Police Officer Versus Citizen Safety

Police Officer V. Citizen Safety

When I was a kid, a long time ago, we were taught that police officers were our “friends” and to go to them if you were ever in trouble. I know today that may sound a little “Mayberry-esque” but things were really quite different than they are now. And along the way, things have changed – slowly; but nonetheless inexorably changed.

You see back in the day, police officer’s sworn duty was to “serve and protect” the citizens of the cities and town they worked in. They were equipped with common sense, dedication, love of their community, radios and a simple .38 caliber revolver. With these few tools they did what they were supposed to do: protect the citizens. (I will interject here that yes, there were some horrible racist and bad cops back then; but I am talking about the good cops.) Those police officers handled everything from bank robberies to speeding tickets, hostage situations, drugs and the all the rest of the things they are confronted with. And they did the job pretty darn well and were respected.

But, as I said somewhere along the way something has changed – and not for the good. Instead of “protect and serve” today’s police forces motto is “officer safety first”. Now one might ponder what is wrong with that? The answer is a lot is wrong with that. When “officer’s safety” trumps “protect and serve the citizens” we have a real problem on our hands.

Perhaps the best example of what I am talking about is the militarization of the police departments across the county, including right there in McKinney, Texas. Most notably this phenomenon takes on the form of paramilitary SWAT units. God only knows how much of our tax money has been and is being spent for these units to be equipped and trained as military units, instead of policemen. Such officers are now trained in military assault tactics and equipped with military rifles, grenades, explosives and sniper gear.

Now the “urban myths” are that this is necessary because:

• The Bad Guys Have And Use Military Equipment.

The truth is no, they don’t. Don’t believe me? Simply go to the U.S. FBI web site and look up the details of the 50 or so out of the current 900,000 or so police officers shot to death in each of the last several years. The VAST majority of death occurred by handgun’s, typically from 9mm down to .22 caliber. Most all were obtained illegally.

In my relatively long memory I can only remember one (1) incident where police anywhere, anytime in this country were confronted with bad guys with military equipment to include body armor. That incident was a bank robbery in Los Angeles which occurred a long time ago.

• Police Officers Face Much More Risk Than Before.

The truth is no, they don’t. With all due respect to police officers a simple look at the annual report of “Most Dangerous Jobs” compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show you that is another myth. Simply go to their website and see for yourself. In fact, so few police officers lose their lives each year that not only does the job not rank in the top ten most dangerous jobs – but the number of deaths is actually “statistically insignificant”.

Now before someone gives the “knee-jerk” response of any death is one to many – I agree with you. But consider this fact which can be found simply by going to the National Transportation and Highway Administration web site: you and I “Joe average citizen’s” are three (3) times more likely to be killed in a car crash than is a cop being shot and killed. Translation for all those who say cops “risk their lives everyday”: so do all of us. In fact, we take three times the risk just by driving our cars.

• Cops Are Fighting Terrorist and Hostage Takers.

This one is obvious. The truth is no, they are not. There have been zero incidences of SWAT teams fighting terrorist in this country. There have been cases of the police being confronted with hostage situations for sure. But no different than the hostage situations faced 40 years ago, and these were handled by good “protect and serve” policemen – not pseudo-army men.

If we do ever have a case of urban warfare being necessary such as an invasion or the like we have the National Guard – that’s what they are here for. Their job is not to police the citizens just as it is not the job of policemen to play army.

With SWAT teams having no actual valid purpose (other than admittedly it is fun to play army with real military equipment) the following question is begged:

“Why exactly, are we equipping our police forces with military equipment and training?”

I would suggest there are two answers to this valid question.

The first one I already mentioned – it’s is fun to play army. This is particularly (and dangerously) true when SWAT teams in fact face no real or equivalent enemy. (An equivalent threat or enemy would be say, fighting the “insurgents” in Iraq.) It is a fact that most SWAT teams have so little purpose that their main use today is to serve search and arrest warrants. That is certainly not the often mouthed purpose of a SWAT team and is a colossal waste of taxpayer money.

Not to mention the danger to citizens literally introduced by the SWAT teams themselves. This country and the state of Texas have a tradition of law embodied in the “Castle Laws”. Put quite simply “A man’s (or woman’s) home is his castle” and if somebody attacks it you have every right under the law to defend it with deadly force to protect the lives, limbs and liberty of yourself and your family.

When a SWAT team is unleashed to serve a search or arrest warrant here is what happens in McKinney and in cities all over the country. They create an “operational plan” – this is a military assault plan of attack similar to what our fine soldier perform in Iraq. These assaults are almost always carried out after midnight when the occupants are asleep.

Within seconds, they breach the doors of the home with either battering rams or explosives. Then, they toss in highly dangerous “flash bang” grenades which produce a severe concussion wave, blighting light, deafening noise, smoke and intense heat capable of setting houses on fire. As an added bonus they can throw in tear gas.

Then pseudo-soldiers pumped full of adrenalin, trigger fingers twitching, in full army gear with military rifles attack the home Iraq style. In doing so – at their discretion – they may or may not announce that they are the police with a search warrant (the infamous “No knock/No announcement raid”). This latter point is a trifling anyway since the startled occupants by now can not see or hear anything due to the “flash bang” grenades doing what they are intended to do: disorient, blind and deafen the attacked occupants.

So here you have a ridiculously dangerous recipe for disaster:

• Pseudo-soldiers conducting a military attack on “innocent until proven guilty in a court of law” citizens, coupled with

• Citizens believing they are being robbed or worse availing themselves of their right to protect themselves against home invasions by unknown intruders.

And what has been the result? To my knowledge, at least 3 McKinney residents being shot (one to death) by the McKinney Police along with property damage – all to serve a warrant. The Urquiza case is a chilling example of what I am talking about.

Which brings me back to my second answer.

In McKinney, Texas as elsewhere the number one priority of our police officers has shifted from “protect and serve the citizens” to “protect ourselves at all costs”. That is why SWAT assaults, which are military attacks using overwhelming force, are being used. Danger to citizens and their state and constitutional rights be dammed.

An analogy that comes to mind would be for members of the very fine McKinney Fire Department to approach a burning building and go “WHOA! That could be dangerous to us, let’s drop back” as they hear the screams for help of citizens trapped inside. But that never happens. Why? Because firemen are true heroes in my book; they have absolutely nothing to gain yet they run into burning buildings to do what they are there for: “To serve and protect” citizens and their property.

In contrast, and with all due respect to good and honest police men and women, SWAT team assaults on citizens are an act of outright bullying cowardice. Particularly when they are utilized to simply serve a search or arrest warrant against our “innocent until proven guilty in a court of law” citizens.

There is no valid purpose to justify McKinney’s Swat team, the danger it brings to our citizens or the wasting of our tax monies burned up maintaining it.

Yes, being a police officer does involve danger at times. That comes with the territory, just as it does for fire fighters.

But when you, as a SWAT Team member, endanger the lives of our citizens simply to protect yourself – which is what SWAT team assaults in fact do – then you have no business being employed as a police officer. Quite frankly you are cowards.

Well, at least one thing is still true from my childhood years – Firemen are still heroes!