Jeff Katz Honors CMPD

This is not about Jeff, this is not only about Sean Clark and Jeffrey Shelton, this is about letting your respect and feelings be know toward people who wake up everyday willing to make your neighborhod better and family safer.

This is about being thankful for officers and their families for having the highest character on our behalf.

It matters, and it is not much to ask for the service we receive.

Jeff honored CMPD and all folks that work in law enforcement and for low wages and high risks give to us the safety that is uniquely American. This weekend two CMPD police officers where killed in the line of duty in a cowardly act of ignorant violence.

The two brave officers were husbands and a Father of 2, both described as family men who’s goal was to better the City.

Police officers leave the house everydayto be away from their families and enter some uncertainity.

Uncertainty is one of the scariest feeling a person must confront, and they put themselves, and those they love most, through these feelings every day to better the community.

A sad side note to this story is that the CMPD is 8% below the average in pay for city police nationwide. Read more here at crimeincharlotte.com.

My sister serves as a Deputy serving the jail system in NY, she has wanted to move to Charlotte and transfer to the CMPD, but the drop in pay would be around 14,000 per year.

In light of the increased danger in our growing city I hope this incident serves to better thank the CMPD with a better salary for their families.

“Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officers & Sergeants who have been on the force for over ten years have not received a raise in 9 years! CMPD Officers are paid 8% below national average even though they assume more risk than most other cities. However, year after year, the City Manager and City Council members deny the police and firefighters’ request for a raise.”

I Learned Early
Since I was a teenager I have always wished safety to every police officer I have passed. “Be safe” I have said to every cop grabbing a drink at a gas station or walking on the street and being friendly.

I have 2 Siblings in the Sheriff’s department, and both have become better people from the atmosphere of reverence and respect for people that police are taught.

While no human is perfect, and no police department completely void of being human, ours here in the US as a whole is on the highest level of honesty and determination for a better neighborhood. Even more so than teachers, which is often a topic of conversation for raises, police are deserving of a good standard of living when off duty, I hope this comes to light with the tragic news.

Last night from 3pm to 6pm Jeff Katz put the show and AM airwaves on lock down to pay homage to the CMPD, and to a profession that we not always see, but we always reap the rewards from.

Jeff called for the city to come together on the one fact that our men in uniform deserve respect. We need to recognize these men and women work for our safety above all else, and often make a sacrifice that should be honored every time you walk past or see an officer in the street.

While all other issues and politics set us ablaze and apart, this is an issue that we need to not discuss, we must make it a matter of our everyday consideration.

Thank you to the police, thank you for being as good as you are, thank you to your families for allowing them to leave the house every morning for the betterment of our city.

Also, a thanks to Jeff Katz for seeming whole-heartedly sincere and almost at breaking down in his sentiment for the families and officers.

In all fields and lifestyles there is an inside knowledge that can only be obtained through experience. There is a brotherhood that cannot be truly commented on without living it for a time. (Jeff served on the Philadelphia Housing Police Force)

In my first face to face meeting with Jeff it was truly a hard way to shake hands for the first time, but it was truly a human moment. I am glad such a strong message and honest sentiment was being delivered by a messenger that gets it.

Jeff has done his part to call the city to attention. Please find blue ribbon string and anything else you can tie, and tie it to every branch, antenna and pole in the city.

Let the police know you agree they are the highest form of American. Let the CMDP know you respect them and thank them for their service.

The two officers were shot late Saturday during a struggle outside an apartment complex where they had gone to investigate a domestic disturbance report and died early Sunday.

Police Chief Darrel Stephens said the two officers were responding to a disturbance call around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night at the apartment complex in east Charlotte. They were shot around 11:15 p.m. in the parking lot during a struggle. Neither fired their weapon, Stephens said.

See the photos from this event here.