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I think the point being that they were pulled over for not wearing their seat belts. Remember when they seat belt law was passed. The promise was no one would be pulled over for not wearing their seat belt. Yea. Right. I knew, knew dammit that was just bullshit to get the laws passed. And guess what. I was right.

We both saw that one coming a mile off. I objected on general principles, with this being an absolute slam dunk over time. No doubt about it.

Anyway, if you want to look at it another way, the officer was killed because of the seatbelt law. Why not? Makes as much sense as anything else.

This officer worked in his community daily. He knew the players, had probably run into this group over time. It is possible the group had come across a city boundary and he didn't know them, but he for certain recognized them for the trouble they were. The problem is, when you walk up to the driver's window of a car, it's almost impossible to defend yourself. This is the risk officers take on a daily basis. Why do they do it, for personal gain? Do they put their lives in jeopardy out of some sense of loving danger? I don't think so.

Here they saw what looked like gang members, driving down the road at night. Perhaps it was the look on the faces of the men in the car, that caused them to take more interest in them. Perhaps it was some other intangible that you and I wouldn't normally think about. At any rate these officers pegged the occupants of that car to be very problematic.

Recognizing there was a seat-belt infraction, the officers found it possible to investigate. They attempted to do so. One officer was shot dead.

Ah yes, the seatbelt law cost an officer his life..., no suspected gangmembers were found to be holding weapons in the driver's compartment of a vehicle. That is a felony. These men were cruising looking for trouble. They may have been traveling to a planned crime site, perhaps not. They may have traveled for a while and returned home. We will never know. What we do know is that one or more of the men in the car were probably already one or two-time losers. They already had a rap sheet a mile long. One or more of them couldn't afford to have the officers find weapons in the car. They decided not to go down without a fight.

The officers were right to check these people out.

What are the options with gang members? How do you cut down on their violence?

The number one way is to make the gang members feel unsafe in your district. You let them know that if they are operating in your area, they're in danger of being arrested or worse.

This officer was trying to make his city a safer place by checking these men out. Making a flippant comment about a seat-belt law costing him his life is really beneath you. Gang activity cost this officer his life.

Do you want cars full of gang members cruising your neighborhood at night? Would one car be okay? Would twenty? How about fifty? You do what you can to bring that number to zero.

Hopefully the men in the car are behind bars for a long time. Fewer people will be harmed or dead because of it. One man gave his life to achieve this. I appreciate his sacrifice. You really should to. It's okay to debate the value of a seat-belt law and push to get it revoked. It's another to be so disrespectful of human life, to immediately focus on the 'bad' seat-belt law and forget about the fact that some family doesn't have a spouse, dad, or paycheck coming home anymore.