Remember the quaint old days when we use to joke about the lack of real hard hitting crime-ridden news stories in the Treasure Valley? We'd laugh when the lead story was about an additional bike lane being added to a downtown street? Well, those days are over.

Recently Treasure Valley law enforcement has faced shootouts, hostage situations, and murder-suicides. No, I'm not writing a plot for a show that's centered in California, I'm relating to real news stories that have happened recently in Boise, Meridian, and Nampa.

Local police officers are now facing the same dangers that most of us thought were reserved for big cities. We must improve our efforts to let police officers and their families know how much we appreciate their service.

They need to know that we have their back. If catching the bad guys were comfortable, there would be no bad guys. So the next time you watch or listen to the news and hear about a shootout. Be thankful that we have those folks who keep us safe twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

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