A CAMPAIGN OF MENACE

There are many facets to warfare strategies that are applied on the political battlefield. In his book, On War, General Carl von Clausewitz, a military theorist, famously wrote that war is a political act. He defines war as nothing more than a duel, an attempt to bend your adversary to your will.

Now why am I using war as a metaphor in this instance? Since the ugly days following a police use of force in Ferguson, Missouri, when suspect Mike Brown was in the act of disarming Officer Darren Wilson, the phrase War on Cops entered the American lexicon. I first used it in December of 2014 in several columns I authored. Other noted writers and researchers have used the phrase as well. I stay away from using hyperbole to make a point. Instead, I explain what I mean when I use certain language and I will do that here.

Using war theorist von Clausewitz’s military references on the use of war as a political instrument, the case can be made that it has been the objective of the Black Lives Matter movement to make policing, law and order, the rule of law, the Constitution and criminal justice system incapable of functioning properly. It is a counter-active force to keeping the peace. Everything that BLM advances or tries to achieve has one goal, to make it impossible for police to do their job and get the police to do their will. Think about their tactics. They want to defund and abolish the police. They attempt to re-imagine policing by tying the hands of officers in the field. They have gotten city councils to ban the use of tools like tear gas, rubber bullets and no-knock search warrants and taken away qualified immunity for officers. The post examination of the use of force is done not by the legal standards of Supreme Court decision or agency policies but rather examining use of that force through the political lens of 20/20 hindsight and second guessing about decisions made under circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving. Add politically active state prosecutors and the leftist media to the mix and it demonstrates that indeed war had been declared on the American police officer and the police are outgunned (resourced) in this fight. The question then becomes how you fight a war when your opponent, in this case the city, state prosecutor, Black Lives Matter and a host of others like professional sports leagues and the leftist media are all against you?

You fight a guerrilla type war. You conduct a campaign of menace. What does that look like? You have to use unconventional tactics and go at them asymmetrically. Metaphorically, guerrilla warfare tactics are what you use when your tools and resources do not match your opponents.

The first objective in this fight is for police to choose the battlefield that maximizes their chances at winning and reduces the ability of the city, county or state to effectively use their vast resource advantage. The theater of operations that would benefit police agencies in my view is the courts. Why? Because for the most part the only thing that matters in a court of law is the rule of law and facts, not the amplified voices of the cop haters looking for revenge or the misinformation put out by the media.

Several law enforcement unions have taken this fight to the courts. Filing lawsuits is an effective tactic usually used by the cop-hating crowd. It’s time for police unions to do the same.

Recently in a lawsuit filed by a citizen group on the escalating crime and violence since a defund movement by the Minneapolis city council reduced the size of the agency below city charter levels, a Hennepin County judge in a ruling on the suit mandated that the city council and Mayor Jacob Frey hire 730 sworn officers by June of 2022. Good luck with that Mayor Frey, as your assault on the integrity, service and sacrifice has led to a mass exodus of officers due to retirement and resignation. Recruiting has become impossible. With what is going on nationally in this war on police, who would choose this profession as a career?

In another counter-attack by a police union, the Connecticut State Police Union is suing in federal court to declare parts of the state’s new police accountability law unconstitutional as it pertains to public disclosure of troopers’ personnel files because it violates their collective bargaining agreement that says when an internal affairs investigation ends in an acquittal of the officer, the personnel file is not subject to the state’s open records disclosure laws. Again, the goal using guerrilla-type warfare tactics is to make things messy for your opponent and fight in ways they are uncomfortable with. Make them have to work harder than they anticipated, and as war strategy expert von Clausewitz wrote, bring your opponent to do your will. Most government lawyers did not graduate at the top of their law school class. They are not that good, which is why they work in government and not at some prestigious private law firm where they would have to actually work. They do not look forward to being in court where their limitations are exposed. Settlements are preferred by government lawyers.

The best case I have seen to date is in Palo Alto, California, where five officers have sued the city saying that Palo Alto allowed the creation of a Black Lives Matter mural with anti-police images that constitute harassment and discrimination against law enforcement. The mural includes a picture of convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard, who killed New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerester in 1973. She was convicted and sent to prison, where she escaped and currently lives in Cuba. The mural also includes the logo of the New Black Panther Party which is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group that encourages violence against police. The lawsuit said that law enforcement officers are forced to physically pass and confront the mural and that it is offensive, and discriminatory to walk past the mural every time they enter the Palo Alto Police Department building. The officers should make mental health disability claims against the city as well.

Remember. The goal is to conduct a campaign of menace and wear the opponent down. Always play the long game.

Sheriff David Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of AmericasSheriff LLC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com