It never has been easy to be a police officer. They’re called to crimes in progress or after the fact, and when people need help.

Of course, they also have to be the “bad guy” when citations need to be written and arrests need to be made.

Although police have been known to handle situations badly, such as the George Floyd case and others, we believe most law enforcement officers perform their jobs well.

One way to recognize this is to make plans for National Police Week, set for May 14-20.

The week was started in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. In the same spirit of JFK, and in light of the massive attack on officers in recent years, citizens in 2019 started Police Week Michigan to grow a movement to build support for the men and women in Michigan law enforcement, according to its website.

Its mission, it said, is to put support police 52 weeks a year. The group agrees that it is “right and good” to take a week out of the year to celebrate as a nation, but law enforcement needs to “see, feel and hear that citizens support them — all the year through.”

Police Week Michigan has five simple ways people can make a big impact for a police officer this week:

≤ Ask children or grandchildren to draw pictures and write notes to law enforcement “Thank you for …”, tuck them in an envelope and mail them to a local police station. Children’s notes are one of their absolute favorites, it said.

≤ Speak up on behalf of law enforcement at a public meeting, forum or similar event.

≤ Call into a local radio station: “I want to publicly thank our officers and their families for all they do; I want to encourage my fellow community members to do the same.”

≤ Email the local sheriff or police chief a note of gratitude, and ask them to forward it around their office.

≤ Take a huge piece of paper or a big card, ask people at your church or office to write a note of thanks on it and then drop it off to the local station.

Police Week Michigan noted that May 15 — Peace Keeper Memorial Day — is a particularly important date. It asks people to attend a local memorial or livestream the memorial taking place in Washington, D.C.

And, of course, the most important way to honor law enforcement is to be a law-abiding citizen 365 days a year.