PC Keith Palmer left home yesterday morning, but didn’t return.
Like so many he went off to work in the normal way, but unlike the vast majority of the working population he and the rest of the police service were, in simply turning up for work, consciously or otherwise, putting their lives on the line. Yesterday he paid the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.
I have a son who is a serving police officer (not local) and I know my daughter in law worries every time he leaves the house to go on duty. Police officers are dedicated, brave and largely unsung heroes and heroines. They are often riviled by the public, and certainly undervalued by the state they seek to serve.
Perhaps this hideous tragedy will shake society’s casual attitude to the police and we will all pay them rather more collective respect than is currently too often the case.