Law enforcement at multiple levels in recent times has taken a great deal of criticism.

Some of it has been justified, in our view, and some of it hasn’t.

It’s with pleasure, then, that we underscore the outstanding work accomplished by a pair of Marquette Police Department officers who assisted persons in distress.

Officers Ben Takala and Mark Hanes were recently presented with Life Saving Awards for incidents that occurred in February.

A recent Mining Journal story had details. On Feb. 23, Takala responded to the scene at Carp River in which a woman had fallen into the Carp River and could not get out. Upon arrival at the scene, Takala was able to locate the woman in chest-deep water and used a water-rescue floatation device to pull her from the water. She was hiking with her dog when she fell through an ice shelf. Takala was then able to hike the victim out of the woods to waiting EMS personnel where she made a full recovery.

On Feb. 10, Hanes responded to the American Legion post in Marquette and helped restart a man’s heart.

Officer Hanes’ response was immediate and once on scene, he performed lifesaving procedures. He recognized that both CPR and an automated external defibrillator was needed and from the result of that, he was able to shock the subject back into a sustainable heart rhythm.

There is little doubt that these are tough times to be a cop. It might be argued that a few bad apples is tainting the whole barrel, so to speak.

That said, these officers and many, many others, provide outstanding examples of public service on a daily basis.

We applaud and recognize them for their work.