The past year has been incredibly tumultuous for the law enforcement profession. Between being on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic response and dealing with the recent anti-police political movement, morale has sunk in many departments and police officers have been routinely demonized by both the press and their own elected representatives. To put it mildly, police officers in America need advocates in both the public sphere and in elected government.
Considering the current landscape, we are excited to see candidates willing to step up and run for office on a platform that supports law and order. One such candidate, Eric Batchelor, is running for Congress in North Carolina. Eric Batchelor is a Sheriff’s Deputy and Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel. He will be competing in North Carolina’s 11th District as a Republican, going up against incumbent fellow Republican and first-term freshman, Madison Cawthorn.
After growing up in a small farm town in Georgia, Deputy Batchelor went on to enroll at the University of North Georgia where he studied Criminal Justice and was also enrolled in the Army ROTC. He graduated in 1995, earning a commission of 2nd Lieutenant. From there he “immediately went to Ft Benning, Georgia where I completed the Infantry Officer’s Basic Course (IOBC), Ranger School, and the Infantry Mortar Leaders Course (IMLC).” Batchelor concluded his military career in 2015, where he immediately began training to be an EMT, inspired by the loss of one of his soldiers in Mosul, Iraq. Eventually, Batchelor became a trained paramedic and completed Basic Law Enforcement Training, ultimately becoming a Sheriff’s Deputy in North Carolina.
This brief recap only scratches the surface of Deputy Batchelor’s long and decorated career in both the United States Military and local Law Enforcement. At a time where Law Enforcement Officers need an advocate in the American government, Batchelor has pledged to be just that.
He would especially like to reach out to bridge the gap between Law Enforcement and the Defund the Police activists, telling Law Enforcement Today the following:
“I wish we could communicate that story to all the people that are vocalizing defund the police and those sorts of things right now, because 99.99 percent of us, we do it out of service….
To the defund the police crowd, I have to say, look, people don’t do this for the money, they don’t do it for the fame, they don’t do it for any of that. They do it because they are passionate about it.
That’s what I wish I could communicate to people across the country right now.”
But beyond recent developments in the world of law enforcement, Batchelor also has other motivations:
“I am tired of watching show horses in Congress. I want to see work horses in Congress.”
Ultimately, Deputy Batchelor is running to represent a community which has recently been demonized and deserves a voice in American politics as respected members of the community who put their lives on the line each and every day. For that matter, Batchelor himself has experience with the life altering dangers associated with his work in Law Enforcement, having been shot in the arm by a suspect with an AR-15 in 2020, requiring extensive surgeries and rehabilitation.
Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Batchelor is a man on a mission in 2022. A mission we wholeheartedly support and look forward to covering. And for that, we will give him the last word:
“I want to be a voice for the people of the 11th district, including our veterans, law enforcement, firefighters, and EMS.”
Yes 4 Minneapolis activist group has led the charge to get an incredibly dangerous ballot measure included in upcoming November elections in Minneapolis. The measure would dismantle the city’s police department and replace it with a “Department of Public Safety.” Activists, like those behind Yes 4, hail the measure as a new beginning in American law enforcement.
