West Suburban Chief To Officers: 'Stay Vigilant'
(CBS) – In just a week and a half, eight police officers have been murdered in two ambush attacks.
CBS 2's Mai Martinez spent the day in west suburban Hillside to see how officers are coping.
"It's inconceivable," Sgt. Carlo Viscioni says of the killing of three more brothers in blue, this time in Baton Rouge, La.
We first met Viscioni 10 days ago as he mourned the loss of the five officers murdered in Dallas. The black mourning band on his badge will now remain in place for at least another week.
Chief Joe Lukaszek says in his more than two decades in law enforcement he's never seen anything like the recent attacks on police officers.
"It's very sad," he says.
Lukaszek blames -- in part -- media coverage of recent killings and protests.
"They're demonizing police through the rhetoric that's being stated by different groups across America," he says. "Just because there's one bad police officer doesn't make everybody a bad police officer."
He says he tells his officers: "Stay vigilant. Pay attention. Keep your eyes open."
That's exactly what Sgt. Viscioni and other officers are doing.
"It makes you more cognizant that maybe the next call could be somebody that's luring you into a situation," he says.
Still, Viscioni says, he is galvanized to keep doing his job.
"There's no better way to honor them, than to go out and do what they're willing to do to protect the people," he says.
In light of the recent killings, for the foreseeable future, the Hillside chief says officers will have backup when responding to 9-1-1 calls.
The officers say one thing that's helping them cope during this difficult time is the outpouring of support they've received from the community, including Facebook posts and phone calls, just to say, "Thank you."