The public can be very proud of the way law enforcement came together to help resolve the shooting incident on Sunday at the Port Orchard WalMart store.

Officers from Bremerton, Port Orchard, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Washington State Patrol came together without a hitch to not only provide additional resources to that horrific event but also to help provide resources to the rest of the citizens that are still calling 911.

While this event was a huge strain on resources for all of the agencies, we must also still respond to the other 911 calls that continue to come in. In addition to this event, at nearly the same time there was a fatal collision in the south part of the county and a host of other calls where people expect a response.

It seems of late there is a very disturbing trend that some very bad people have chosen to intentionally assault and kill law enforcement officers. It’s obviously not limited to urban or rural; it’s happening all around the country.

It has become a difficult time to be a police officer where our community expectations are to be approachable, friendly and problem solvers while still having to maintain a vigilance toward officer safety and the need to be suspicious of many people we contact from the very beginning.

If the officers let their guard down for even a minute, it can unfortunately be the difference between life and death.

Granted, 95 percent of the contacts police make are mundane and uneventful, but they must always be ready for that other 5 percent.

What happened in the Walmart parking lot is just another recent reminder of the fact that there are violent people in our communities that aren’t concerned about others or even themselves.

We can be thankful the injuries to the deputies aren’t fatal, but they still will have profound impacts on their future, even the possibility of not being able to return to work or loss of partial use of limbs, etc. — not to mention the psychological effects.

And we cannot discount the trauma the third responding deputy is feeling.

Her outstanding work in that parking lot yesterday will not go without the Monday morning quarterbacking of people who think they could do better or those that feel they were wronged in the process.

That deputy will spend hours and hours over several years being attacked in courtrooms and across tables during depositions.

And while the deputy will know what she did was what had to be done and under an amazing amount of stress, others will make her feel as if she was wrong.

The burden we the public put on her is significant.

While police must be accountable for their actions and always will be in our country based upon our form of government, now is a good time to reflect and be thankful we have people willing to do the mostly thankless job of law enforcement.

Al Townsend is Port Orchard’s chief of police.