Democrats Being Dumb: Defunding, Disarming, and Abolishing the Police
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Defunding the police is misguided, and abolishing the police is just stupid. The latest crazy is “disarm the police” while pointing to the UK where officers do not carry guns. Naturally, disarming the police is as ridiculous as defunding and abolishing.
Maya Wiley, no doubt clueless, is running for mayor of New York and she claimed if elected she would disarm the police. Once again calling up the UK. Facing a huge backlash she is now denying she made the statement, even though it’s on video, but refuses to say she won’t disarm 36,000 police officers at some point in the future. Fortunately for the people of New York, the police have a powerful union.
So what is the difference between the US and UK, when it comes to guns?
In the UK gun laws are quite strict and it’s very difficult to obtain a gun without a permit. In the USA anyone who has the money can buy and carry a gun anywhere, and you don’t even have to be sighted in Arkansas. There’s the difference.
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A major difference in the arm/disarm issue between the UK and the USA is cultural. Actually, New York started out with the idea of their officers being unarmed. However, the job in New York did not have the preparations, training, political support of the “Bobbies” of the UK. Additionally, Americans were still getting high on the “freedom air”, i.e., I have freedom and no one can tell me what to do or not do.
A few of the officers carried their personal pistols on duty in their coat pockets. On a couple of occasions, they were able to intervene and stop armed crimes which led the mayor and council to authorized officers to carry firearms.
So can I assume you also think disarming the police is a really dumb idea?
I have never contended otherwise. I do think that in some situations police have let their basic purpose escape them into a form of vigilantism for a small part of society. The basic purpose goes back to the Peelian Principles of being a part of their communities and working toward preventing crime and keeping the peace. Its early leaders like Vollmer, Parker, Wilson, and others believed in protecting the public at all costs. Over the last 50 years, police have let television and movies defined their role in society and not common sense. It has now gotten to the point that things that would ordinarily work with people are not because of fear of the police. Mike, I know you disagree with that, but police today advise people to just do what they say and they will be alright. In other words, unquestioned obedience to stay alive.
That sounds like a totalitarian state to me. Of course this not the case with every police officer, but it is frequently the basis for police use of too much force. Sometimes, it is a racial issue and sometimes it is an officer just wanting to throw his/her weight around. It has happened to me a couple of times. It is scary when an old guy like me is stopped and pulled from his car at gunpoint by 2 officers and not given a reason until I contacted their supervisor. According to them, I drove across the centerline. This was one time I was glad they had to have their dash-cams on. Yes, they were disciplined but I am still in fear of those particular guys.
There are about one million police officers in America. Maybe a few thousand are not suited to the badge. As to your case, I would have demanded those clowns be terminated, and I would sue the city for mental distress. At the least, the city would have settled for at least 10 grand. You and I have never agreed on the police or black people Bill. I doubt we ever will.
Mike,
While my situation was not about black and white, I worked in the 60s and 70s when it was an issue, Generally speaking, I ran into as many white knuckleheads as I did blacks, sometimes more. Throughout the years some of those are now police officers. It is just assumed they know how to deescalate a situation by talking to people but they don’t or won’t. It is the same old “do as I say when I say it or else”. This has been growing for t it is now the last decade until it is now procedure. Granted, it is not the majority of the officers, but even one officer is enough to cause people to distrust and dislike police.
Wow. It’s disrespect for the public like that that makes me disgusted. I haven’t been pulled over in a very long time, but I see so much video where the “show me your hands Motherf*cker” and other verbal assault seems to be standard procedure. Even if there isn’t all that much of it, it’s too damned much.
When police draw their weapons it’s because they received information that the driver of the car, the car, or the subject, match the description and/or are in the area where a major crime had just been committed.
Secondly, I have never, over a 40-year career, ever heard police say “show me your hands motherfucker,” unless the subject of their attention was indeed a motherfucker.
Verbal assault is not a standard procedure but it’s tough out there, and cops aren’t dealing with nursery school kids, but with some crude, cruel, determined criminal motherfuckers who will kill you in a heartbeat.
All these guys understand is force or the threat of force, and strong language is required or the criminal will think you are weak and that puts your life at risk.
With Bill’s incident, well, he won’t agree, because despite his protestations, he doesn’t like cops, and I’ve known him for about 25 years, and he is my friend and mentor, but I do know him. I don’t doubt something happened but the police don’t just jump out of the car with weapons drawn unless they have cause. Either Bill’s description fitted that of a wanted felon, or his car was, or both. Bill will deny this and say they just did it because they were cops, who do that kind of thing all the time. That would be nonsense.
Ignore everything you see on TV that is supposed to represent the police. It’s as far removed from reality as possible, any farther removed and it would be science fiction. I no longer watch US TV cop shows, because they are just stupid. I watch British cop shows because they are not.
Well, I didn’t plan on writing this long of a comment, but I know my business, and I know cops. Do crazy things happen? Of course. George Floyd is an example of cops gone bad, and there are a few more out there. It’s important to remember that the police aren’t superhuman. They are people, recruited from society, and no amount of screening can catch all those who shouldn’t wear the badge, but out of the roughly million cops, 99.9% are good, decent, hard-working people who put their lives on the line every day.
As I said Mike, my comments do not apply to all police officers. But here is the thing, the good cops know that this crap goes on with the few that do it. While I was not on the street as a patrol officer as many years as you, I spent a lot of years working with different departments around the country and the process of letting bad behavior slide is not isolated. How many incidents does it take before the public stop trusting all police? That is the problem. Most police officers stand up for police even when they are wrong which creates a lack of trust. I know a lot of good officers around here, some I have worked with, some are for students of mine, and among them are mostly good people, but there are others who are not. If the fellow officers do not speak up, how will we ever stop the bad guys?
There are good and bad everywhere, in the military, the government, and politics, certainly politics, but no one is talking about disarming the military or abolishing congress which may not be a bad idea at all. The number of ‘bad’ cops is tiny, less than 1%, however, police get a black eye for doing what they’re paid to do, but a public that doesn’t understand why harms them without cause.
B.S. Mike and you know it. In your first comment, you basically said that I did not have the incident I wrote about which means I must be lying. Trust me Mike, I have been around cops pretty much as long as you. I do recognize when a gun is being pointed at me and I do recognize the English language when I am put on my knees by two police officers for no good reason. I have enough war stories, I don’t need to add anymore. Some cops in this country are out of control and they are making the job tougher for all the rest who are trying to do the job right. BTW, it is your opinion, and it is wrong, that I hate police officers.