We sometimes take law enforcement for granted. We’re annoyed by them when they pull us over for going a little over the speed limit and criticize them over situations that we only have secondhand accounts of.

Despite all that, the men and women in blue have a hard, and sometimes thankless, job that they do, not for praise or glory, but because it is a service to the community and a way to help others.

In recent weeks there have been a number of incidents that have drawn the attention of law enforcement from all over the area. This includes armed robberies in Valley and home invasions in West Point.

The crimes themselves are infrequent for the area and get talked about repeatedly when they happen. Under that sort of pressure, one could assume local police officers and sheriff’s deputies would be crawling over each other to get a crack at solving these cases.

In reality, these public servants had the situation under control with procedures already in place to properly investigate the crimes. They also had a noticeable uptick in visible patrols. It has worked.

Valley officers, while on patrol, discovered a man in the process of scoping out a store just before he planned to rob it. Interrogation of the suspect led to the confession of another robbery he had committed days earlier.

In West Point, officers investigated a home invasion that occurred early this week and were actively looking for suspects when another incident occurred Wednesday morning. This time the victim was able to provide extra information on the assailants and, a short time later, the suspects were located in Meriwether County.

Local law enforcement has shown to be capable of handling most, if not all, situations and have done so in both a professional and prompt manner.