Guest Post by John W. Whitehead
“The framers would be appalled.”—Herman Schwartz, the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official“The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to”
We’ve all been there before.
You’re driving along and you see a pair of flashing blue lights in your rearview mirror. Whether or not you’ve done anything wrong, you get a sinking feeling in your stomach.
You’ve read enough news stories, seen enough headlines, and lived in the American police state long enough to be anxious about any encounter with a cop that takes place on the side of the road.
For better or worse, from the moment you’re pulled over, you’re at the mercy of law enforcement officers who have almost absolute discretion to decide who is a threat, what constitutes resistance, and how harshly they can deal with the citizens they were appointed to “serve and protect.”
This is what I call “blank check policing,” in which the police get to call all of the shots.
So if you’re nervous about traffic stops, you have every reason to be.
Trying to predict the outcome of any encounter with the police is a bit like playing Russian roulette: most of the time you will emerge relatively unscathed, although decidedly poorer and less secure about your rights, but there’s always the chance that an encounter will turn deadly.
Try to assert your right to merely ask a question during a traffic stop and see how far it gets you.
Zachary Noel was tasered by police and charged with resisting arrest after he questioned why he was being ordered out of his truck during a traffic stop. “Because I’m telling you to,” the officer replied before repeating his order for Noel to get out of the vehicle and then, without warning, shooting him with a taser through the open window.
Unfortunately, as Gregory Tucker learned the hard way, there are no longer any fail-safe rules of engagement for interacting with the police.
It was in the early morning hours of Dec. 1, 2016, when Tucker, a young African-American man, was pulled over by Louisiana police for a broken taillight. Because he did not feel safe stopping immediately, Tucker drove calmly and slowly to a safe, well-lit area a few minutes away before stopping in front of his cousin’s house.
That’s when what should have been a routine traffic stop became yet another example of police brutality in America and another reason why Americans are justified in their fear of cops.
According to the lawsuit that was filed in federal court by The Rutherford Institute, police ordered Tucker out of his vehicle, and after he had stepped out, immediately placed him under arrest for “resisting” (in this case, not immediately stopping) and searched his person and his vehicle. Tucker was then ordered to move to the front of the police vehicle and place his hands on its hood.
Two more police officers arrived on the scene, walked up behind Tucker, and grabbed his arms to restrain and handcuffed him.
Then the fourth police officer arrived on the scene. According to police dash cam footage, Tucker was thrown to the ground and punched numerous times in the head and body. The police also yelled repeatedly at Tucker to “quit resisting.” Tucker, bleeding with injuries to his face, head and arm, was then placed into the back of a police vehicle and EMTs were called to treat him. He was eventually taken to the hospital for severe injuries to his face and arm.
Mind you, this young man complied with police. He just didn’t do it fast enough to suit their purposes.
This young man submitted to police. He didn’t challenge police authority when they frisked him, searched his car, handcuffed him, and beat him to a pulp.
If this young man is “guilty” of anything, he’s guilty of ticking off the cops by being cautious, concerned for his safety, and all too aware of the dangers faced by young black men during encounters with the police.
Frankly, you don’t even have to be young or black or a man to fear for your life during an encounter with the police.
Just consider the growing numbers of unarmed people are who being shot and killed just for standing a certain way, or moving a certain way, or holding something—anything—that police could misinterpret to be a gun, or igniting some trigger-centric fear in a police officer’s mind that has nothing to do with an actual threat to their safety.
At a time when police can do no wrong—at least in the eyes of the courts, police unions and politicians dependent on their votes—and a “fear” for officer safety is used to justify all manner of police misconduct, “we the people” are at a severe disadvantage.
Add a traffic stop to the mix, and that disadvantage increases dramatically.
According to the Justice Department, the most common reason for a citizen to come into contact with the police is being a driver in a traffic stop.
On average, one in 10 Americans gets pulled over by police.
Black drivers are 31 percent more likely to be pulled over than white drivers, or about 23 percent more likely than Hispanic drivers. As the Washington Post concludes, “‘Driving while black’ is, indeed, a measurable phenomenon.”
Indeed, police officers have been given free range to pull anyone over for a variety of reasons.
This free-handed approach to traffic stops has resulted in drivers being stopped for windows that are too heavily tinted, for driving too fast, driving too slow, failing to maintain speed, following too closely, improper lane changes, distracted driving, screeching a car’s tires, and leaving a parked car door open for too long.
Motorists can also be stopped by police for driving near a bar or on a road that has large amounts of drunk driving, driving a certain make of car (Mercedes, Grand Prix and Hummers are among the most ticketed vehicles), having anything dangling from the rearview mirror (air fresheners, handicap parking permits, troll transponders or rosaries), and displaying pro-police bumper stickers.
Incredibly, a federal appeals court actually ruled unanimously in 2014 that acne scars and driving with a stiff upright posture are reasonable grounds for being pulled over. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that driving a vehicle that has a couple air fresheners, rosaries and pro-police bumper stickers at 2 MPH over the speed limit is suspicious, meriting a traffic stop.
Equally appalling, in Heien v. North Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court—which has largely paved the way for the police and other government agents to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance—allowed police officers to stop drivers who appear nervous, provided they provide a palatable pretext for doing so.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the lone objector in the case. Dissenting in Heien, Sotomayor warned, “Giving officers license to effect seizures so long as they can attach to their reasonable view of the facts some reasonable legal interpretation (or misinterpretation) that suggests a law has been violated significantly expands this authority… One wonders how a citizen seeking to be law-abiding and to structure his or her behavior to avoid these invasive, frightening, and humiliating encounters could do so.”
In other words, drivers beware.
Traffic stops aren’t just dangerous. They can be downright deadly.
Remember Walter L. Scott? Reportedly pulled over for a broken taillight, Scott—unarmed—ran away from the police officer, who pursued and shot him from behind, first with a Taser, then with a gun. Scott was struck five times, “three times in the back, once in the upper buttocks and once in the ear — with at least one bullet entering his heart.”
Samuel Dubose, also unarmed, was pulled over for a missing front license plate. He was reportedly shot in the head after a brief struggle in which his car began rolling forward.
Levar Jones was stopped for a seatbelt offense, just as he was getting out of his car to enter a convenience store. Directed to show his license, Jones leaned into his car to get his wallet, only to be shot four times by the “fearful” officer. Jones was also unarmed.
Bobby Canipe was pulled over for having an expired registration. When the 70-year-old reached into the back of his truck for his walking cane, the officer fired several shots at him, hitting him once in the abdomen.
Dontrell Stevens was stopped “for not bicycling properly.” The officer pursuing him “thought the way Stephens rode his bike was suspicious. He thought the way Stephens got off his bike was suspicious.” Four seconds later, sheriff’s deputy Adams Lin shot Stephens four times as he pulled out a black object from his waistband. The object was his cell phone. Stephens was unarmed.
Sandra Bland, pulled over for allegedly failing to use her turn signal, was arrested after refusing to comply with the police officer’s order to extinguish her cigarette and exit her vehicle. The encounter escalated, with the officer threatening to “light” Bland up with his taser. Three days later, Bland was found dead in her jail cell. “You’re doing all of this for a failure to signal?” Bland asked as she got out of her car, after having been yelled at and threatened repeatedly.
Keep in mind, from the moment those lights start flashing and that siren goes off, we’re all in the same boat. However, it’s what happens after you’ve been pulled over that’s critical.
Survival is key.
Technically, you have the right to remain silent (beyond the basic requirement to identify yourself and show your registration). You have the right to refuse to have your vehicle searched. You have the right to film your interaction with police. You have the right to ask to leave. You also have the right to resist an unlawful order such as a police officer directing you to extinguish your cigarette, put away your phone or stop recording them.
However, there is a price for asserting one’s rights. That price grows more costly with every passing day.
If you ask cops and their enablers what Americans should do to stay alive during encounters with police, they will tell you to comply, cooperate, obey, not resist, not argue, not make threatening gestures or statements, avoid sudden movements, and submit to a search of their person and belongings.
The problem, of course, is what to do when compliance is not enough.
After all, every day we hear about situations in which unarmed Americans complied and still died during an encounter with police simply because they appeared to be standing in a “shooting stance” or held a cell phone or a garden hose or carried around a baseball bat or answered the front door or held a spoon in a threatening manner or ran in an aggressive manner holding a tree branch or wandered around naked or hunched over in a defensive posture or made the mistake of wearing the same clothes as a carjacking suspect (dark pants and a basketball jersey) or dared to leave an area at the same time that a police officer showed up or had a car break down by the side of the road or were deaf or homeless or old.
Now you can make all kinds of excuses to justify these shootings, and in fact that’s exactly what you’ll hear from politicians, police unions, law enforcement officials and individuals who are more than happy to march in lockstep with the police.
However, to suggest that a good citizen is a compliant citizen and that obedience will save us from the police state is not only recklessly irresponsible, but it is also deluded and out of touch with reality.
To begin with, and most importantly, Americans need to know their rights when it comes to interactions with the police, bearing in mind that many law enforcement officials are largely ignorant of the law themselves.
In a nutshell, the following are your basic rights when it comes to interactions with the police as outlined in the Bill of Rights:
You have the right under the First Amendment to ask questions and express yourself. You have the right under the Fourth Amendment to not have your person or your property searched by police or any government agent unless they have a search warrant authorizing them to do so. You have the right under the Fifth Amendment to remain silent, to not incriminate yourself and to request an attorney. Depending on which state you live in and whether your encounter with police is consensual as opposed to your being temporarily detained or arrested, you may have the right to refuse to identify yourself. Presently, 26 states do not require citizens to show their ID to an officer (drivers in all states must do so, however).
Knowing your rights is only part of the battle, unfortunately.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the hard part comes in when you have to exercise those rights in order to hold government officials accountable to respecting those rights.
As a rule of thumb, you should always be sure to clarify in any police encounter whether or not you are being detained, i.e., whether you have the right to walk away. That holds true whether it’s a casual “show your ID” request on a boardwalk, a stop-and-frisk search on a city street, or a traffic stop for speeding or just to check your insurance. If you feel like you can’t walk away from a police encounter of your own volition—and more often than not you can’t, especially when you’re being confronted by someone armed to the hilt with all manner of militarized weaponry and gear—then for all intents and purposes, you’re essentially under arrest from the moment a cop stops you. Still, it doesn’t hurt to clarify that distinction.
While technology is always going to be a double-edged sword, with the gadgets that are the most useful to us in our daily lives—GPS devices, cell phones, the internet—being the very tools used by the government to track us, monitor our activities, and generally spy on us, cell phones are particularly useful for recording encounters with the police and have proven to be increasingly powerful reminders to police that they are not all powerful.
A good resource is The Rutherford Institute’s “Constitutional Q&A: Rules of Engagement for Interacting with Police.”
Clearly, in the American police state, compliance is no guarantee that you will survive an encounter with the police with your life and liberties intact.
So if you’re starting to feel somewhat overwhelmed, intimidated and fearful for your life and the lives of your loved ones, you should be.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
THE REAL PROBLEM IS POLICE
The real problem is today we have an entire generation of spoiled “entitled” brats who believe rules don’t apply to them, whose parents refuse to be parents and hold their “little kiddos” accountable for their behavior!
AND THEY GROW UP TO JOIN A VIOLENT GANG OF PUSSIES IN BLUE.
It is called “THE WYATT EARP SYNDROME”.
Give a poorly trained ignorant person a uniform, badge, and Gun, turn him loose with all the power that goes with it. All carrying hammers looking for nails to pound syndrome.
Major issue is the Mayors, county commissioners that are ultimately the responsible parties have to be held accountable, but Judges for the lawsuits are totally compromised as being part of the system.
My favorite story occurred in Longmont, Colorado many decades ago. (1975 or so) Main street downtown at lunch time, a bartender called cops for a drunk with a knife. Nothing else going on in the small agriculture village, so all five cop cars showed. Drunk staggers out of bar with the knife, and all five shot him numerous times. Take a night stick and whack the knife out of his hand response did not occur. He was without any relatives to sue so under the rug it went.
Another favorite was two honest to goodness robber type bad guys in California got surrounded by several cop cars, and the T.V. style gun fight erupted. On camera. Cops fired, as best I recall about 150 rounds, and never hit a bad guy. They eventually ran out of ammo, and surrendered.
Body cams for cops is a great innovation for sure.
It seems that “officer safety” trumps “courage under fire” almost all of the time, but especially with “school resource officers” and police officers in general. It seems that for almost every police officer, making it to a cushy retirement is the ultimate goal, the protection of the public be damned. Add to that, observe the many unjustified shootings by police that get “covered up” by police-friendly prosecutors and grand juries.
All one has to do is look at the (in)action of the police officers during the last number of mass school shootings, where these “trained professionals” SAT ON THEIR HANDS while the carnage was going on.
You can bet that us military veterans in such a case would be drawn TOWARD the sound of gunfire. If I had my way, I would arm teachers who wish to be armed, and would hire military veterans as school support personnel such as janitors and maintenance personnel. Janitorial and maintenance personnel have the run of the school buildings and would make an effective “reactionary force”. Us veterans would be much more effective than police, (who are only concerned about their own “safety”), as us veterans are trained to go towards the sound of gunfire and “solve the problem”.
Today’s human nature dictates that the person with all of the “training” (especially) law enforcement DOES cower in fear, while a 90 lb. armed teacher would reluctantly, but successfully take out the shooter. Being forced into a situation also forces one to act.
There are many examples of persons, who one would normally think, would not be capable of acting in an extremely high-stress situation, but DO come out on top-stopping the threat, and saving lives.
Sad to say, today’s police practices dictate that the cop’s life is MORE IMPORTANT than that of those he has sworn to protect despite the cops having statutory protections that do not apply to us ordinary civilians.
All one has to do is look at Medal of Honor recipients, who are almost always mild-mannered, initially reluctant to act, but DO act, and perform feats who most would think are normally beyond their capacity and capabilities TRUE bravery in the heat of battle. The same applies to those civilians who act during school shootings.
Human nature has a habit of propelling (actually forcing) the normal, average person into a true hero and life saver, while showing the true (cowardly behavior) nature of those we assign to protect us. A good example of our protectors cowering in fear is the deputies who FAILED TO ACT despite having all of the equipment necessary and the preferential laws on their side (that protect them from lawsuits and liability).
TRUE heroes ACT, while our so-called protectors (failed to) REACT.
There is much angst and consternation against prosecutors and grand juries who refuse to bring charges against police officers, even when incontrovertible evidence is presented. Even with incontrovertible audio and video evidence, prosecutors are loath to prosecute rogue law enforcement personnel.
Let’s examine the reasons why it is so difficult to prosecute thug cops:
Most prosecutors are former police officers or have extensive dealings with police departments and have ongoing relationships with police departments in their respective jurisdictions. They are friendly with the judges in their jurisdictions, as well. This, along with “absolute immunity” makes it easy for them to “cover up” police abuses and behavior. Prosecutors cannot be sued for malfeasance…it takes a judge (who prosecutors are friendly with) to bring charges on a rogue prosecutor (which almost never happens).
In addition, prosecutors guide the actions of grand juries. Prosecutors are not required to introduce any evidence to grand juries, (can and do) easily “whitewash” the actions of rogue cops. On the other hand, prosecutors can (and often do) go after honest citizens who seek justice outside official channels…prosecutors have ultimate power and are not afraid to use it…their immunity sees to that.
Another aspect to a grand jury’s inability to prosecute bad cops is the fear of retribution…cops drive around all day, have nothing but time, have access to various databases, and can easily get the names and addresses of grand jurors…this, in itself can be a powerful deterrent against grand jurors who “want to do the right thing” and prosecute bad cops. There are many cases of cops parking in front of grand jurors’ residences, following them around, and threaten to issue citations to them, in order to “convince” them to “make the right decision”…the “thin blue line” at its worst…
The whole system has to change.
Eliminate absolute and qualified immunity for all public officials. The fear of personal lawsuits would be a powerful deterrent against abuses of the public.
Any funds disbursed to civilians as a result of official misconduct must be taken from the police pension funds–NOT from the taxpayers.
Grand juries must be superior to the prosecutor; ALL evidence must be presented to grand jurors. Failure to do so must be considered a felony and subject prosecutors to prosecution themselves.
No police agency can be allowed to investigate itself. Internal affairs departments must be restricted to minor in-house investigations of behavior between cops. All investigations must be handled by outside agencies, preferably at the state level.
Civilian police review boards must be free of police influence. Members of civilian review boards must have NO ties to police departments. Relatives of police would be prohibited from serving…Recently, the “supreme court” threw police another “bone”. The court ruled that police are not responsible for their actions if they are “ignorant of the law”…now, let’s get this straight–honest citizens cannot use “ignorance of the law” as an excuse, but cops can??
Revolution is sorely needed…..
There have been many instances of police errors, mistakes, and misconduct that have not been properly addressed. From harassing honest citizens over minor disagreements, questionable shootings of honest citizens, to SWAT teams raiding “the wrong house”, smashing everything in sight, with no apologies to the occupants for their “mistakes”, there is something seriously amiss with law enforcement in this country. Militarization, along with the “us vs. them” attitude, seeing the general public as the “enemy”, treating the public with suspicion, many of those that comprise the “thin blue line” do much to alienate themselves from their “bosses”, the law-abiding public. In addition, American “law enforcement” is being trained in Israeli military tactics. I guess, “we are all Palestinians, now”.
All one has to do is look at the case of Daniel Shaver who was murdered by Officer Philip Brailsford with videotape evidence that the shooting was unwarranted. Daniel Shaver was attempting to obey conflicting commands from multiple police officers, being ordered to crawl on his stomach with his hands behind his back-impossible to do…Of course, Officer Brailsford was absolved of “responsibility” for the murder-the “thin blue line” protecting itself once again. It was evident that Brailsford wanted to shoot someone, having the phrase “you’re f#cked” on the dust cover of his AR-15. If an ordinary civilian had that same phrase on his weapon, a prosecutor would have a “field day” with it, using it to prove “intent”, even if the shooting was justified. Brailsford will probably get a job with another police department.
No humans in their right mind want to see anyone lose their life at the hands of criminals of any sort, even “law enforcement officers”–those who are charged with “keeping the peace”.
It seems that in today’s supercharged climate of “officer safety”, innocent civilian lives are being extinguished, with tragic results.
Part of the “problem” has to do with the elevation of “officer safety”, trumping “citizen safety”. It seems that honest citizens have been relegated to second-class “status”, being expendable whenever a “law enforcement” officer’s “safety” is threatened.
The hypocrisy is so blatant, that even with incontrovertible video and audio evidence, police-friendly prosecutors, along with “rubber stamp” grand juries STILL absolve rogue cops of wrongdoing. The public is not stupid, seeing through the double-standard that presently exists. This, in no certain terms, does not absolve anyone of responsibility for perpetrating unnecessary violence against “law enforcement”…
The sad part of this whole situation is that when the SHTF, the few good cops will suffer, as those with “axes to grind” will see only the uniform and will be unable (or even unwilling) to differentiate between the “good” and the few “bad”…collateral damage at its worst.
Non-violent changes in the whole system are sorely needed……
“Non-violent changes in the whole system are sorely needed……”
Not gonna happen…..
I have to agree with you.
Regards,
Daniel Shaver’s murder was unconscionable, unbelievable, and intolerable under any circumstance.
The encounter could have easily been handled in a calm manner, with polite conversation. But like you said, a screaming, self-indulgent bully, itching to shoot his gun, created a reason to do so out of thin air where none existed. I have a hard time not hating cops. Every Fucking One. Everything about them conjures my fiercest rejection.
If Daniel were my friend, Officer Brailsford’s every move would be in a breath-controlled wheelchair.
I loathe police. I remember the mentally ill man who was viciously murdered in Fullerton County jail in southern california. You couldnt even tell he was a human being when they brought him out. I record every law enforcement interaction I see, no matter who is involved. We have no protection from the monsters with the power and the will, to murder us. We have to protect each other any way possible.
Very well said
This guest article needs to be widely disseminated in light of the police abuses taking place:
No One Cares If You Go Home Safe At The End Of Your Shift
Jan 02, 201812:50AM
Category: Politics
Posted by: Michael Z. Williamson
Here at the house, I have a couple of decades plus of military experience. I have tools to dig in or out of natural disasters. I have extinguishers and hoses. I have a field trauma kit and bandages. I have weapons both melee and firearm. I know how to use them. I know how to trench, support and revet. I understand the fire triangle and appropriate approaches. I understand breathing, bleeding and shock. I know how to detain, restrain and control. I have done all of these at least occasionally, professionally. I’ve stood on top of a collapsing levee in a flood. I’ve fought a structure fire from inside so we could get everyone out before the fire department showed up, which only took two minutes, but people can die that fast. I’ve had structures collapse while I was working on them. I’ve been in an aircraft that had a “mechanical” on approach and had to be repaired in-flight before landing. I’ve helped control a brush fire. I’ve hauled disabled vehicles out of ditches in sub-zero weather.
My ex wife has over a decade of service and some of the same training.
We have trained our young adult children.
My wife is a rancher who knows her way around a shotgun, livestock, sutures and tools, hurricanes and floods, and works in investigations professionally.
Our current houseguest is another veteran.
This means if anything happens at the house–and last year we had a lightning strike, a tornado and a flood within 10 days–we’re pretty well prepared.
Now, we’re probably better off than 95% of the households out there. The level of disaster that necessitates backup varies.
If we find it necessary to call 911, it means the party is in progress and it’s bad.
You will probably not be going home safe at the end of your shift.
And you know what? If it gets to that point, I really don’t give a shit. I don’t give a shit if you get smoked. I don’t give a shit if you fall under a tree. I don’t give a shit if you get shot at.
Because at that point, I’ve done everything I can with that same circumstance, and run out of resources.
If my concern was “you going home safe,” then I’d just fucking hunker down and die. Because I wouldn’t want that poor responder to endanger himself.
Except…that’s what I pay taxes for, and that’s what you signed up for. Just like I signed up to walk into a potential nuke war in Germany and hold off the Soviets, and did walk into the Middle East and prepare to take fire while keeping expensive equipment functioning so our shooters could keep shooting.
There’s not a single set of orders I got that said my primary job was to “Come home safe.” They said it was to “support the mission” or “complete the objective.” Coming home safe was the ideal outcome, but entirely secondary to “supporting” or “completing.” Nor, once that started, did I get a choice to quit. Once in, all in.
When that 80 year old lady smells smoke or hears a noise outside her first floor bedroom in the ghetto, she doesn’t care if you go home safe, either. She’s afraid she or the kids next door won’t wake up in the morning.
If I call, I expect your ass to show up, sober, trained, professional. I expect you to wade in with me or in place of me, and drag a child out of a hole, or out from a burning room, or actually stand up and block bullets from hitting said child, because by the time you get there, I’ll have already done all that. And there will be field dressings, chainsawed trees, buckets and empty brass scattered about.
I don’t want to hear some drunk and confused guy squirming on the ground playing “Simon Says” terrified you so much you had to blow him away. I don’t want to hear that some random guy 35 yards away who you had no actual information on “may have reached toward his waist band. Or that “the tree might fall any moment” or that “the smoke makes it hard to see.”
Near as I can tell, I don’t hear the smokejumpers, or the firefighters, or the disaster rescue people say such things.
But it’s all I ever hear from the cops. If you and your five girlfriends in body armor, with rifles, are that terrified of actually risking your life for the theoretically dangerous job you volunteered for and can quit any time, then please do quit.
You can get a job doing pest control and go home safe every night.
Until a bunch of fucking pussies with big tattoos, small dicks, body armor and guns blow you away for minding your own business.
Because what you’re telling me with that statement is, your only concern is cashing a check. That’s fine. But if that’s your concern, don’t pretend you’re serving the public. If you wanted to help people at risk of life, you would be a firefighter, running into buildings, dragging people out, getting scorched regularly.
If you’re cool with writing tickets, then there’s jobs where you can do just that.
If you want to tangle with bad guys and blow them away, fair enough. But understand: That means they get to shoot first to prove their intent, just as happens with the military these days. Our ROE these days are usually “only if fired upon and no civilians are at risk.”
If your plan is “shoot first, shoot later, shoot some more, then if anyone is still alive try to ask questions,” and bleat, “But I was afeard fer mah lahf!” you’re absolutely no better than the thugs you claim to oppose. All you are is another combatant in a turf war I don’t care about.
Since I know your primary concern is “being safe,” then I’ll do you the favor of not calling. Cash your welfare check, and try not to shoot me at a “courtesy” sobriety checkpoint for twitching my eye “in a way that suggested range estimation.”
If you’re one of the vanishingly few cops who isn’t like that, then what the hell are you doing about it? If there’s going to be a lawsuit costing the city millions, isn’t it better that it be a labor suit from the union over the clown you fired, than a wrongful death suit over the poor bastard the clown shot? Both are expensive, but one has a dead victim you enabled. So how much do you actually care about that life?
How is the training so bad that it’s not clear who is the scene commander who gives the orders?
How is it that trigger happy bozos who, out of costume, look no different from the gangbangers you claim to oppose, get sent up front to fulfill their wish of hosing someone down because “I was afraid for my life!”?
Why does the rot exist in your department?
If you can’t do anything about it, why are you still in that department?
At some point, collective guilt is a thing.
You’ve probably not been a good cop for a long time.
And I still don’t care if you go home safe. I care that everyone you purport to “serve and protect” goes home safe.
Law enforcement would NEVER hire a man like you, who would correct the problems, because they are targetting men like you. You are the enemy…with your integrity, capability, and determination. Certainly they couldn’t expect a real man, like yourself, to destroy other men, just like you! No, it requires a certain depravity, a special entitled personality, to accomplish what THEY have in mind.
Pedophiles and diversity hires are well suited for their agenda, and as we can see, they are perfectly willing to do what they are expected to do. LEO’s have been reduced to glorified meter maids. And AntiFa security personnel. They are paid to target and harass certain groups. And protect the corruption occuring. Men like you cannot exist in that environment so men like you have left, are leaving, or they have been targetted/fired.
Even the U S State department’s travel advisories for foreigners visiting the United States advises visitors not to argue with American police officers.
As an aside, American police officers are trained in Israeli military tactics dealing with Palestinians. I guess that “we are all Palestinians, now”.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-02/san-francisco-bans-anti-car-burglar-warning-signs-because-racist
and anti-faggot, too.
“We donts be need’n no ‘bewahr uh nigga’ sines, dem faggot nigga’s juz fillin’ ohdas from all de pawn shops own by de poleece!”
Odd that there is NO MENTION of the obligatory “training” trip that ALL law enforcement personnel are “gifted” from the ADL (‘American’ Defense League). The oh-so-generous Israeli sabotage network dedicated to destroying our country from within.
I have watched video, after video, on how the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) treat the palestinians in Gaza and the west bank. Of course those ignorant of the reality in this so-called democracy in the middle east will be unaware (or in convenient denial) that palestinians are NEVER treated like men and women. They are treated like animals, or worse. But every law enforcement organization in THIS country is gifted sponsorship, by the ADL, to send officers to Israel-free of charge-to “train” with the IDF. To become “educated” on how to deal with “terrorism”.
To put this in perspective, the IDF loses more officers to suicide each year than to actual “on the job” attacks, or threats. And even then, the number of officers who die are in the teens to low twenties. That doesnt make an EXPERT in anything, by most standards.
Putting that aside, the reality in the “occupied territories” of palestine is that it is one of the most deadly places on earth. Death hangs over all who live there and its presence never leaves.
In this past year, the IDF has sniped hundreds/thousands of unarmed, non combative protestors simply for target practice. The IDF regularly enter these territories, with all the latest weapons and technology that we GIVE them FOR FREE, and when the IDF return to their so-called democracy, they have an unimpressive 5-year old boy in custody, who has clearly peed his pants. Or they have kneecapped another young palestinian boy while he was handcuffed and blindfolded, at point blank range. Both guilty of throwing rocks at the IDF tanks. The IDF with the best military gear that OUR money can buy is using that equipment for these activities, under the guise (or is it LIES?!) of “defending its borders”.
Is there ANYTHING more pathetic than THAT?!
And the law enforcement departments in every city of this country send their men and women to LEARN how to treat US from these sorry excuses for human beings?!
Is it any wonder they treat us like we have no value, or protection?!
Secondly, there is an elephant in this discussion. There is the obvious fact that the protections guaranteed by our constitution, and bill of rights, came with a serious warning, from the founding fathers, that the author probably knows, but prefers to ignore. That warning was this:
The laws of this country are weak laws, made intentionally so, to provide us with the maximum amount of personal freedom possible. These laws are NOT sufficient, or intended for, a society which is anything other that VIRTUOUS!
(Dont believe me, look it up!)
People who support the importation of throngs of foreigners who dont respect us, or our laws, like Mr. Whitehead here, don’t have ANY right to complain when the rules of engagement change to that of a police state.
Everything he said is true.
But what did he expect would happen when the lawless criminals from all around the globe were given free passes into our previously virtuous society?!
Was he deluded into thinking our freedoms WERE FREE?!
That everyone alive today, deserves freedom?
Foolish decisions have consequences, Mr.Whitehead. If every invader were capable of virtue, they wouldnt need to come here to mooch off of Americas goodness and prosperity.
Duh!
Finally, these law enforcement officers are usually diversity quota hires. They are NOT qualified, or capable, to do the job. And those who ARE capable, American men, are seriously outnumbered by diversity hires and thus overworked, to make up for the incompetence of the diversity hires.
Its EASY to blame everybody else. Its easy to point the finger.
Law enforcement changed when the liberal ‘politically correct’ agenda began to exert pressure in this country. NOTHING has been spared from the gutting of ‘politically correct’ stupidity.
This country has been overrun with criminal degenerates. These invaders have effectively ELIMINATED the freedoms we used to enjoy. Americans are NOT stupid! We understand the price we paid for freedom. The third world invaders are the only ones WHO DON’T get it.