Cops Fear Violence Against Flash Mobs (as liberals do too)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drJGbI07qIE&feature=related ^

[MNDude]

UPPER DARBY, Pa. - As police in Upper Darby, Pa., search for more young people involved in last week's flash mob, more adults are thinking about arming themselves with guns.

People are talking about how afraid they are of being caught in the path one of these flash mobs while they're out minding their own business, and they want to be ready.

Law enforcement officials say it's a nightmare in the making because ordinary, private citizens are getting gun permits.

"We have people now that are fearful and carrying guns because of children. How sad is that?" Upper Darby police Captain George Rhoades said.

He said it's all legal.

"It's all self-defense," Rhoades said.

He says about 10 to 20 applications are processed every week in Upper Darby.

Rhoades says with that many people "carrying" and the violent actions of these flash mobs, the worst is bound to happen.

"Now we have this mentality, 'I'm not going to retreat. I'm not going to call 9-1-1. I'm going to be a vigilante and take care of the problem myself,'" he said.

That means flash mob children could be dead, and the would-be victims may have the right, but Rhoades is appealing to everybody to think twice.

[gigster]

You can't retreat and 911 is worthless.

Yes, but my 1911A1 will not be worthless.

[danielmryan]

Let’s be honest and admit that the police focus almost all of their energy on the war on drugs, because that is where the money is. half of all murders go unfolded but if you have pot in their home then they will do their level best to find it.

I agree. Before the War on Drugs, overkill and other kinds of police abuse really were isolated incidents. Canada never launched a War on Drugs. Even though the same kind of substances that are illegal in the U.S. are outlawed in Canada, there's been little overkill. In the most violent drug-related arrest in the last decade, in 2005, the police were victims. There hasn't been a similar case since.

[Immerito]

Well, at least we know whose side he is on—the side of criminals.

[Immerito]

Let me guess, you were one of those poor souls so unfortunate as to lose everything—firearms, ammo, etc-—in that boating accident.

Didn’t your parents ever teach you, “Don’t put all your weapons in one boat?” ;-)

[PA Engineer]

Come on. Be fair. Don’t be so presumptuous! This was his second (or third) boating accident!

[Tunehead54]

Taser, bean-bag gun, rubber bullets — there are lots of non-lethal options.

---

I keep two mag safes on top of all my loaded pistols. That's as far as I'll go for the bad guy.

[nathanbedford]

The left has created a cultural climate that fosters criminality and frustrates law enforcement.

The irony is that liberals who have undercut the capacity of the police to cope with flash mobs leaving the average citizen defenseless, will be the first to decry the private citizen resorting to self-help.

The problem is not really the logistical capacity of the police to respond, nor is the problem the digital technology which has altered the balance of power between criminals and police, the problem is the culture has worked against the rule law and left the police more and more isolated in the struggle for criminal justice. If the process of acculturation beginning with parents and extending into the schools, the churches, and the neighborhood disintegrates or, worse, actively operates to promote criminality, the police will never be fully able to cope because the culture will find a new tactic to overwhelm them.

Not only the institutions named but the criminal justice system itself which is designed to operate after the fact of crime has been rendered ineffectual by the left. The courts are overwhelmingly delayed and most criminologists will tell us that the effectiveness of punishment varies inversely to the length of time required to inflict it. It also varies with the consistency with which it is applied. On both of these counts the court system fails to intimidate would-be criminals from committing crimes. The deterrent value of punishment has been attenuated.

If drugs, prostitution, and gambling are activities so ingrained in the culture, then to use the criminal law to prohibit them is to alienate the justice system from the culture. Consider immigrant Irish and immigrant German lack of respect for anti-saloon laws in places like Chicago at the turn of the last century or national Prohibition two decades later. Respect for the rule of law is lost and that culture begins to condone other kinds of crime which have real victims. A Che Guevara, Jesse James, mentality metastasizes throughout that culture so criminals become heroes and crime becomes a virtue.

This libertarian/broken windows analysis is interesting because there is overlap and contradiction. But whether you buy the libertarian side of this argument which has been outlined above, the broken windows analysis has certainly found support among conservatives. The presence of signs of minor crimes unpoliced, physical deterioration of the environment and moral decay in a society generates scorn for the criminal law system.

Every time we chip away at the moral underpinning of a civil society, we cast a heavier burden on the police and the criminal justice system until it ultimately gives way under the pressure and fails to achieve the impossible. Civil society disintegrates not just in the inner-city but across the board.

The difficulty in establishing a civil society in places like Philadelphia is that we have race consciousness dominating the problem. As Nathan Bedford is tiresomely liable to pontificate, all politics in America is not local but ultimately racial. So if the police attempt to engage with the problem by initiating a broken windows philosophy of law enforcement they are accused of racism. Moreover, the problem has become so ingrained in the African-American culture that broken windows enforcement is seen as tyranny. Even the churches will reinforce that point of view, witness Rev. Al.

So the whites who are an entirely alien culture to the average African- American "community" either throw money at the problem if they are liberals or resort to self-help, like arming themselves, if they are conservative. Both kinds engage in white flight. So the vortex deepens.

The cultural divide has now become so deep and so broad that the mayor of Philadelphia has finally been moved, even though an African-American liberal, to address the problem. But excoriating youths who are the mass-produced exemplars of their culture might address the problem but it advances no solutions.

No real solution can be applied to this problem so long as the principal exploiters of the African-American community are African-Americans. They have a vested interest in maintaining the misery. Until the wretched victims of this left-wing/Democrat party shake off the cultist mentality of the ghetto there is no hope. There is no critical thinking going on in the ghetto, there is only the most outlandish conspiracy theory and victimization dominating all thought. One sees the same phenomenon in the Arab street and it is the equivalent international characteristic that we find in our inner cities.

The result in both cases is ignorance, poverty, bloodshed and societal disintegration. Until the Arab street abandons its mullahs we are in for a decade-long fight for survival as a representative democracy which tolerates infidels. Until the African-American inner-city abandons its benighted, superstitious, racist, defensive, and paranoid mentality and those who profit from it, we will see more and more flash mobs or their equivalent.

More police will not ultimately solve the problem. The culture, like a river erupting its banks, will simply swarm around them.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

To #17: A good beanbag shot to the nuts will stop anyone.
I would also think that rubber bullets to the ankles will bring down anyone unless they are wearing boots. Then it is time for the real stuff, if necessary to protect life and property.

I know that they liberals around me are not armed, but there are a lot of veterans nearby and police officers, including my son.

Let them come if they are that stupid but not a lot of store targets near me. Gonna miss all the fun.

[Norm Lenhart]

Out of curiosity, why bother with ‘less than lethal’ munitions? Fear of LETHAL munitions will stop far more rioters for a longer period than actual use of ‘less than lethal’. Rubber bullets hurt alot. True. Pain fades and a POd amped up, drug fueled thug will barely be slowed unless the LTL rounds hit him in a couple specific areas.

Rioters fearing that the public can and will open fire on them with copper jacketed lead will go a lot farther to stop them before they start because of the simple fact that a mere handful of rioters are hardcore types. Most are there for the thrill and to boost their street cred.

Live ammo quickly returns them to the meek little animals they are without crowds backing them. LTL ammo? Not so much.

The time tested of “Making an example” of one or two people will eliminate most subsequent violence. From ancient Rome onwards, things like ‘decimation’ get the desired compliance from the masses. The non violent solution to all this is for the rioters to not riot, thugs to remain peaceful and wannabees to stay the hell away from their ‘more brawn than brains’ street leaders. No stupidity on their part, no bang bang on ours. Simple.

Fear works.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

"We have people now that are fearful and carrying guns because of children. How sad is that?" Upper Darby police Captain George Rhoades said.

Hmmm. Must be one of those high-estrogen men from the article I posted the other day.

I think the UK is missing one of their police captains.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"I am sure those two race baiters will get all the media help they need from the liberal, progressive, state-run, lame-stream media.

Don't forget the Doles and their Red Cross Catering!

[trebb]

If a few idiots, and we all know that the idiots consist mainly of young blacks, get ventilated, then they will reconsider where they go to riot, steal, and assault people.

Yep - hence the "An armed society is a polite society axiom."

Those that fear more for the mobs who commit violence on innocent citizens need to be employed outside the law enforcement system.

[Condor51]

That means flash mob children could be dead,

[demshateGod]

George Rhoades should be fired this very minute. He’s a bafoon.

“Now we have this mentality, ‘I’m not going to retreat. I’m not going to call 9-1-1. I’m going to be a vigilante and take care of the problem myself,’” he said.

In what way is calling 911 going to help you in the event of a flash mob? It’s clear that public safety is not his goal.

[sheik yerbouty]

Oh the inanity? Maybe a bag limit would reassure the police..

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Didn’t your parents ever teach you, “Don’t put all your weapons in one boat?”’

Naw, They said somethin’ ‘bout eggs and a basket though.=^D

[LevinFan]

I wonder what this officer would do if threatened by a flash mob? Would he choose not to go home tonight? I doubt it.
If the cops were doing their job, we wouldn’t be in the position of having to shoot at ‘children’.
On the plus side, these punks are cowards. Of a dozen or two hit pavement, the rest will run home to mommy.

[toomanylaws]

This is a very bad idea.

You are exactly right. Most of the replies here will get the shooter arrested and convicted no matter how unfair it seems. Most of the gun laws are very clear and specific of when you can and cannot use deadly force. I don’t agree with them but if you just start shooting at a group of people, you will probably end up in jail. Fair? No.. Reality? Yes...

[ThomasMore]

Catch them and confiscate their cell phones.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I saw a t-shirt. “Feared by many, Loved by few, Respected by all”. That is how we were after WWII and how we should be now.