For over two months, our Department and its people have faced difficulty and loss.

On November 29th we awoke to a nightmare. Four Lakewood Police Officers, Sgt. Mark Renniger, Officers Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens, and Greg Richards were killed in County jurisdiction. They were killed simply because they wore uniforms and badges.

Then on December 21st, Sgt. Nick Hausner and Deputy Kent Mundell were shot and seriously wounded near Eatonville. Deputy Mundell died from his wounds one week later. On January 5th, with dignity and formal honors, our Department held its public memorial service for Deputy Mundell.

These events have staggered the Pierce County community: both law enforcement officers and the general public. We are still mourning our losses. Where do we go from here?

First, of all, as I said at Deputy Mundell's memorial service, we will not fear to do our jobs and we will not hesitate to carry out our mission. We will not avoid the difficult and complex and sometimes dangerous work we have chosen to do. This is the oath we take. This is the best of who and what we are.

We will carry on. But we need to do more than that. We need to connect with the good, decent people in the community: the thousands of people who wrote cards and emails and made contributions and lined the motorcade routes. We need to connect with these good people and take real action to reduce the risks to the men and women in law enforcement who safeguard them, safeguard their families and safeguard their rights.

We need to take steps to increase the safety of those who increase our safety.

How do we do this? We do this through commitment, through legal safeguards and by providing adequate resources.

By commitment, I mean awareness and involvement. Members of the community should be aware of the capacity and needs of law enforcement in their communities. They should look for opportunities to support and even to volunteer to help law enforcement agencies.

By legal safeguards, I am referring to efforts by legislators to address gaps in the criminal justice system. But it is important to remember that laws do not enforce themselves. We cannot simply pass legislation that feels good and then walk away and expect agencies to take on the burden of enforcement with no resources.

And so, finally, we come to resources. The single most effective thing that the public can do to reduce the risks to law enforcement officers is to provide adequate resources and especially adequate staffing. We cannot 'budget cut' our way to a safer community. We cannot improve the safety of law enforcement officers by cutting public safety resources.