Denver cop Katherine Urbina prizes her commendation plaque for service at Dist. 2 station on April 8. For every maggot like Michael Sprager we need to remember there are hundreds of decent cops like Katherine Urbina.
Just as lousy, criminal rogue cops like Michael Slager merit nothing but contempt - no matter how much some may deludedly want to excuse their vile actions, there are noble cops - working their hearts out - who deserve our kudos. Three such cops who received awards Wednesday include: Officer Eric Cardenas and Cmdr. Mike Calo, and Katherine Urbina of Denver.
Urbina, as a Post story noted yesterday (p. 7A), is well aware of the bad press lots of cops get because of bad eggs or rotten apples - jerks and n'er do wells like Slager. That is why she's gone out of her way to show her service in her community. Showing by her actions she first has respect for those she serves, and doesn't harbor racist hatreds and aggression - like Slager obviously did.
Thus, she wanted people in the southwest Denver neighborhoods she patrols to see police officers in action doing good work. That's why she voluntarily checked on a family's house while they were on vacation. And it's why she drove a man with severe health issues to a clinic and bought groceries for him. Quoting Urbina as to her reasons (ibid):
"I wanted to do a little bit extra to change their minds,"
On Wednesday morning, Urbina, along with two other Denver Police Department officers, were honored for going above and beyond their duties and for improving police officers' reputations in the community.
Officer Eric Cardenas and Cmdr. Mike Calo were recognized by the Citizens Appreciate Police committee and received plaques as well as pins to wear on their uniforms. Urbina was told to appear at the ceremony but didn't know why she was being honored until she arrived.
"I kept wracking my brain on the way over here," she said. "I didn't lift a car off a kid or save someone from a burning building."
This is what she did do.
Urbina responded to a domestic violence call in November and found an older man, who was not involved in the fight, living in a bad situation. He had allowed a family with two children to move into his house, but they were doing nothing to help. The couple had been fighting, the house was filthy, and the man's catheter bag was full.
Urbina drove him to a clinic to get his catheter changed. Then she took the man, who happened to be an aging ex-con, to a grocery where she paid for the food.
"He was being really kind to someone else and was getting nothing in return for it," she said.
Meanwhile, Officer Cardenas, who works at Denver International Airport, was honored for helping an intoxicated young man get home from Denver. He had spent a night in a detox unit and had lost his wallet. But Cardenas got him a cab ride to the airport, contacted his mother to update her on the situation and bought the man breakfast since his money was gone.
Cmdr. Calo received the award for finding low-cost airline tickets for a police cadet and his brother when they needed to fly home to Hawaii for their brother's funeral.
There are decent cops out there, who also endure the definite daily risks of being exposed to possible harm, yet don't let those possible threats indiscriminately provoke their aggression in 1-sided power trips. They act to show compassion and humanity as well as respect in the communities they serve. Urbina, Calo and Cardenas are shining examples.
What I want the wayward defenders of those like Michael Slager to do is expend less mental energy concocting fantasy conspiracy theories of how Slager was "set up" by "terrorists" and "haters" and more arguing why most cops can't be more like those three honored in Denver two days ago.
Instead of making excuses for the ratbags and bad eggs how about defending judicious ways to remove them from service, to improve the quality of all police forces? Just as not all troops are heroes, see my post of Sept. 30, 2010, not all cops are honorable. Until the good apples are separated from the rotten - and proficient means need to be established to accomplish that - good cops will always suffer from the negative PR spawned by the isolated ratbags.
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