Joseph Cohen
September 2017
Shalom and welcome back to another Shomrim season. I wish the summer had been a happier one than it was for us.
As a department, we suffered the loss of Detective Miosotis Familia, a devoted mother and cop in the 46 Pct. We saw another incident in which PO Hart Nguyen was shot in the 75 Pct. We continue to wish him a speedy recovery. As a greater law enforcement community, we had in one night, six officers shot across three different departments, two fatally. Each of these events was senseless. Shomrim also observed the 29th anniversary of the line of duty death of Brother Joe Galapo, killed August 16, 1988.
I would like to mention the awful events we witnessed in Charlottesville, VA, on August 12. Without getting into the politics of it all, I want to share a story many may have missed. In the midst of the rally of neo-nazis and white supremacists, congregants of the Beth Israel Synagogue on East Jefferson Street in Charlottesville watched in horror as a group of the rally goers stationed themselves outside, several of them armed with semi-automatic rifles taunting the shul during Shabbat services. It is unfathomable that such sentiment is still present in 21st century America, let alone such actions. As Jews, we need to give this some serious thought. This was not some small far away place. This was here, just a few states south on 95. Sadly, this was not the only episode of violent religious intolerance that we witnessed over the summer. On August 6, a mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota had what appeared to have been an IED explode, according to the FBI. Luckily, no one was injured.
With Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur approaching, hopefully we can look forward to a more optimistic year to come. I hope to see you at the September meeting.
Joseph Cohen
President