Officer Safety (The arrest of Whitey Bulger, suspect in 19 murders)

Officer safety is usually cited as the main justification for the mass proliferation of SWAT teams over the last 30 years. Police say forced entry, flash grenades, and other paramilitary tactics are the only way offers can protect themselves while serving warrants on dangerous people like suspected pot dealers, poker players, optometrists who wager on football games, frail 69-year-old men suspected of selling painkillers, and women suspected of committing fraud on their student loan applications—to give just a few examples.

But what happens when police need to apprehend a genuinely dangerous person? We see this over and over: They don’t always send the SWAT team. And when they do, like they did in Columbine, the SWAT team sometimes waits outside until the shooting is over. So this week we had Whitey Bulger. He’s a suspect in at least 19 murders. He had 20 guns in his home when police apprehended him. So how did they do it? Once again, they didn’t send a SWAT team barreling into his home. Instead, they lured him out with a phone call, then arrested him peacefully.

Perhaps if they thought he had some pot in the house, it might have gone down differently.

I’m sure they do it because the love the drama of it all. How dull is arresting a guy carrying a meal out of McDonald?

The key problem today is the rise of the influence of police unions and training. The emphasis is now on protecting the officers rather than the citizens. When a person applies to be an LEO they are fully aware of the potential danger inherent in the job. They know their job is to protect the citizens and that it might be dangerous.

Enter the police unions. What is their purpose? Why does a policeman need a union? In most cases they don't but since the unions exist the union leaders must show their value. They claim their job is to make the officers jobs easier, less dangerous, and to increase their income, just the opposite of the traditional police force. That was the reason for the creation of SWAT.

In some cases they may be useful in preventing the good ole boy cliques on some forces but the danger is they will just replace the old clique with a new one, them.

Look at police training and remember what you see on TV. Usually, the first thing you see, if there is deemed the slightest example of non-compliance with an officer's orders, is multiple police with guns drawn and pointed at the alleged perp while yelling "Get on the ground!! Get on the ground!!" Then they pounce on the victim, often with their knees in their back, grab their hands and yank them behind them and cuff them. This is their training.

Yet, we know that most of those situations could have been handled a lot differently and with a much better outcome. To add insult to injury the officers usually tack on additional charges of resisting arrest, interfering with n officer, etc., to whatever the initial charge was.

This all creates disrespect and often fear of the police. Is that the intent?

One other beef. Policemen and firemen do have jobs that can be dangerous but to consider them the same as soldiers on the battlefield is a wrong perception. The majority of policemen and firemen never get near danger their entire careers. I was a fireman at one time but left due to boredom. After two years, all my station had done was go on a few false alarms and to one fire at an abandoned house in a field. It seems that at the Captain's lack of instructions one way or the other, the intent was to let the house burn down. We did just as I see many fire crews do on the news today, pour water on the top of the flames licking out of the roof, where it does no good at all, and ignore the source of the fire where it could be extinguished. Is the intent to put out the fire or to keep firemen safe?

If there are people in the houses or buildings, firemen are often very brave in going in after them. In those situations and for those particular men, I applaud them.

Most LEOs sit in cars, direct traffic, walk a short beat (rarely now), stand inside a bank or jewelry store, man a desk, etc. Few, and not often, are in the line of fire. Sometimes policemen risk their lives to save others from a variety of situations. I applaud them!

However, since occasionally one will get killed or severely injured, and they never know who, when, where or how, we must consider them all the same and respect their contribution, even the majority who skate through their careers.

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