Let cops do their job!

 

When President Trump held a press conference at the White House, in which he declared that he has federalized the capital police force, he made the excellent point that there are 3500 officers in that district, yet Mayor Bowser is requesting 500 more. “That’s a lot of police officers for a small area,” he said. He went on to say that more cops wouldn’t be needed if they were allowed to do their job. Trump announced that, he will deploy the National Guard and that Attorney General Pam Bondi will be taking command of the Metropolitan Police Department and DEA Administrator Terry Cole will be interim federal commissioner of the force. Bondi said “Let me be crystal clear. Crime in D.C. is ending and ending today. We are going to use every power we have to fight criminals here.”

It’s easy to assume that such talk is just the repetitious rhetoric that we’ve heard from political leaders for decades. We’ve been hearing them say that violent crime will not be tolerated on the streets of our cities, as if saying it will cause the rampaging thugs to reform their wicked ways. Yet, with no strong action to back it up, the rapists, muggers, carjackers, et al, will have a good laugh as they continue to rip off the decent people of their communities. The problem is that the bad guys have no fear of the good guys. However, what Trump has embarked on will change that equation. When law-enforcement personnel know they are backed up by courageous leaders at the top of the government, we’ll soon see how quickly chaos ends.

Every city has a trained army of cops who know how to curb crime, and they risk their lives every day to accomplish that goal. But how many of them are going to risk jail terms, lawsuits, and public condemnation each time they get involved in a violent confrontation? When cops read about their fellow officers being thrown under the bus for doing the job they were trained to do, they’re very likely to hesitate when they arrive at a crime scene. That hesitation often costs them, and others, their lives. Keep in mind, there are savage people who prowl the streets every day looking for easy prey. The only thing that deters them is police presence, and even that is becoming less worrisome to the recidivist thugs because they have no fear of the feckless system that masquerades as justice.

When criminals don’t fear cops, how safe is the average civilian? During my experience working in high crime areas for 20 years with NYPD, I learned that residents of most neighborhoods want tough cops on patrol. They’re afraid to go public with their support because they have to live in those areas where such support has resulted in brutal reprisals. Many feel as though they’re hostages in their own homes. Those who live in low crime districts have no idea what it’s like to be as afraid to walk in the street as it is to remain in one’s residence. Hence, whether it’s the nation’s capital, or any other municipality in our country, we must come to a time in which we agree to let cops do their job. Not only do they know who the reprobates are, they know where they are. When reducing crime in any area, a good start is to break up the gangs that terrorize whole sections of that zone. Me and my plainclothes investigation squad knew who the leaders were, and we took them to a place where we could reason with them. If they didn’t get our drift, we took a different approach; we showed up at one of their secret strategy sessions and tried reasoning with them in front of their fellow thugs.

I’ll leave the reasoning approach to your imagination. But suffice to say, when you introduce thugs to the raw tactics they use against innocent people; when they know what it feels like to be rushed to a hospital; when they feel the pain and the fear that they’re used to perpetrating against their victims; when they no longer have control over their circumstances and no one to appeal to for help, it’ll change their attitude toward others in their orbit. Moreover, when they learn that any further criminal behavior will result in similar types of behavior modification, they’re likely to abandon a life of crime. Some liberals will read this and say we took the law into our own hands. Au contraire, we did what the law is supposed to do; we curbed crime and punished criminals. If those oblivious handwringers lived in the vicious jungle known as urban America, instead of their ivory tower, gated communities, they’d be cheering us on too.     

Cops are just people doing their jobs

 

When I look at the highly publicized violent police incidents, it's obvious why some of them result in death.  Whether it's the George Floyd "I can't breathe" situation in Minneapolis; the Michael Brown shooting death in Ferguson, Missouri; the choke-hold death of Eric Garner in New York City; or numerous other law-enforcement actions, one thing is clear: they all resisted arrest.  They might all be alive today if they had simply obeyed the lawful orders of the police.  That's what decent people do when confronted by those who represent the system of laws by which civilized people live.  We have many "rights" in this constitutional republic, but one of them is not the right to disobey the law, or those entrusted to enforce it.

During my 20 years as a cop in NYC, violent episodes during arrest situations were probably as common as they are today.  The difference is, we didn't have the internet, iPhones, and social media to broadcast every unsavory moment dealing with civilian-police encounters.  Now that everyone has a camera, we have millions of wannabe producers, directors, and editors, all of whom have opportunities to become instantly famous by virtue of selected video clips that can distort the "news" as cleverly as the N.Y. Times distorts stories about President Trump.  What the Times editors write is the slant they want you to read.  Similarly, what you view on those videos is often the slant the videographer wants you to see. 

Inasmuch as there seems to be no limit to what can be posted on social media, and no penalties for distortions that incite people to riot, we have entered a phase in our history in which the potential for violent insurrection has been placed in the hands of the most malevolent purveyors of hatred for our country and for those who have a natural disdain for authority.  Being an active cop for two decades provided me with an education about people that few "civilians" would understand.  I learned that people intuitively understand the need for a system of laws, as well as the need for officers entrusted to enforce them.  Yet, intuitive, or not, people don't like getting arrested.

During a serious criminal incident involving an apprehension and arrest, the offender often becomes a violent adversary with one goal: do anything necessary to get away.  He may be on probation for another crime, meaning that a new arrest may result in several years' incarceration.

Think about the position of the cop when he stops a man for questioning under suspicious circumstances.  The man may be wanted for murder, robbery, rape, or any number of other felonies that would put him in a cell for long time.  With that in mind, he might be desperate enough to use a weapon on the cop to get away.  Up to that point, the cop hasn't determined the potential menace he's facing, since he's only doing a preliminary investigation.  In this scenario, the offender has an advantage on the cop because he knows what he's going to do if the handcuffs come out.  Faced with losing years of his life in prison, the felon is not likely to be taken easily.

The following is often the way the situation unfolds.  The cop determines he has enough evidence to effect an arrest and informs the offender of the charges.  "Hey, man, I didn't do anything, and you're not taking me!" the guy says.  In this instance, the cop has no other options.  He's facing a man who broke the law, and it's his job to bring the guy in, period.  He can't walk away.  He can't tell the guy he's forgiven.  He can't call his superior and ask for instructions.  He must do what he was trained to do — otherwise, turn in the badge and gun.

Okay, now comes the part about getting cuffs on the guy and putting him in the patrol car.  Please trust me on this: even with a partner helping you, it's very difficult and dangerous to take someone who doesn't want to go.  A 110-pound woman can put up a ferocious battle to keep you from manacling her wrists together and dragging her into the car.  Now imagine a 6'3", 220-pound, muscular antagonist who defies your lawful order to put his hands behind his back.  The moment he refuses, the justice system is being tested.  Either we enforce our laws or we turn the country over to barbarians.

This brings me to the reason for the title of this column.  Cops are just people who go to work at a job and look forward to returning home to their families.  They know that the work is dangerous, so their adrenal glands are on high alert during physical confrontations.  Being human, they may get scared, but they must respond when a crime occurs and the offender is within their grasp.  Deadly force is always the last resort.  Still, if they get scared enough, they will do what it takes to ensure that they go home to family that night.  Hence, when deadly force is used, it's not because the cop is brutal; it's because he was trying to do his job against an offender who left him no choice.