worked on public safety issues and supporting Madison PD during the past several years. All on a volunteer basis. His achievements were even acknowledged last year at the MPD awards ceremony - Chief Koval presented Steve with an award for outstanding citizen support of the MPD! You can read more about his achievements at http://fitzforthefuture.com/ By the way, we're getting our yard signs in this week. If you'd like to help us deliver them to neighbors, please let me know. Even if Steve doesn't win the election, both he and I will continue to be staunch supporters of Chief Koval & the Madison force. Here's why . . . Madison PD and law enforcement in general, continue to be at a crossroads. Fewer people want to be cops, police feel demoralized - you know the drill. It scares the heck out of me that there may not be someone there in my time of need. It's a complicated mess, but also rather simple. The following variables are simultaneously at play. This is my perception, and I certainly don't claim to have all the answers . . . 1. A selective media. Ask yourself this: Why do they choose to cover certain stories and not others? There are *a lot* of things going on in this city / state / nation aside from what they choose to feed us. The real news is much bigger than that portrayed by the media. Seriously. 2. Relatively small, but extremely vocal groups of antagonists. This is completely unscientific, but from my observations I believe there's more of us who love law enforcement than not. Yet the minority often have the mic. 3. Apathy and thinking someone else will take care of the problems. There is no cavalry, folks. Just you and me. If we don't speak out for law enforcement, nobody will. I know for a fact some of you write letters, follow action alerts, and take the time to show up. Thank you! But we need many more to make a difference. Based on the number of signors here, The OIR Group should be inundated with letters. Alders should be inundated with letters. There should have been more than a few dozen civilians at the petition signing and other important meetings. I was reviewing a video from 2011 in which Madison's finest were camped out overnight at the Capital during the Act 10 debacle. It kinda' made me sad. Even though they weren't personally being impacted, they stood with and for workers. Crowds of people were cheering them on. Where are these same people in *law enforcement's* time of need? Sometimes I think the public has a collective short memory. I'm not saying this to make you feel guilty. Especially if you're already making a difference (Thank you!) And hey, I know there's always more that I personally can be doing. But I can tell you that apathy and not wanting to get involved are big reasons why things stay the same. I get the "busy" thing, trust me. I seemed to have rambled on, so will end on that note. All the best. --Paula Fitzsimmons