Each day as soon as a law enforcement officer puts on his or her uniform, the officer becomes a target. That point was sadly driven home last Thursday when 37-year-old Virginia State Trooper Chad Dermyer was gunned down while taking part in a training exercise at the Richmond Greyhound station.

Dermyer, who lived in Gloucester and leaves behind a wife and two young children, merely approached a man in the bus station as part of the exercise when that man pulled a gun on the officer and killed him in cold blood.

There have been several high-profile cases over the past couple of years where police have abused their authority, shot and even killed citizens with little or no apparent justification. And some have rightly been prosecuted for their actions.

While there is no excuse for such misconduct, we as citizens must remember the dangerous job that the men and women of law enforcement are called upon to do every day and the extraordinary pressure under which they operate. No one goes to work thinking that he or she will be killed because of the job. But policemen and women know that there is a real chance they will face a life-and-death situation because of who they are, what they do and where they are called to go.

Trooper Dermyer devoted his life in service to his community and his country, first as a U.S. Marine, then as an officer with the Jackson (Mich.) and Newport News police departments and most recently, the Virginia State Police. Our deepest condolences go out  to the family and friends he left behind and to the men and women who have to get up tomorrow morning and put on that uniform once again in order to serve and protect.