Let them hate, so long as they fear

“Oderint dum metuant,” loosely translated, is a message capable of sending mixed signals.  For The United States Marine Corps, “No better friend, No worse enemy,” drives home a point.  

Consider the NYPD legend of the 1870s and ‘80s, Captain Alexander “Clubber” Williams and his quote, “There is more law in the end of a policeman’s stick than in any decision of The Supreme Court.”  

People on the left and right will, without a doubt, cringe to some degree when reading this. Does it embody police brutality? Was it applicable in a past century? Certainly. Is it applicable today? Yes, that’s my opinion and I’ll back it up.

We, the police, are a necessary evil.  Should people actually fear us? Yes, but not all people.  Criminals should fear us.  Otherwise, we are approachable and we should be.  Are we guarded?  We’d be foolish not to be.  We are here for the solitary reason of maintaining law and order, keeping the peace, whatever the “flavor of the month” is.  The absurdities of “Defunding or abolishing the police” are catastrophes being set in motion and only in their first trimester.  It’s a litmus test.  

You are witnessing a precursor of some folks’ Utopian dream being played out in major cities as BLM terrorists and ANTIFA counterparts loot, burn, attack and destroy, and guess what. That shit ain’t working!

​You can hate the police all damned day, but the community, as a whole will be better served when the criminal element reverts to fearing the police.  Protest all you want.  I encourage it, but when you break the law there should be consequences, and that’s where the cops come in.  People are calling for the reformation of the police.  Here’s a little clue for you.  Police work has been reforming since its inception.  Police officers for the most part are more educated now and receive training updates at every turn.  It is an ever-evolving, trained animal, but like every animal it can turn on you when attacked or provoked.  

I read a comment from an ANTIFA “warrior” a few hours ago, “Man, I got hit with those pepper-balls, it was like I was in a war.”  Pepper-balls hurt, no doubt, but when this turns into a real war, this guy will be begging for pepper-balls.

Back to “Clubber” Williams, and the fondness for his nightstick.  The Supreme Court Justices are afforded the time to dissect every interpretation of the law and adjust it accordingly when the envelope is pushed, for the police it’s not always that easy.  We don’t have the comfort of the bench. Our “bench” is the asphalt streets we patrol.  We have to think on the fly, sometimes with seconds, if not milliseconds, to react to an incoming viable threat.  Sometimes the cops get it wrong and they are held accountable, more so now than ever. The nightstick does not discriminate! If you don’t fear it, you might learn to, the hard way!

There are no rules for the terrorists, but they want the police to stop using intermediate weapons such as tear gas, Tasers and pepper-balls.  They have been whining about it for months. “Ouch! That hurt!” says the skateboard-swinging, brick-toting in his Hello Kitty backpack, ninja-outfit-wearing “toughie” who had been hitting cops with goodies from his bag of tricks, falling as the staccato of a pepper-ball gun drops him to the pavement, a short-lasting lesson, at best.

“Son of a bitch! I don’t want to lose my leg,” cries another suffering from an abrasion caused by a rubber impact baton fired at him (for no good reason apparently, according to the left-wing media) while another idiot applies a tourniquet to his “damaged” limb, potentially causing the noble warrior to lose his leg due to an uneducated wannabe trauma medic plying her trade.

​If they get arrested, after the “owie” wagon (or band aid bus) takes them to the hospital, they get booked, released and go right back out there to start the same shit over again. That is not “pain compliance,” to me that’s justa temporary inconvenience.  Pain compliance curbs the criminal activity long enough to get someone in handcuffs and tossed into a cell.  When delivered properly, it curbs behavior and maybe, just maybe, the recipient of a solid baton strike sees his or her own blood, later feels the stitches and the swollen bumps and thinks, “You know, that hurt really bad, I’m going to pass on the next peaceful protest.”

​So, let’s take away the tear gas, pepper balls, Maceand Tasers.  The antagonists still have bricks, sharpened PVC pipes, umbrellas, bricks, guns (they have guns too) lasers, frozen water bottles, Molotov cocktails and potatoes with ten-penny nails sticking out of them (I shit you, not) and you expect the cops to stand there and take the physical injuries?  Remember, we are trained?  Remember we are Class one mammals (look it up)?

​That will leave the cops with fists, nightsticks, gunsand accordingly bad attitudes.  If you noticed how the National Guard handled the violent protesters in Ferguson, it expertly displayed the pain compliance theory.

​Whichever state you’re in, and you are a professional “shit bird” see what offenses you plan on committing and figure what level of the police force continuum you can be met with.  That way, you’ll know the gamut of stupid prizes you might win, should you score a hit on a cop with a brickbat.  

Keep it up.  The cops are getting tired and angry.  At some point the bosses will quit being political pussies, hiding in the bushes, and let the adults handle things.  Oh, you can still hate us, but there’s that element of fear, and those nightsticks!  Be careful what you wish for!

Kirk Lawless is a 28 year, decorated, veteran police officer from the St Louis area. He’s a former SWAT operator, narcotics agent, homicide investigator, detective and Medal of Valor recipient. Off the job due to an up close and personal gunfight, he now concentrates on writing. He’s a patriotic warrior, artist, poet, actor, musician, and man of peace.

Contact : kirklawless@yahoo.com