Never in my life have I experienced or seen anything like this except on TV, and to be in the midst of it, it's shocking and heartbreaking," Mills said. "As we were coming down Fourth Street, we noticed a bunch of lights. As we came on through, (Roberts) told me to turn around because she saw somebody laying on the ground.~ Tamika Mills on encountering the scene where two Hattiesburg, Miss. police officers were gunned down during the course of a traffic stop.[1]So I backed up. That's when we noticed the officer was down. We just saw that one, but in the course of me being on the phone with 9-1-1, I turned and I saw another officer across the street rolling on the ground. (Roberts) ran across the street to check on him. He wasn't all the way alert but he asked her, "Am I dying? I know I'm dying. Just hand me my walkie-talkie."
These are the two officers who lost their lives on May 9, 2015:
Benjamin Deen, 34.
Liquori Tate, 25.
Officer Tate posted on Facebook last year: "I graduated the Police Academy today. I am now a Police Officer. I would like to thank God, the Police Academy, the Police Department, my family, friends, and love ones."
Arrested in connection with this crime were (L-R) Marvin Banks, 26, Joanie Calloway, 22, and Curtis Banks, 29.
Another individual, Cornelius Clark, has been arrested in connection with these murders. Two others have also been arrested, Douglas Diquan McPhail, 21, and Anquanette L. Alexander, 19. Both have been charged with obstruction of justice.
Perhaps we could tone down the police-as-vicious-thugs rhetoric. Our police stand between civilization and the law of the jungle. These admirable and eminently human individuals were gunned down for no reason whatsoever. One's heart breaks at their words and the loss of their lives. Our enemy is not the police but barbarism. The people who are out of control in our country are those among us who are intent to hampering enforcement of the law, and enabling and encouraging anarchy. Obama and Attorney General Lynch, neither of whom gives a damn about the Constitution, are part of the problem.
Notes
[1] "2 Hattiesburg officers killed; 4 suspects in custody." The Clarion-Ledger, 5/11/15. Contributing to this article were Sam R. Hall, Therese Apel and Sarah Fowler for The Clarion-Ledger; Tim Doherty and Jason Munz for the Hattiesburg American; and the Associated Press.
Vicious thugs ought to be called out as vicious thugs, regardless of their color, and that includes the color blue.
ReplyDeleteI do not know if these police as victims were admirable, I don't know enough about them. Freddie Gray was also killed, but given what I know about his background he is not admirable. There is neither honor nor dishonor in being a victim. I can only give the benefit of the doubt.
I live in a small western town. Most towns out here want the citizens to learn law enforcement, to act as auxiliaries. They are my neighbors. They don't try to raise revenue. They always act to help and keep the peace. The 2nd amendment is respected and generally the citizens are expected to take care of things themselves.
Things are very different in the big cities. Police do not protect and serve the citizens. They raise revenue or enforce petty laws.
The Blaze (spend the $1 trial) had Glenn Beck's "The Root" trace the change from the peace officer to the militarized, harassing, revenue-via-fine tax collector, opportunist.
Finally, You yourself are "those among us who are intent to hampering enforcement of the law". The average American commits three felonies a day. You've probably committed at least a dozen since the beginning of the year. If you are so much for "law and order", you should turn yourself in and serve the sentence for "not checking box 8 on form P", or whatever other felonies you are guilty of.
For me, I'm glad to hamper enforcement of such minutiae. Conversely, I'm strongly (and violently if need be) opposed to those who would breach the peace, create civic disorder, or destroy trust among the populace.
Theft, vandalism, and violence are such things. Jaywalking, not coming to a full stop, or having your grass 1/2 inch too tall doesn't.
Police would risk their lives if they really tried to stop the former, but are busy with risk-free enforcement of the latter.
And that is the problem.
Thank you tz. Well said.
ReplyDeleteI do not share your view of police as harassers by way of enforcement of petty rules. I have never been treated disrespectfully by any cop and have been ticketed only twice in my life, one instance of which was indeed an instance of a cop waiting at the bottom of a hill upon which every auto will speed up by itself if one doesn't apply the brake as a manifestation of citizen hyper-vigilance. The other ticket was not unfair (though I managed to beat it by appealing the conviction and requiring a non-routine reappearance of the officer). All other encounters with cops were polite and involved being let off even once when 25 mph over. Correction. I received another ticket for driving with a shattered windshield which was anything but an abuse of police authority.
ReplyDeleteAbuses there are but I'll wager 50 cents that many of them would evaporate if legislative bodies would not require cops to enforce laws designed to collect revenue or defend against evasion of extortionate taxes. Forfeiture laws are just an abomination and the abuses thereof are truly horrendous.
I'm well aware of Ruby Ridge, Waco, SWAT team overuse, and the ominous prevalence MRAP vehicles. But it's a large country and occasional, even serious abuses do not convince me that cops are stupid, vicious, or venal. The officers I highlight in my post were the opposite of what you seem to imply is the norm for city police. My guess is that the stop was because the vehicle the killers were driving was stolen. This is hardly an instance of harassment.
We're still squarely in the realm of anecdote here. However, I'll hazard the opinion that the vast majority of police do their jobs correctly and honestly. As the NRA sometimes observes, yesterday 90 million gun owners committed no crimes whatsoever. Or words to that effect.
Tom Kratman said it best in a thread over at Vox Day's place. I cannot find the exact quote, but the general point was that most Police officers are *not* our enemy, but they are in the wrong place and serving in the wrong role.
ReplyDeleteImagine if the thugs could be expelled from their urban domains and removed from the country (highly unlikely). Imagine, further, that doing so obviated the need for aggressive policing (somewhat more likely, given the first condition). Now you could take those "peace officers" and post them at our southern border with orders to do exactly what they are good at doing... with those who are NOT American citizens, and who are violating our territorial integrity.
They'd make great protectors and watchdogs, if not constantly placed into situations in which the American people tend to become the enemy.
But also, we cannot deny that as offensive and tyrannical as they can be, these same officers also serve a vital role in keeping the thugs and malcontents pinned down. It's a complex situation without an easy solution.
America's problems have long since transcended such "easy" fixes as removing some police power. The police state and the "thug state" if you will, are engaged in an arms buildup, and regular Americans are caught in the crossfire.
@Dystopic.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there ever has been a thought in the minds of cops that the American people are an enemy. Also, my previous comment shows that I've never known cops to be anything but courteous and reasonable, except for cop who took advantage of motorists' momentary inattention to the gravity-induced increasing speed of their vehicle. That was petty but no big deal in the scheme of things.
As matters are now, cops could not be redirected to the border. They have a different function and, anyway, it's for other organizations to secure the border, even including citizen volunteers of which there would be tens of thousands if the border were turned into a free-fire zone, which it should be. Warnings would precede this, etc., etc., etc., so no one need get hurt unless they want to defy U.S. sovereignty, which they do now by the millions. A United States that was serious (deadly) about controlling its borders would be a shock to millions of potential parasites but they'd get over it quickly upon reaching the first electrified fence and the warning signs.
SWAT excesses, forfeiture abuse, and up-armament of LE organizations don't concern me as much as the preparations of DHS and the federal agencies in general. Ammunition procurements of DHS alone make no sense, esp. the hollow-point ammo. No plausible reason exists for them other than ammo being stockpiled for offensive operations against citizens and, perhaps, reducing supplies available to citizens, though there's no shortage of that same ammo for civilians.
Cops reflect, ultimately, their leadership, especially civilian political leadership. At present I think cops still are overwhelmingly more "us" than "them" but political trends are worrisome, esp. with the blatant attempt to neutralize local police leadership by attempting to "federalize" law enforcement. You may have noticed a complete absence of any authority for that in the Constitution, but, since that's become a dead letter, who cares?
It's clear we have a government of occupation at this moment. The states remain independent in important ways so it's not a complete revolution.
You can't swing a dead cat in my wife's family without hitting a cop. I love almost everyone of them. Like people, there are always some bad eggs, but we are need to wake up to what is being done to us by a teenie, tiny group of power hungry nut jobs. They are dividing us and setting us against each other so we cannot come together to hang them for their crimes against us and our progeny.
ReplyDeleteShame on any American who refuses to stand up and come to the aid on any other American, cop or citizen. Imagine how much better things would be if we all stood together for individual liberty and justice instead of seeing the worst in everyone around us?