Don’t jump. You have better options. We can help you find them.

That was the basic message of Colorado Springs police, who skillfully saved the life of a man who planned to kill himself Friday by jumping off the Martin Luther King Bypass bridge above Interstate 25.

Patrol officers, and members of the department’s crisis intervention team, spent more than 30 minutes convincing the prospective jumper his life was worth living.

Saving the man seemed nearly impossible when his body dangled high above the pavement. Only his tired hands kept him anchored to the bridge. Police would not accept failure and compassionately convinced the man to hold on.

“To have someone that committed at that point and be able to talk him down and get him into custody, is incredible,” said Lt. Howard Black.

The police are not done with this case. Having saved the man, they will ensure he receives mental health care and other support services that could change his trajectory.

In these troubled times, when bad is mistaken for good and good for bad, our police have difficult and thankless jobs. They serve as heroes but are often viewed as villains.

For misdeeds and mistakes of a few, all were portrayed as pigs on the socks of an NFL quarterback admired by millions of kids.

We’ve seen two years of sporadic anti-police demonstrations, in which protesters yell such things as “No justice, no peace, no racist police,” “How do you spell racist? NYPD,” and the infamous “What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want it? Now.”

Cops have endured the NFL kneeling spectacle, launched by the man with pig socks, which implies our country has an epidemic of racist law enforcement. Certainly, we have a few racist cops throughout the country, and that is too many. But bad cops are a small minority within the profession.

The vast majority of law enforcers work as if all lives matter all the time. They deserve accolades before sporting events, not derision. If not for them, we could not safely assemble crowds of 70,000 and more for routine sporting events.

Despite a bad rap from radical activists who create high-profile anti-cop media events, police mostly save lives. When a mass shooter unloads on a crowd, it gets our attention. When someone threatens to jump from a bridge, it gets our attention. The routine life-saving work of police goes unnoticed, all day every day, behind the scenes.

Cops save lives when they intervene in teenage drug or alcohol abuse. They save lives when they respond to domestic violence calls. They save lives when they arrest drunken or otherwise dangerous drivers. They save lives when they keep overdosed patients breathing before paramedics arrive.

Say “thanks for your service” each time you see a cop, from any agency – local, state, county or federal. Pick up the tab for one or more officers in a restaurant or coffee shop. Support our police in their daily efforts to save lives and maintain the peace.