It seems like the never-ending articles, opinions and commentaries streaming through both The Californian and our local airways that continue to besmirch a police officer's retirement only take economic relativism into consideration and miss the big picture. Granted, we are in bad times economically, both here in Bakersfield and through the rest of the nation. But, public safety retirement didn't cause this problem. Nor will giving officers minimum wage and a handshake upon their retirement fix it.

It's an old conundrum for law enforcement officers: Democrats may pay officers a working wage, but they don't necessarily want to give them the guns and bullets to protect their lives, and Republicans may give them all the guns and bullets in the world, but they don't necessarily want to pay a wage that sustains their lives.

Everyone wants to have a well trained police department, full of honest, smart and hardworking officers. But unfortunately we can't have it both ways. Either we provide what other similar sized departments provide in pay and benefits, or our best and brightest will be looking for greener pastures, eagerly gobbled up by other hungry municipalities that love talented officers, hate police liability suits, and are willing to pay for that professionalism. That's because they know the true per-officer cost of becoming nothing more than a training bed for other agencies.

Or maybe we should adopt Mexico's two-tiered law enforcement retirement system, where an honest officer receives a two-month paid severance package upon their retirement, if they live that long. Or the more popular second option, where officers collect all the graft, corruption and drug money they can garner throughout their career. This retirement package is called, "Silver or Lead."

There's also the continuing collective conversation about police officers retiring with a similar, defined retirement benefit that general public employees receive, or maybe giving them some sort of defined contribution retirement equivalent to a civilian retirement for years of hard work in the private sector. Both of those ideas need to be given some consideration and these arguments may be valid, except for some very important differences.

Like clockwork, at least a couple of times a year, the Kern County community experiences another officer killed in the line of duty, which always leads to the same thing. Their picture on the front page of the paper, while other pictures show a line of police cars a mile long on the way to the funeral, and the officer's family grieving over the casket. Of course, this comes with the customary outpouring of public support and testimonials of the officer's sacrifice by a line of dignitaries and politicians.

So it's surprising to me that in the almost 20-plus years I've lived in Bakersfield, I don't hear more about businessmen having their leg shot off while chasing a reputed gang member; or the shooting of a general public employee for trying to stop a robbery in progress; or even the occasional elected official being killed in a violent car accident trying to chase down a fleeing suspect.

But these things happen all the time to law enforcement personnel. Yes, it's part of their job to possibly give this community their ultimate sacrifice. But it is our job to recognize them for those sacrifices and show them they are supported, other than at their funerals.

Chris Parlier of Bakersfield, a former special agent with the California Department of Justice, is chairman of the California Department of Public Health's Lyme Disease Advisory Committee, and a local business owner.