A scorching hot August afternoon took its toll on a woman walking across Fort Dodge with her two small dogs to check out an apartment.

She was seen sitting on a curb, leaning against a light pole with her head down. Someone called the Webster County Telecommunications Center about her.

Fort Dodge Police Department Sgt. Jody Chansler and Patrol Officer Nathan Wolfe responded. They sat on the curb near her and introduced themselves. Chansler went to the nearby CVS store and bought water for the woman and treats for her dogs. Finally they gave her a ride to the apartment building she was heading to.

It was all in a day’s work for Fort Dodge police officers. It was hardly a dramatic incident, but it showed two of our city’s police officers doing their best to serve a citizen of the community.

Fort Dodge officers have displayed that kind of care and concern multiple times. For example, about a year, ago some officers jumpstarted an elderly man’s vehicle after it stalled near First Avenue South and 25th Street.

With so many people across the nation mindlessly demanding that their elected leaders defund the police, no one should lose sight of the fact that most American cops demonstrate the same professionalism and concern that Sgt. Chansler and Patrol Officer Wolfe did on that hot afternoon when they met that woman. The good officers outnumber the bad ones by a big margin.

In the course of their duties Fort Dodge officers, and their colleagues in the Webster County Sheriff’s Department, Iowa State Patrol and other local police departments, deal with everything from drunks throwing up on the sidewalk to people who are armed and dangerous. Throughout all of it, they uphold the highest standards of professionalism while protecting the community.

That is why local law enforcement officers deserve the respect and gratitude of the people they serve.