Our parents, for the most part, taught us to respect authority and
the first example of authority were the police.
The police are our friends and are here to protect us, they would
say. Years later, in the Army, we were
taught to respect authority and obey all orders. The caveat was that these orders must be
lawful. We were instructed annually on
the nature of unlawful orders and how to challenge these orders. We knew that unbridled authority (aka, power)
can lead to the abuse of authority.
Professionals know that we perform the mission we were trained for and
this does not require hatred toward or the belittling of the enemy. Behind every abusive situation or violation
of the laws of warfare we can uncover a lack of responsible leadership, poorly
trained soldiers, and an obvious lack of moral courage. The Commander sets the tone in a unit and the
explicit always leads while the implicit surely follows. It is the Commander’s responsibility to
ensure that orders are legal and properly obeyed.
All that to introduce my concerns about the radicalization
of law enforcement which I believe is intentional on the part of DHS. While I believe that a significant majority
of law enforcement are honest and professional, there are two growing problem
areas:
1.
The
militarization of law enforcement (LE).
As with all programs, SWAT seemed necessary for abnormal situations that
might be too dangerous for normal LE procedures. Training and equipment came from the military
and these “special response units” became the elites of LE. Federal funds were increasingly made
available by Bush and now Obama. DHS
purchases 260 million rounds of ammunition and considers that a 2-year supply. Armored assault vehicles have recently been
added by the thousands and LE salivates for the arrival of their first
drones. LE, as seen in Boston, now imitates
the military in their equipment, uniforms, and rules of engagement. Ordering innocent civilians from their homes
at gunpoint might be necessary in Afghanistan but not in the US. At one point the police in Boston felt the
need to expend over 100 rounds and many of these penetrated into nearby
homes. Our building codes do not specify
bullet-proof materials. The blindly
ignorant cheer the authorities until someone close to them is killed or
wounded. In the heat of battle
adrenaline flows and only a well-trained professional will keep his or her “cool”. The police engagements in Boston were akin a
military operation in that you first attempt to neutralize or kill the target,
then you “mop up”. The police were not
intent on making an arrest; the volume of bullets denotes a kill instead of
capture mentality (or worse, a department policy). The same principle was applied in CA against
Christopher Dorner. I heard the radio
traffic ordering that the cabin be burned down with Dorner inside. My point is simple: Just because the object of the manhunt may be
despicable does not justify LE to behave despicably. LE is seemingly becoming the “national
security force” equal to or more powerful than our military. This may explain the DHS expansion and the
militarization of LE. As our LE veers
away from We the People and its mission to serve and protect, they will
alienate themselves from law-abiding citizens and become the object of derision
within the criminal element. Respect by
citizens will erode and give way to contempt.
This process has already started.
In the meantime our military are training for the imposition of martial
law and we have been given credible advance notice of the intent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYXsMF3PWMk
).
2.
The bureaucratization
of law enforcement (LE). A bureaucrat
follows “the rules”, is not paid to think, and this attitude can contribute to blindness toward growing abuses and a resulting
lack of integrity. The killing of
Dorner, the bullet riddled terrorist in Boston are the cases chosen
for their entertainment appeal by the mainstream media. There are others: Rodney King and more recently in PA, the
Robert Leone case (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5eOknaXgYU
). In TX, two women were illegally body-cavity searched
by LE; they have won a sizeable settlement and the officers were
terminated. These renegade officers did
not come to act the way they did in a vacuum.
Superiors set the tone and departmental policy was trumped by the informal
or extra-official “rules” governing abusive or illegal actions by LE. Aside from the abuses which I cannot believe
are representative or the norm, the bureaucratization is a more dangerous
affair. All LE persons take an oath
which includes the defense and support of their State or US Constitution or
both. Police are too often never part of
the community they patrol in, there are no bonds with the community they
serve. More and more frequently we sense
their focus on speed traps and other ticketing designed to bolster departmental
budgets. They no longer think about the
Constitutionality of their actions and support or are part of roadside checkpoints
where citizens are accosted by LE without cause. Be it sobriety checkpoints or immigration
checkpoints or LE-military “exercises” within our communities…these are
disturbing trends. The LE response that
we must trust them has lost its lustre.
Our hope lies in those in law enforcement who have shown that
they are willing to stand with law-abiding citizens and help us defend against
a political bureaucracy that is hell-bent on stripping us of our fundamental
liberties and freedoms: disarmament and
higher taxes are two dangers to our freedom that come to mind. Heroes include Sheriff Mack (AZ), Sheriff
Arpaio (AZ), the majority of CO sheriffs, and many more, to include Police
Chiefs, are standing by the Constitution and We the People (http://cspoa.org/sheriffs-gun-rights/
). They need our support because they
are subject to underhanded abuses by those they challenge.
This brings me to the case of Police Chief Mark Kessler of
the Gilberton Borough Police Department in PA (http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/02/police-chief-wants-citizens-as-reserve-force-to-defend-against-feds/). He is a firm supporter of the Constitution
and its Bill of Rights. He defied the
political powers that desperately wanted to kneel before Obama and Bloomberg in
the aftermath of the CT mass murder tragedy.
He is now the victim of retribution in line with the corruption and
abuse that is all too evident in the PA LE community. See http://beforeitsnews.com/scandals/2013/04/pennsylvania-state-cops-illegally-arrest-children-as-retribution-2431158.html
.
Chief Kessler’s 17-year old son was playing with friends;
they were not breaking any laws but…
The young man was arrested by Chief Kessler’s political
rival and man of ill-repute, Sheriff Joseph G. Groody. Accoding to Mark Rasskazov who spoke with
Chief Kessler and looked into this blatant act of official intimidation: Chief Kessler is
fingering Sheriff Groody on this — they’ve had a strained relationship for
quite some time, and Chief Kessler cites differences on gun issues and
constitutional issues, as well as unethical practices on Groody’s part as the
reasons. He says that Groody is responsible for death threats against him, as
well as the current illegal harassment of his son. It seems that Groody has
friends in low places.
Those in PA and we must support men like Chief
Kessler. The Globalists or Progressive
Fascists will use any illegal and deceptive act to subdue those of us who are
law-abiding but opt for the Constitution in lieu of their tyrannical
agenda. These enemies of the
Constitution have no need for religion or God; they only want power and an
informed and armed citizenry is anathema to their plans.
Strength and Honor.
Hugh
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