Miami police officer Lydia Marquez's emotional 'Why I serve' video goes viral

The 20-year veteran posted the video after a conversation with her four-year-old child

Lydia Marquez posted the video after a conversation with her child

A female police officer from Miami has poured her emotions into a video she posted online in which she talked of the dangers she and her colleagues face when they respond to emergency calls.

Officer Lydia Marquez decided to record the four-minute video and post it on her Facebook page after her four-year-old son questioned why she went out to work in the morning.

In the video, which NBC said has been shared more than 400,000 times on Facebook, the mother-of-two says that despite the fact she does n't know “if I'm going to be coming back at the end of the day”, she continued to serve.

“We're putting our lives out on the line here, because we're going to you because you need us, not knowing exactly what we're going into. And people don't understand that,” said the officer of 20 years experience.

“It’s not about colour, it's not about any of that. It's about the fact that all lives matter. Because when I received my badge I swore an oath. I swore that I was going to protect and serve all people, not blacks, not whites, none of that.”

Ms Marquez, who filmed the clip while sitting in her vehicle, added: “The oath is colour blind. It doesn't care about all that and all of us that have these badges don't care about all of that either.

“Yeah we all have our bad apples, who doesn’t? When you’re running away from something because you’re in fear for your life, we’re running into it.

“When I kiss my children in the morning before I go to work, and tell them I love them I don't know if I'm going to be coming back at thee end of the day. It's hard, it's really hard. But I'm here - why? Because I care. All lives matter.”

The release of the footage comes at a time of unprecedented controversy over the actions of some police officers in the US following many high-profile incidents in which black or minority suspects have been killed or injured. Among them was Eric Garner, a father of four, who died after being placed in an illegal chokehold by New York officers in July 2014.

At the same time, a number of officers have been killed in recent weeks.

Last Tuesday, Lieutenant Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, 52, died after he was shot in Fox Lake, Illinois. The married father-of-four, who was just a month from retirement, was chasing three suspects on foot and was found fatally wounded.

Last month, Harris County sheriff's deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was shot dead as he refuelled his vehicle a petrol station in suburban Houston.

Officer Thomas LaValley, 29, was shot multiple times while responding to calls of a suspicious person in Louisiana on 6 August. On 1 August, Officer Sean Bolton died after he was shot several times while investigating an illegally parked car in Memphis.

Meanwhile, a police officer was shot and injured on Sunday as he sat in his patrol car in Las Vegas.