Good one.
Here is another cached story:
June 28th, 2006
All across the country, police officers are put in complex situations every day where they must make vital judgment calls that deal with do’s and don’ts, rights and wrongs and ultimately, life and death. These things may seem so far away that it is easy to forget how hard the jobs of the nation’s defenders are until scandals or crimes hit close to home.
One such scare came home to us here in Blacksburg just last week, as police reportedly discovered a bomb in a local Blacksburg resident’s home. Janaka Nuwan Kumara Siriwardena was stopped for running a stop sign just last Friday when police discovered this man had been participating in other, more nefarious, illegal activities. He had allegedly been building bombs in his own apartment right here in Blacksburg — in Oak Bridge, where so many other students live. After police obtained a warrant and entered his home, they found evidence of even more illegal activities. Soon afterward, he was charged with burglary, manufacturing an explosive device, possession of cocaine and making a false police report.
Blacksburg is known as being a very safe, student-oriented environment. This town prides itself on being quiet — a calm place for students to study and people to live without the hassle of a major city. And so we live, undisturbed, silently protected by our police. Until an incident like this bomb scare takes place, we may not even realize that dangers exist here, as well as in the country and world at large. We take comfort in our isolation, false as it may be, and, as a result, we often go astray in our overconfidence of just how safe our own neighborhood is. More importantly, we find ourselves forgetting just how necessary and significant the police force is within our area.
Though 9/11 struck up appreciation for police departments and fire departments across the country, it didn’t take long before this patriotic gratitude wore off. Once again we have come face-to-face with the problem of taking our safety for granted. Had the police not arrested Janaka Nuwan Kumara Siriwardena, who knows where these explosive devices may have ended up? It’s sad to see that it takes events such as this one to make us realize how important our local policemen and policewomen are to our town.
We must realize that whether it’s a traffic ticket given to someone speeding on Prices Fork Road or a drug bust in a local apartment complex, our Blacksburg and Virginia Tech Police Departments have been doing their best to provide us with a safe and untroubled environment. By always being close by around campus and town, they ensure us that they are a dedicated force that will never fail to protect and serve the Blacksburg area. We must never forget, even in times of low crime and illegal activity that these police officers are working hard for our well-being every single day.