First responders run toward danger. Why do we keep running them down?

America has no shortage of superheroes. The trouble is that some of the people who come closest to being superheroes in real life have spent years being treated like villains.When a gunman opens fire, police officers are expected to run toward the bullets. When a house catches fire, firefighters enter while families flee. When a child stops breathing, paramedics race against the clock. These are the daily realities of Americans who accept extraordinary risks, often without knowing whether they will return home to their own families.A comic book cannot fix recruitment problems or repair every strained relationship between police and the communities they serve. It can, however, remind young people that bravery and public service are worth aspiring to.Yet too many first responders work in a political climate that treats their professions with suspicion and sometimes leaves them short of the staffing and support they need. There are consequences when public service becomes something people are reluctant to pursue.After George Floyd’s death in 2020, the movement to defund the police became a national cause. New York City leaders announced roughly $1 billion in NYPD cuts and transfers, although independent budget analysts found that much of the announced reduction involved accounting changes rather than actual spending cuts. Minneapolis council members pledged to remake the police department, but voters rejected the proposed replacement in 2021.Those political battles were about real disputes over policing and accountability. They also told prospective officers that their work could become a public controversy overnight. For departments already struggling to recruit, that was hardly an invitation to sign up.A February 2026 Government Accountability Office report found that officer resignations and retirements generally increased from 2019 through 2024, contributing to staffing losses. A later survey of police agencies showed some recovery in 2025, although staffing remained below its level at the beginning of 2020. Recruiting and keeping experienced people remains a serious challenge.Crime itself has moved in a better direction. The FBI reported another substantial decline in violent crime in 2025. That is welcome news. It is no reason to take the people who respond to emergencies for granted.RELATED: Young Americans can’t afford the future Washington won’t build Afry Harvy/Getty ImagesRebuilding confidence requires sensible policies, decent pay, equipment, and public accountability. It also requires restoring the honor attached to answering a call for help. That is the part of the problem Michael Letts is trying to address.Letts founded InVEST USA, which helps provide body armor to first responders. Now he has turned from protecting officers physically to defending the public image of their calling. His project is “Bulletproof: Blackweed,” a superhero comic created by Letts and written by Redd Harvey.Its heroes are a police officer, a paramedic, and a firefighter. They battle dangerous enemies and confront threats to their communities. Letts hopes the story will introduce young readers to courage, faith, sacrifice, and the idea that service deserves admiration.“For years, I’ve worked to protect the people who protect us physically,” Letts told me by phone in an interview for this article. “With ‘Bulletproof,’ I want to help protect that calling itself. Children should grow up understanding that courage, service, and sacrifice are worth admiring, and that the people who run toward danger deserve our respect.”He is right about the need to give young people better models of heroism. Popular culture helps shape what children admire and what they hope to become. A child who sees police officers only through scandals and headlines may never consider the possibility that the profession also demands extraordinary courage.RELATED: Why does God allow the wicked to win elections? Klenger/Getty ImagesThere is an obvious danger in swinging too far the other way. Real first responders are human beings, not comic-book characters. Some make terrible mistakes; some abuse the authority entrusted to them. Honoring the badge does not require excusing misconduct. Indeed, the public cannot respect a profession that refuses to hold its own members accountable.But a culture that recognizes only the failures can be just as dishonest as one that refuses to acknowledge them. Most Americans will never need a superhero. They may very well need a firefighter to climb a staircase through smoke, a paramedic to restart a heart, or an officer to stand between them and someone intent on doing harm.A comic book cannot fix recruitment problems or repair every strained relationship between police and the communities they serve. It can, however, remind young people that bravery and public service are worth aspiring to. Those ideas should not be controversial.America needs first responders who have the tools to do their jobs, the trust of their communities, and a reason to believe the next generation will be proud to follow them.If “Bulletproof: Blackweed” helps even a few children see the person behind the uniform, its achievement will extend beyond the comic-book page.