[quote]Mikeyali wrote:
It’s been awhile gents. Law school is keeping me entirely too busy, but this is pretty big news up in my neck of the woods so I figure I’d add my two cents.
Everyone knows I’m not a big fan of cops, but this sure as hell is no way for them to go out. Their death was sad and unneccesary. But I’ve several observations come from it. I’m not going to jump into the hero worship bit, but I find their death sad in a way that anyone’s would be. You go way too far Lifty.
1: Why is the death of a cop worse than that of a citizen in the news? Particularly in an instance such as this, I’d put them at pretty much the same footing.
2: After the murder of these cops I’m watching the video of the area. Why do you need SWAT vans with officers hanging off it and guys in Multicam with sniper rifles? This was one guy with a pistol. I understand cordoning off the area, but this seems like a good bit of overkill.
This situation is particularly alarming to me. Are we desensitizing our populace to the militarization of the police? Are there a bunch of guys sitting around waiting for something to do? What gives? My personal presumption (and that’s all it is) is that as soon as you get something sexy, everyone and their grandma is looking to get to the scene in the hopes they can see some action. I’m sympathetic to the feeling, but duty above all guys.
Then again, if it is necessary, kudos to them. Watching that I’m glad I’m not a SWAT officer. I’d hate to sit around all day knowing damn well that there’s no good reason for it.
3: Can we teach our cops to be a little more professional and safety minded with their weapons? I’m sick of watching guys swinging their AR’s around carrying them by their pistol grips. Hell, if I saw some hillbilly doing that at the range I’d ask him to either unfuck himself or I’d get the hell away from the unsafe bastard.
4: How dangerous is being a cop? I’m not one and I’m not trying to be disrespecful. Yet they mentioned on the news that Spokane, which is a shithole I’d never go into unarmed, last had a cop killed there on duty 33 years ago. We lost a good cop in my area a few years back in the line of duty, but he was the only guy in 110 years here to die that way. I’ve heard many cops on this board talk about doing what they do because of how dangerous the job is and how they just want to make it home at night. Granted this is a generally low crime area and it doesn’t take into account a cop getting a broken jaw or something but still. It seems to me that being a cop is a good deal safer than being a 100-lb girl.
Either way, it’s an unfortunate event. I’d love a smaller police force, but this isn’t the way to do it. I won’t revel in their deaths. Anyshit, back to lawsmithing.[/quote]
Been a long time Mike. Hope things are good. That said, I have to take umbrage with a few things.
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Nobody is saying the death of a cop is any worse than any other citizen’s. There are however, a good number of people left in this country who recognize the police as a key element of the line between civility and savagery, despite what a few of the pseudo-anarchist hacks on here think. Some even still revere the police for it, although I recognize that as a quasi-romantic notion.
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Please stop with the militarization nonsense. Every critical incident has caused an evolution of police tactics. Assault weapons, hard body armor, helmets, flashbangs and military tactics simply work better in combating violent people. Barney Fife does not. I’ve read quite a bit of Radley Balco’s writings, and he misses the boat with the same point. He makes too much of the “trappings”, for lack of a better term, of modern police work. I can’t see complaining about the level of resources employed to catch this guy…although it is interesting that it came down to a lone patrol officer finishing the job.
3.Agreed. Part of my mission has been to fix this stuff in my neck of the woods as I am assigned part time to a tactics training unit. The crazy stuff you see is the result of bad training and bad selection. Period. The physical, psychological and philosophical requirements of a true master cop is a very rare thing and the desire to put asses in seats so to speak has lead to a lot of our problems.
4.Hmmm. Well, here are a few observations…
a.The things that you often bemoan in terms of militarization are a large part of what makes law enforcement a much safer profession than it used to be.
b.Next to no jobs will have you spending every day of your career as a target simply because of the clothes you are wearing, even if the chance of something lethal happening to you is low.
c.Deadly violence is one of the more remote possibilities for ending a police career. I don’t know anyone who has been killed in a violent confrontation. Accidental deaths and serious injuries, primarily due to working on the highways in every kind of fubar situation you can imagine? I personally know of plenty of those. Don’t forget that assaults and physical confrontations rarely make any headlines whatsoever. Nearly every cop has a good number of those under their belt if they work near any type of population center. How many jobs can say that?
Lastly, I'm not sure what you meant by this: "I've heard many cops on this board talk about doing what they do because of how dangerous the job is and how they just want to make it home at night." I would be interested in clarification.
You’re right. We need fewer, but better selected, better trained cops. That is not really a discussion that needs to be had in light of what this thread was about though.
Regardless, I appreciate the dignity and reasonableness that you bring to these topics, even though you are no fan of my profession. Others should follow your lead.