What bugs me about these stories is that the guys doing this are supposedly also USA citizens. For the life of me with WWII infantry service(to young and late for battle) I have to wonder where/when does this lopsided aggression get started. Have we as a Nation lost human concept that as individuals we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us or the similar admonition of let your conscience be your guide.
Such a watering of the tree of liberty is a most unfortunate unintended consequence of the militarization of police.
The transition from a job whose purpose is to take life to a job whose purpose is to protect life must be very difficult, even though similar tactics and weapons are used.
Between raids gone bad for whatever reason (the citizenry sees SWAT and the investigating officer as one entity), enforcement of traffic laws for revenue instead of safety, and a far-too-common “you are just a civilian peon” attitude from many cops, and you have a strong erosion of the public’s confidence in LEOs as a group.
I do appreciate your sticking with it here, and your comments such as those in #9. Most conservatives really don’t hate cops, and don’t want to dislike the institution. That said, my attitudes have changed greatly on this in the last decade or so, and I’m far from the only one like this. The fact that this is occurring should lead to some serious soul searching in the profession. It is something LEOs very much need to address from the inside.
The only thing I can say is, that most of the blame for that should be placed on the States Attorney and the investigative officer(s).
So basically you are saying the entry team can successfully plead the Nuremberg Defense and be absolved of any responsibility, no matter what level of violence and death results of their efforts.
Since it appears that this "blunt" object has zero responsibility or common sense, it follows that even a "warrant" scratched out on the back of a McDonald's receipt would also be considered a valid order to smash down a fellow American's property and put their lives in immediate jeopardy.
Your comments are absolutely no different from excusing some drug cartel enforcers from butchering a family because they did it on orders from on high.
So what if anything are you doing to stop them?
brent13a, thank you for your service both to our country and your community. I work with the police on a daily basis and the vast, vast majority are hard working and conscientious professionals. I have seen officers show incredible kindness to all types of people.
Unfortunately, I have also worked with the burned out, the lazy and a couple who were pure evil. A couple of our best friends’ daughter was murdered by her husband who was our community's police chief. I also worked with a police officer who turned out to be a child molester and I believe was probably responsible for the suicide death of one of the most promising young men my wife and I ever met.
In both of these cases there were warning signs that might/should have tipped us off. I hope that we have learned enough to intervene before tragedy strikes again in the future. But I fear that there will always be a few that will slip through the cracks, especially when our union dues are often used to keep the bad ones on the job. This goes for firefighters and police officers.
It is not right when the actions of a very few stain the reputations of the vast majority who are honorable good people who work hard, sacrifice, and give their all for their fellow citizens.
Thanks for your input, brent13a.
I am sorry there is so much craziness going on in law enforcement and society these days. I hope it stops very soon before we start looking like Mexico.