UNCLE BOB WAS A COP WHEN PROTECT AND SERVE MEANT JUST THAT!

Just to get on record that I am NOT a cop hater. What I DO hate is the POLICE STATE to which we are headed. I blame the cops less than I do the utopian control freaks who have tightened that noose around our necks with stupid and unnecessary "laws" they then send the cops out to ATTEMPT to enforce.

Ever since the so-called War On Drugs (WOD) and, now, the War On Terror (WOT) -- actually more like the War On The Bill of Rights) -- began, our civilian cops have been undergoing MILITARY training. The “authorities” gentle it down with the prefix “Para” but those “dynamic entry” teams would be more at home in Baghdad than Boston. (Well, unless they hit John Kerry’s front door at 3 am, Boston might not be a good example.) Watch “Dallas SWAT” for a dose of how it works. And I must wonder if cops “tached up” in military combat style gear might begin to view those civilians around them less as fellow citizens and more as opponents or enemies?

I have long thought that that sort of activity within the ranks of otherwise “civilian” law enforcement was a push by political hacks with an agenda to bypass posse comitatus for purposes BEYOND the WOD/WOT and other currently criminal behavior.

That the mass of that shrinking minority – the American citizen (thank you Mr. Open Borders Bush and Total Amnesty Obama) – has NOT objected to this erosion of personal liberty does NOT bode well for the future of freedom here.

I wonder what sort of body count of innocent grandmothers and others it will take before folks begin to grasp that they might be more at risk from the cops than the criminals and bring the situation back under control?

Uncle Bob was a 30-year veteran of a police force in suburban Cleveland. He was best man at my wedding in 1962. He served in an era when MOST cops embodied the now frequently hollow motto emblazoned on police units all over this country: “TO PROTECT AND SERVE.”

The last 10 years of his career were spent as the chief Juvenile Detective in his department. When he died, a number of the young men whose lives he had touched years before came forward to tell how his timely and sometimes tough-love intervention turned them around.

I know that many officers STILL try to live that creed today. I also know that there are officers out there who, despite the rulings by the Supremes that they have no obligation to specific, individual citizens (see Warren v. DC for some fascinating and frightening reading on that), would stand between one of us and a bullet – and have.

Having said that, I must also lament that SOME cops are “cowboys.” Too many are simply power driven megalomaniacs who would have dropped on the OTHER side of the law had their lives drifted a degree or two off the course they did take. It is these clowns who give credence to the wry bit of “humor” that there is no situation than cannot be made worse by the presence of the cops.

I believe this to be especially true of far too many federal law enforcement types who have allowed their egos and hubris to become as bloated as the bureaucratic federal behemoth they serve. (See footnote below). Their mandate is no longer to “…protect and serve” the citizens who pay their salaries: It is to crush any meaningful resistance to a growing body of procedures, regulations and policies – too frequently enforced under severely tortured interpretations of the underlying legislative enactments (if any) – and often put in place by executive fiat. The massively abused SEIZURE statutes – laws the author of which now seeks to RESCIND! -- spring to mind.

There is ANOTHER SERIOUS problem that plays into this freedom destroying trend. That is the gradual removal from the government schools the instruction in the history of the REBELLION against the tyranny of King George that led to the establishment of our Constitution. That instruction was the norm back in the 50s and 60s. Today, too many of our younger citizens either don't know or care that this place was founded in REVOLUTION. And, though they swear an oath to God to defend it, those of them who become public officials and POLICE OFFICERS know little or nothing of the CONSTITUTION, only the statutes, regulations and “laws” they are in power to enforce.

(At the end of each legislative session, Georgia publishes what used to be called the "Legislative Summary." Probably still is. YOUR state probably publishes one as well.

I was absolutely FASCINATED when I opened the first one I came across. Right there on page one was the following verbiage: (I'm paraphrasing) "No determination has been made as to the CONSTITUTIONALITY of any of the legislative acts summarized herein." The statement was signed by the Legislative Counsel (their lawyer). This typical CYA behavior by politicians who think the constitution is the Atlanta newspaper. Bottom line: If anyone thinks these guys have one eye on the state and national Constitutions as they mess with your lives, they'd better think again. And if you believe something they've done violates the state or federal constitutions, well you can pony up a few hundred thousand bucks, hire one of their lawyer buddies and take it to court! Neat, huh?? Now you know why the lawyers have all the dough.)

One cannot but help to wonder how the clear to anyone with half a brain criminality of the Clintons and now Obama – and their subsequent avoidance of any penalty – has played into the problem? There now seems to be a bright line between the easy, highly flexible, slap-on-the-wrist law for the rich and powerful and the rigidly enforced law against even the tiniest victimless “crimes” committed by those of us further down the food chain. Does anyone in his right mind believe THAT will NOT engender added disrespect for ALL law?

Could those things be a large part of the problem in some of the highly disturbing – and DEADLY (on BOTH sides) – confrontations we have witnessed over the past decade or so? Gordon Kahl, Ruby Ridge, OK City, Waco, Beck… This list WILL lengthen and we’d all better pray that WE will be spared.

Roman historian Tacitus warned that one could tell the level of corruption in a society by the NUMBER of its laws. Anyone doubt the level of corruption here?

Am I the only one who thinks we’re long overdue a serious review of the NUMBERS of laws under which we are now forced to exist – and which are increasingly used not to assure our safety or well-being, but to COMMAND AND CONTROL us and KEEP US IN LINE.

Only the most tyrannical and power-crazed members of law enforcement could possibly object to that.

It is THEY, after all, who are most likely to catch that bullet – probably fired by someone who has symbolically screamed to himself “I’M MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANY MORE” -- referred to earlier when they sally forth to serve that flimsy warrant or make that bogus arrest.

One final thought – and perhaps the only solution that may work: You good cops KNOW who the BAD or STUPID cops in your organizations are. Putting aside the growing numbers of muslim inspired killings, if you're content with the thought that these bad cops – the TRIGGER HAPPY “cowboys” – will continue to overstep and abuse their authority and citizens, driving unstable and/or aggrieved citizens surrounding and outnumbering you to the sorts of killings of other GOOD COPS now on the increase, then do nothing!

If, however, you want to increase the odds that you will go home to the wife and kids at the end of your shift, you'd better do all you can to get the “cowboys” out of your department and lobby very hard to see that the “White Shirts” in command see that he NEVER works as a LEO anywhere again.

FOOTNOTE: At a cocktail party back in the late 80's, I struck up a conversation with a fellow -- his name was Joe M. -- whom I'd met on one or two previous events. After my first encounter, Joe's neighbor and my boss at the time told me that Joe was an alcoholic who had just retired from 25 years with the IRS. Needless to say, I was guarded in expressing my political views to Joe as the IRS had helped my dad into an early grave in 1977 -- at age 59 over an estate matter. Joe was pretty deep into his cups at the function in question and began telling IRS "war stories." Most had to do with clear cases of criminal conduct by not very nice people. Joe -- who was a few years short of 60 -- sounded to me like someone who enjoyed helping getting really bad people off the street and I asked why he'd retired early. He told me that what he called "the service" had changed for the worse. Then I asked him about the new people coming in. He shook his head, actually teared up and said that many of them were "really bad." I pressed. "Really bad" meant incompetent? "No -- DANGEROUS," he responded "they like to hurt people."

There was a time a few years back 9(50’s) when police officers were often referred to as “Peace Officer.”...50’s, Hell. In the 1970’s I WAS a Peace Officer. Whatever it took to keep peace most cops would do. Some guys were ‘asshole tight’ and would start crap for not being respected. Some of us bought groceries for drunken mothers who would not feed their own kids. Some of us took those kids home to feed them. Some of us asked teachers to take them home, and they wouldn’t because of school policies. Some of us went above and beyond our responsibilities to enforce the law without causing fiscal problems. Then the Lawyers figured out they could make money on the backs of the taxpayer. One example: A guy lost his job, got drunk and I picked him up driving. When he told me why he was DWI, I took him home and delivered him to his wife. That night he was drinking more in his apartment, he fell asleep while smoking and set the place on fire. I was sued for not arresting him. Never again.

it wasn’t much different in the 50’s. There were no child services in those days so kids left behind or at home with nabs and coke while mom ran off for a week, we took the kids home to a good meal and bed until mother found, etc., etc.

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