Posted on 08/17/2013 8:41:22 AM PDT by bamahead
Where are those stories available?
BTTT
Thanks for your service, Lt. Thomas. I get the feeling you would not fit in with today’s “breed” of LEO’s who are nothing more than an organized crime gang working for a government entity.
Another reason for decriminalizing drugs.
/johnny
Nothing like trying to buck the system.
This article explains it better than I could.
We currently live in a county with a terrific sheriff who supports constitutional carry. He recognizes that the citizens are responsible for defending themselves. It seems that the LEOs who want to disarm us are very fearful. It’s sad to know that Serpico-type situations are still going on.
no, another reason for geting rid of swat teams altogether.
I’ve repeated this anecdote several times on Free Republic, and it is always met with skepticism. I am merely relaying the claim of a person I believe to reliable and trustworthy, told to me in a manner that leads me to believe that it is true.
My cousin, who served as a member of the NYPD for twenty years, including stints in Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant, retiring as a Detective Lieutenant on the Manhattan DA’s homicide squad, claims that in 20 years on the force, he never drew his weapon once.
The refusal of the SWAT team could definitely be construed as an assassination attempt. “A paramilitary law enforcement unit,” should never be considered. When I couldn’t serve a warrant, I sometimes called the house and the wife, mother, girlfriend would answer. I’d ask “Where is Joe?” I dunno. “You tell him we had a welfare/ tax/ insurance check delivered here at the PD and we don’t appreciate getting mail from all over town. If he doesn’t get it the next eight hours, I’ll throw it away.” I was usually booking him within an hour. That is being a Peace Officer. (They aint’ real bright.)
In police-public relations, it is important to look at both sides of the coin. But this is usually done with the police on one side, and people who hate the police on the other side.
However, the vast majority of people *don’t* hate the police, and are often more than willing to help the police, sometimes directly, and sometimes indirectly. And the more that police realize this, the more they might be inclined to take advantage of this help to achieve some rather important goals for society.
In particular, I am thinking of the many situations where the police are constrained, but the public is not.
I first learned of this in a situation that was *almost* corrupt, but whose overall ends were worth at least some consideration.
A city had a newly elected liberal government, that was pretty much anti-police, making their ROE impossibly strict, and in the face of a particularly nasty and violent criminal element, risking the lives of the police and the public. However, someone in the PD came up with an effective end-around to the problem.
The city also had an “outlaw” motorcycle gang of some size. And while they involved themselves with some crime and violence, it was never too obnoxious, mostly in-house, and it was never really offensive to the public or the police. They even “arrested well”, when the police were ordered to suppress them some, which they were at intervals.
In any event, the police reached an “entent” with the MC gang, so if they were in a position of conflict with a “protected person”, the cop would “call a biker”, to “resolve” the evil liver, after the cop left.
The technique proved effective at keeping the violent criminal element under control, at the price of the police being less inclined to hassle the bikers over mostly minor things.
I use this as an extreme example, but also to illustrate how the police may get some cooperation from the public.
It is an often used plot device in police dramas, that a particularly nasty, threatening and murderous criminal offender is held at police gunpoint, which is usually resolved by the policeman arresting them, “letting the courts handle it”, instead of the emotionally gratifying execution of “someone who needs killing.”
However, in many cases, the public is not held to this standard. If they feel “at imminent risk” from a vicious criminal, in most states they can act as “judge, jury and executioner”, putting down said criminal without having to carefully follow all the rules set forth by the police.
Now, this being said, the police are often aware of many honest people, who are well armed and willing and likely to defend themselves, their family and property, from violent criminals.
So when the police are constrained from righteously killing some evil fiend, there is nothing preventing them from subtly steering the villain into trespass against an armed and prepared honest citizen willing to dispatch them.
Of course there is no copyright on this idea, and it has likely been done by police for many years, solving many of the worst villains in society.
>When I couldnt serve a warrant, I sometimes called the house and the wife,
> mother, girlfriend would answer. Id ask Where is Joe? I dunno. You tell
>him we had a welfare/ tax/ insurance check delivered here at the PD and
>we dont appreciate getting mail from all over town. If he doesnt get it
>the next eight hours, Ill throw it away. I was usually booking him within
>an hour. That is being a Peace Officer. (They aint real bright.)
You, sir, are a genius! I appreciate that you are genuinely being a true peace officer, thinking of ways not to escalate situations. Cops who I have known who are like you - guys I was friends with since I was a kid - make for a better country. I wish there were thousands more like you!
I thought the same thing. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. His superiors could have developed a habit of putting him in unsafe situations and denying backup.
We need more like you sir, seriously. You should consider becoming an instructor at a Police Academy. Based on current state of affairs - they are doing a poor job training officers.
In front of my building there was a row of cops with big plexiglass shields and batons. It seems the Administration was taking precautions against a student riot because of a new government regulation on universities. Fortunately we didn't have a riot.
What was unheard of less than 15 years ago is unfortunately now commonplace here at home.
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