UNITY IN ONE HAND; DIVISION IN THE OTHER

“Merchants, conquerors and prophets were the first people who managed to transcend the binary evolutionary division, 'us vs them', and to foresee the potential unity of humankind.” - Author: Yuval Noah Harari

While President Joe Biden has called for unity, many of his political allies are determined to convict a no-longer-sitting president of impeachment. The stakes are high because if a president no longer in office can be tried for impeachment, then could any president theoretically be convicted of an impeachment retroactively? How about the impeachment of other officeholders on the whim of the Congress in an attempt to silence opposing views or prevent eligibility to hold future federal office?

Some of the same people that decided that Amen should be recited along with A-woman after prayer are those who will make these choices. Of course, Amen is Hebrew for “so be it” and has nothing to do with gender identification in all actuality. This narrow-minded tunnel vision thinking is all a result of Identity Politics where tribal alliances are formed and legitimized while decades-old efforts at desegregation and unifying acts are amazingly tossed aside.

Mid-Atlantic based Giant Food Stores is identifying the racial, ethnic or sexual orientation of the owners of food suppliers on foods stocked in their stores via price tags throughout the store with identifiers such as “LBGTQ Owned,” or “Black Owned” In a rush to judgment, at an attempt for inclusion, will this be more of a benefit or a burden to suppliers? It could, in fact, go either way and could lead to unwarranted discrimination which is likely why it’s never been tried before.

Racism and Identity Politics seem to go hand-in-hand. The slippery slope of politicians and political appointees with a history of racist remarks or writings is problematic. If we as a culture wish to achieve a greater sense of unity we must ensure that our leaders have a clear view of our mutual challenges and rewards as members of the human race.

President Biden’s pick for Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, Kristen Clarke, has a history of pushing to defund police. She previously expressed that black people have “greater mental, physical and spiritual abilities” while citing the chemical basis for cultural differences between Blacks and whites. Who even thinks in a way that any race is inherently superior to another? That fits the very definition of racism and does nothing toward promoting justice, fairness or unity in my view.

How about the quote from current U.S. State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter “The largest threat to U.S. national security are U.S. cops.” Unity? More like battle lines are being drawn.

What’s all of this posturing by the winners acting like sore winners? A perfect opportunity exists with unified condemnation of the events of Jan. 6, 2021, with near-complete agreement across party lines and ideologies. Instead, liberal leftists are gloating with many claiming that 74+

million Trump supporters are somehow deranged, a terroristic threat and need to be deprogrammed as members of a cult. Nothing says unity like deepening the division by trashing those with certain alternate views. Is this belief due, in part, to the findings of President Trump’s 1776 Commission and the ideals it supports? President Biden ended this Commission by Executive Order, on his first day in office.

Trump Commission says Identity Politics and ‘bitterness’ have warped history classes

The report accuses identity politics, and its influence on history studies, of fostering resentment by trying to divide people into separate, protected classes based on race and other characteristics. Instead, the Commission report says, schools and others who have roles to play in sharing the nation’s history should focus on providing a “patriotic education” that celebrates America’s ideals, its progress, and what unites its citizens, even as people are taught about the nation’s flaws and mistakes. That will help lead to a restoration of American education and a “national renewal.” The report goes on to suggest that “States and school districts should reject any curriculum that promotes one-sided partisan opinions, activist propaganda, or factional ideologies that demean America’s heritage, dishonor our heroes, or deny our principles.”

Is condemnation of Identity Politics a threat to the progressive movement even with a goal of unity? While cherishing our individual heritage and cultures, we must get past these tribal instincts and identifiers if we are to become more unified as we work to achieve the full potential of humankind.

One of the bright spots is in the world of law enforcement where there is by and large unification of its members from every imaginable ethnicity and orientation as one. WE ARE BLUE is the genuine battle cry of law enforcement in the fight for law and order throughout the free world as we work to protect our communities and return home safely to our loved ones after each and every tour of duty.

Keep working for the common good as you continue to promote goodwill and public safety. Honest attempts toward unification, whenever possible, are a worthy endeavor in all of our daily lives and activities.

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

There’s always a proper time for an apology; this isn’t one of them

Santa Rosa, California- The police chief, Rainer Navarro, has issued an apology for a shared Facebook post. The post was a photo of a gift to the department from some of its citizens. It wasn’t a nudie poster, or a risqué photo to hang in the boys’ locker room. It wasn’t even a statue of a Confederate Army General.

Apparently, it was way worse than that. Ready? Hold onto your hats, folks.

A faction of the community that actually appreciates the police, gifted the department with a banner emblazoned with the Thin Blue Line Flag. A simple gesture just to let the boys and girls in blue know that they are appreciated.

How dare they!

Apparently, community members of the anti-police type took great offense and reached out to the supreme commander of the department who crumbled like a house of cards and quickly removed the offensive post. But, he didn’t stop there.

I’m not privy to the number of complaints about the flagrant display of what Navarro apparently has been convinced is a symbol representing something way more than in his own words, previously, “The thin blue line has always represented a way to honor the commitment we make as first responders to protect our community.”

Are the numbers of police supporters vastly outnumbered by those who view the thin blue line flag as a racist symbol of oppression? I don’t know.

But Navarro, citing, “It offended some who viewed it,” felt further the need to “sincerely” apologize for the post, adding, “We don’t want to promote these negative connotations.”

He was “swayed” by those folks offended by the gesture of support by another faction of the community. The NAACP weighed in and voiced their displeasure, which apparently left Navarro to “quail” somewhere inside the police station for his original acceptance of a sincere, heartfelt gift from law-abiding citizens.

He went on to opine the acceptance of the gift as a “mistake” adding he wanted the community to be proud of the department. And, just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. He thanked them for working with the department and correcting them.

OK, enough is enough. So, this Navarro removes a thin blue line banner because some folks find it offensive? That’s his opinion, one opinion of one man. I’m going to go out on a limb and label him as more of a politician than a cop. So, this is California, the same state where another police leader proudly displayed a similar gift of a Black Lives Matter sign, unveiling it in the lobby with a small degree of fanfare. Seriously?

My question is, when did America become home to so many pussies? Navarro and bosses like him need to stick their hands down the fronts of their respective pants and upon finding a set of nuts start acting like they own a solid pair and tell these cancel - culture complainers that you have bigger fish to fry. Thanks, but no thanks. Have an argument, have a discussion if you must, but stop caving in every time you hurt someone’s feelings. It’s embarrassing. The majority of citizens want their police leaders to be tough and your actions are weak.

Navarro is just the example of the day. The brass and the politicians hide behind their authority and flex that political muscle when it’s time to fuck with the front-line cops, but are reduced to quivering Jell-O when it’s time to stick up for what is known to be right.

Or, is it just about the money and putting in time with as little push back as possible?

I know Navarro is not the kind of boss I’d want as my chief, but that’s usually what we get. They usually come in neutered and de-spined or they have a special ceremony to get the desired results.

Sometimes you get lucky and get a boss who came from the ranks. Can you imagine working for a chief and a mayor, neither of whom were pussies? Wouldn’t that be something?

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

Failed Police Executive Leadership

To say that we are living in Orwellian times is an oft-used phrase since the COVID pandemic and the overreacting response by government officials. To say that we are witnessing a dystopian existence is not over-the-top rhetoric. Words and phrases in this period of time have had their meanings changed. For instance, rioting is now acceptable peaceful protest, defunding police is called reimagining policing and saying all lives matter is now code language for white privilege and superiority. Add to that that anything causing the slightest provocation can get you banned from social media, canceled from society and, worse, fired from your job.

No other profession in America has been put under the microscope like law enforcement has during the last 10 years. Cops are now the bad guys and the crooks are sympathetic civil rights figures. Police officers are now afraid to do their job. Those that do take the chance that if something goes terribly wrong through no fault of their own, they will lose their careers and possibly face criminal charges for using their best judgment and relying on their training. There was a time not long ago when cops were given the benefit of the doubt in use of deadly force situations because the rule of law was applied. Now politics is applied, the lens through which these events are examined. The Supreme Court decision on use of deadly force is that officers are to be given the benefit of the doubt because they have to make split-second decisions under circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving. That landmark case also warned people reviewing these incidents against using the lens of 20/20 hindsight. Now however people who have no love for police demand that the standard to be used is that the officer should have known what might happen before they even arrive on scene. As if that isn’t bad enough politically active prosecutors apply pressure from the top while police executives apply pressure from below leaving officers in between.

I have long criticized the lack of courage by police chiefs since the Ferguson, Missouri, riots that spread throughout the country when Officer Darren Wilson in defense of his life used deadly force against Mike Brown, who it was determined through evidence and testimony was trying to disarm Wilson. Wilson lost his job anyway because the chief did not have the stones, if I may, to stare down the mob looking not for justice but for revenge. Every time an officer used deadly force since then over the last 5 years it sparked riots, looting and arson of businesses as an automatic default before facts were even determined. Many feckless chiefs have summarily fired officers as investigators were still on the shooting scene gathering evidence and talking to witnesses.

Other attempts by police executives to appease these cop haters have come in the form of “stand down” orders at riot scenes, prohibiting officers from using tear gas to disperse rioters for fear that it might agitate the criminals involved even though officers were pelted with rocks, bricks and urine-filled balloons. Stand downs did not appease these lunatics. Needlessly firing officers that could have been remedied with training didn’t quell the thirst for blood of this angry mob. Nothing will. But it isn’t keeping law enforcement executives from doing more stupid things to appease the bloodthirsty mob.

In a jump the shark moment that I would have never thought possible, the chief of the University of Wisconsin Police Department has gone even further to appease cop haters. She issued an order banning visual public displays of the symbol of the thin blue line in an official capacity. The order issued by Chief Kristen Roman “disallows the imagery on pins, bracelets, notebooks, coffee mugs, decals etc.” she claims that the thin blue line flag has been co-opted and places officers at great risk. In her directive, she

said that, “We must consider the cost of clinging to a symbol that is undeniably and inextricably linked to actions and beliefs antithetical to UWPD’s values.” She didn’t, however, demand that any officer who has a tattoo of the flag from have it removed. That’s coming next. The mob will never be satisfied. When you try to feed it, it wants more and more and more. When you can no longer satisfy the monster, it then turns on you. Ask Antifa.

So, she is couching it as an officer safety issue. Seriously, folks. Her order further says that, “I am moved to enact specific measures to distance UWPD from the thin blue line imagery and the fear and distrust that it currently evokes for too many in our community.”

I kid you not. So, know the thin blue line symbol is divisive and controversial. That she didn’t have the courage to stand up to this assault and support a symbol of this profession since the 1950s is untenable. She is unfit to lead this agency or the fine men and women who risk their lives to protect and serve. Where are these agencies finding these rat bastard chiefs? Chief Kristen Roman would be better suited as executive director for the state chapter of Black Lives Matter. This thin blue line symbol on a flag is to honor officers killed in the line of duty. This capitulation is sickening. That officers did not stage a job action is disappointing. Every officer should have a tattoo placed on their forearm prominently displaying the thin blue line flag for all to see. That would send her a statement of resistance.

Here is how upside down the world has become. Recently in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, the County Board passed a resolution to allow a Black Lives Matter flag fly below a U.S. flag in front of the courthouse that houses county government. That BLM flag is one of the most divisive symbols in America. It is a symbol of hate. It represents a Marxist ideology. One of its tenets is the dissolution of the nuclear family. That isn’t controversial and the thin blue line flag is? It won’t be long before a demand is made to the Milwaukee County Board to place the BLM flag above the U.S. flag. Stay tuned.

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

NOT RIGHT: The Self-Centered Politicians on the Left

“...Good men, men who love tranquility, who desire to abide by the laws, and enjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defense of their country; seeing their property destroyed; their families insulted, and their lives endangered; their persons injured; and seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the better; become tired of, and disgusted with, a Government that offers them no protection; and are not much averse to a change in which they imagine they have nothing to lose.” - Abraham Lincoln's Lyceum Address was delivered to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois on January 27, 1838, titled "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions" William Herndon, who would become Lincoln's law partner in 1844, and whom my wife happens to be a direct descendant of, recalled that "The speech was brought out by the burning in St. Louis a few weeks before, by a mob."

Perhaps if history wasn't being ignored we could learn from lessons already known to our forefathers. Instead, modern-day leftist politicians allowed mob violence to continue throughout 2020 in many communities across America. Lest we forget the left seemingly had little issue with inciting, threatening and confrontational behaviors. Democrat U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters is famously known for asking her supporters “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that (Trump) Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”

It wasn't until those in the Congress felt threatened in January 2021 themselves that many of their viewpoints seemed to rapidly change, and with a vengeance.

There are countless American citizens who begged for the National Guard to protect their families & businesses for months this past year in response to violence, looting, riots and arson often to no avail. Yet when it came to a virtual inauguration, all of the sudden the National Guard was everywhere.

Now have we discovered that leftist politicians actually support police and believe in the militarization of law enforcement? They even believe in bringing in the National Guard to quell civil unrest, at least when it comes to preserving their own peace?

Do those on the left now:

· Believe in walls when it comes to protecting their own place of work?

· Believe in guns, at least when their own safety is at risk?

· Believe in law and order and are against mobs and violence?

· Believe in harsh punishment for rule breakers and believe in accountability? As evidenced by the acting attorney general’s proclamation of a “zero tolerance policy for violence, other crimes — anywhere in United States — targeting Inauguration Day for President-elect Biden.”

· Believe that words matter, are against coarse language and care about civility?

· Believe in a peaceful transition of power, at least this time, as opposed to 2016, and now believe in the Electoral College in representing the legitimacy of the people’s vote?

Do they magically believe in all of this when they feel threatened? Just not in defense of you or your family? Benjamin Franklin noted that, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” While elected leaders go to extraordinary lengths to protect themselves, many feel as though they are not even receiving one ounce of protection for themselves or their families and communities.

Maybe it’s possible that some politicians are realizing that they have reached a tipping point with their last-minute fear that National Guardsmen who were called into our secured Capitol district (where you needed a valid ID, credentials, and approved passage through a predetermined checkpoint before you entered) were a potential threat themselves against the orderly transfer of power from one administration to another? It is the very armed military presence they insisted upon in our nation’s capital for the Inauguration of President Joe Biden but somehow paranoia seemed to set in.

Lady Justice is one of our most recognizable symbols. The statue holding the Scales of Justice demonstrates the principles of fairness and opportunity. In fact, Lady Justice, or a version of it, is not only common to the United States, but is a familiar symbol for multiple countries across the world. Self-centered politicians must be replaced with public servants who will put the true interests of their constituents first and foremost upholding the principles that we hold dear.

Too many citizens have “become tired of, and disgusted with, a government that offers them no protection.” The era of different standards for bureaucratic elites only serve to create further division, while the same elitist are disingenuous in calling for unity. This must cease if we are to survive as a free and sovereign nation with liberty and justice for all.

Just ask Honest Abe Lincoln.

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Local Trump Supporter Gets Assaulted and Sent to the Hospital

John Sabin, from Highland Park, NJ and a loyal Trump supporter, was seriously assaulted after attending an otherwise peaceful Trump rally in nearby East Brunswick, NJ.

But no one heard about it- until now.

Michael Shapiro, a friend of the Sabin family said, “I contacted the news, but no one picked up the story.”

Shocker.

But that’s when I heard about it on social media. So I sat down with the Sabin family to get the full story on how John ended up in the hospital after a 911 call.

On Sunday January 17th, John and his parents attended a popular Trump rally located in East Brunswick, New Jersey after their weekly church service.

The rallies weren’t new. They have been going on every weekend for months. With Trump scheduled to leave office, the rallies have started to dwindle in attendance. But John’s devotion to Trump remained intact.

During the afternoon hours, all supporters have gone home and John and his parents were the only ones remaining. An unidentified person approached their location on the corner, waiting to cross the highway.

“The guy yelled at us, saying ‘go home, you lost, Biden won’”. Said John.

His mother Rosemary added, “The guy then stopped in the middle of the highway and started to moon us. So I told him to kiss my ass.”

The man then returned to John and his mother to find out who told him to kiss his ass.

“He had that look in his eyes like he wanted to kill someone.” Rosemary said.

At that point, John gallantly stepped in front of his mother and said I said it.

“The guy grabbed the flag from my son, broke it, then picked him up and threw him to the ground.” Rosemary continued, “Then he punched him at least 20, maybe 25 times.”

John stands at 5’11” and weighs around 240 pounds. Being able to lift that, there’s no doubt Rosemary would’ve easily been seriously injured, if not killed.

It was at this point John Sr. noticed the commotion and attempted to break it up. “The man said to me, ‘Im gonna kill you!’” By this time, several citizens attempted to break it up, others called 911.

Once other people started to get involved, the guy walked away towards a nearby parking lot, away from his original direction of travel. It was likely he was attempting to disappear into obscurity in a nearby condo complex.

The police and ambulances arrived and John was taken to a local hospital for further treatment. Luckily John suffered only minor injuries.

“The angels were protecting me when the attack was going down because I should’ve been unconscious.” John said.

It’s a miracle no one was critically injured. John’s heroics and quick thinking surely saved his mother from certain doom.

“We’re afraid to go back.” Rosemary said.

And who can blame them. They intend on following up with the case with local police as John sits home recovering.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help the small close-knit family with the hopes of easing their suffering and help with medical bills. GoFundMe Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dfacd-help-john-pay-medical-bills?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1

“I just want justice.” Said Rosemary.

And that’s all we can hope these days- fair and equitable justice.

The incident is still under investigation and any suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.

Writer Eddie Molina is the author of A Beginner’s Guide to Leadership, available on Amazon and his website, www.eddiemolina.com

OUR WRITTEN LEGACY

What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. - Carl Sagan [Cosmos, Part 11: The Persistence of Memory (1980)]

In all the animal kingdom, humans are the only species that can leave a footprint of knowledge, legacy or intrigue through the written word.

Now that we've forgotten, altered or hidden history in many other ways, must we learn lessons all over again through the vast array of written testimonials from the past? There is much to learn from the written memories and imaginations of others who took the time to pen their thoughts and actions.

I have found that the writings and teachings of those who have been on the front lines, such as the founders of our nation, soldiers and first responders to have greater meaning than from those who merely pontificate ideology without real world experience beyond academic platforms.

Many in law enforcement find themselves on the back side of their careers to have both the desire and means to share their knowledge and experiences via the written word. I am one of those individuals, who has shared my thoughts through book writing, as a past newspaper columnist, and currently as a regular contributor to the Blue Magazine both in print and online. It is a mechanism to allow a final chance at an attempt to leave the world better than it was found so that future generations can benefit from a head start on the many lessons previously learned.

Sometimes the written word can seem to be inexplicably prophetic. In 1949, George Orwell published his dystopian fiction classic 1984. It depicted a dark future where technology exists in the public realm only as a tool for the elite to control society. Sound familiar? In the 70 years since, much of what Orwell imagined has come to fruition, including facial recognition, auto-transcription and more. In 1984, Orwell wrote: "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." The belief that people are deterred from disobedience through propaganda is widespread. - 'Big Brother is watching you.'

Long before Orwell’s vision of the future, The Last President, by Ingersoll Lockwood, is a surrealistic 1896 novel, where Americans are protesting a corrupt election process while the president’s hometown of New York City fears the collapse of the republic after the transition of presidential power. “The entire East Side of New York City is in a state of uproar. Mobs of vast size are organizing under the lead of anarchists and socialists, and threaten to plunder and despoil the houses of the rich who have wronged and oppressed them for so many years." If this reminds you of the attitudes after the 2016 Trump presidential win and of current day sentiment, you are not the alone. Does this book foresee Donald Trump as the last president of a republic as we know it? Is this a bizarre coincidence or prophetic? Let the reader decide.

This book, as well as Lockwood’s two children’s books, The Travels and Adventures of Little Baron Trump and His Wonderful Dog Bulger (1890) and Baron Trump’s Marvelous Underground Journey (1893), have drawn attention due to its uncanny connections with President Trump and his family.

Although The Simpsons cartoon series was written for television the writers eerily made many accurate predictions on:

· The Donald Trump Presidency

· Super Bowl results

· Smart Watches

· Autocorrect

· The Siegfried and Roy tiger attack

· Video chats

· Faulty voter machines

· The Ebola outbreak

· A National Security Agency spying scandal… and more.

What stories, thoughts, predictions or useful information do you have to share? What legacy do you want to leave behind? The Blue Magazine welcomes submissions from you. Essays can be sent to https://www.thebluemagazine.com/submissions. Articles should be submitted as a Word document, 800 words or less, 12pt Times New Roman Font. Including original images is encouraged, but not required. Please also include a short author bio of 60 words or less with a headshot image. Writer photos are not required, but you wrote it, and deserve the attention!

We have so much to offer through our written legacies with the lessons that we are able to share with others in perpetuity. Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Cruel And Inhumane Treatment Of Police

I came across a newspaper story involving a police use of deadly force that happened in Marinette County, Wisconsin on Nov. 27, 2020. Keep that date in mind, as it has some significance to what I am getting at here. The column went on to say that sheriff’s deputies were called to man with a gun complaint. When they arrived, they observed a man standing in the driveway with a gun pointed at his head. Officers attempted to talk the man into dropping the gun. He refused and got into his automobile and drove off. Police followed him. After driving around, he pulled back into his driveway, got out of his car and again refused to drop the gun. He pointed it at his head again. Officers, feeling they had no other options, fired numerous shots, killing the 74-year-old man. Tragic all the way around no doubt. For the officers involved, that is.

Now, let’s break this down. In today’s anti-police environment some might be asking why professional mental health experts weren’t called to the scene. Do you know any mental health professional other than a police officer who would want to engage in dialogue with a man holding a gun? I don’t. The story said that the suspect was struck about seven times from police gunshots.

Important to point out that there was no outrage from area residents, no riots, no calls for the officers to face charges. Probably because Marinette County, located in northern Wisconsin, has no Black Lives Matter chapter. The reasonable residents trusted that a thorough investigation would occur and didn’t prejudge the case. They did not jump to conclusions or engage in the ritual of cop haters of second-guessing police. In other words, this wasn’t politicized.

On Dec. 24, the newspaper column I earlier spoke about wrote that the officers would not face criminal charges. You would think not, right? It said the State Department of Criminal Investigation, a branch of the State Attorney General Office that is currently led by a liberal activist attorney general named Josh Kaul ruled that after reviewing police body camera video, witness interviews and other evidence that the shooting was justified.

Remember that I asked you to take note of the date this incident occurred. Nov. 27, 2020. In less than 30 days a decision was made. Compare and contrast that to other police use of force incidents in today’s anti cop environment.

As a former investigator of police-involved shootings, I have a lot of experience in how these work and the time it should take for a ruling by a prosecutor. We never rushed these investigations. We did, however, have a sense of urgency knowing that the public wanted and deserved to know what happened and that the officer or officers involved deserved a timely resolution so that they could start to heal psychologically and return to duty. Keep in mind that they are taken off street duty and put behind a desk on administrative duty. For a cop that is a brutal. They signed up to protect and serve, not push papers or answer telephone calls. Even the most intricate incidents could be resolved fairly, completely and competently inside of 30 days. Not anymore.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin in August 2020 two city police officers were sent to a situation that ended up involving an armed suspect wanted on a felony warrant trying to avoid arrest. Like most of these incidents, police tried to get the suspect to stop resisting arrest while he was armed. As a last resort, they shot him to stop the threat he posed to them and 3 young children in a car he was attempting to get in and drive off in.

It is January 2021, and that same Attorney General Department of Criminal Investigations is conducting this one. There is cellphone video camera with audio that has been played all across America on social media. Numerous witnesses have been interviewed and none have disputed the officers’ actions including the suspects former girlfriend who initially called police. Cellphone camera video has been pasted all over social media giving everybody an idea of what happened.

It is now early January 2021 and six months later that same State Attorney General Office of Criminal Investigation has finally on Jan. 5 made a determination on whether or not the use of force by the officers involved was justified. They ruled that the police use of force was justified. Duh! Really? This could have been done by even the most incompetent prosecutor inside of 30 days. I’ll speak to that later.

This is not new. These determinations are taking longer and longer for only one reason. Politics. These progressive activist prosecutors are afraid to exonerate officers because Black Lives Matter and Antifa will then rain hell down on them. This is no longer about justice. It a witch hunt. Some prosecutors are willing to issue criminal charges that they cannot prove to placate an angry mob. Throw it to a jury, they figure, and let them bare the brunt of the anger of BLM.

In another Wisconsin case, a Wauwatosa police officer shot and killed an armed suspect in an obvious justified use of force and it took Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm nine months to return a finding of justifiable use of force. Nine months. The suspect was armed with a handgun with an extended magazine and lots of ammo. He was fleeing police and headed toward a shopping mall.

Think about the mental anguish an officer has to endure for six to nine months. Not knowing whether they will face felony criminal charges and whether or not they will lose their careers. They still face an internal investigation after the use of force criminal probe. Who else is subjected to this this mental torture? What other profession? And we wonder why police suicide is at an all time high? No other profession comes close.

For it to take 6 to 9 months to investigate and make a finding leaves me to conclude that these prosecutors are either incompetent or incapable. Maybe both.

More police officers should consider a duty disability for post-traumatic stress disorder after going through this anguish. When the cost to the city and county starts to pile up, paying officers’ salaries who are no longer able to provide police services then maybe they will get it. Let city officials anguish at budget time where they will find the money for increased costs of running a municipality.

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

Law Enforcement's Dance With The Devil

I am watching sometimes in stunned disbelief as police executives order front line officers to participate with state governors, local mayors and administration officials as they use the heavy hand of government in enforcing questionable rules concerning the coronavirus. It’s a game of Russian Roulette. Often times it doesn’t end well.

Law enforcement officers have only one remaining support group in the United States of America and it is the law abiding public. This profession has experienced over the past five years an unprecedented onslaught of hate and physical attack from cop hating groups like ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter. A host of politicians have chimed in with their support of these insidious bastards by trying to appease them and their calls to defund the police through massive budget cuts and other measure such as prohibiting the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other less lethal options to keep themselves safe while fulfilling their obligation of protecting life and property.

Cities such as Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, Chicago, Milwaukee and Los Angeles have already gone ahead and reduced the size of their police budgets. The NYPD had their budget slashed by one billion dollars. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett reduced the size of the police department by cutting 125 police positions. Los Angeles elected local officials approved a $150 million public safety budget reduction. Every one of these cities are cutting police budgets as the violent street crime is rising precipitously. And citizens are noticing and pleading for more police help. In Minneapolis a citizen group filed a lawsuit against the city for not fulfilling the city’s obligation to keep them safe per the city charter. A judge recently ruled that the suit can go forward after the city asked for a dismissal. That is a good sign.

With that being said, you can understand my disbelief that law enforcement executives are ordering front line officers to be the bad guys in government’s attempt to use a pandemic to enforce questionable at best edicts that many find intrusive, offensive and a violation of their constitutional liberties. An Ohio woman was tased and arrest for refusing to wear a mask and then refusing to leave a stadium. In Oregon, a woman was arrested at a Walmart for refusing to wear a mask and then refusing to leave the store. A man in Maryland was arrested at a polling place for trying to vote without wearing a mask. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has ordered police officers to go along with city health officials to be the enforcers of outrageous COVID rules.

My advice and recommendation is that police not insert themselves into this fray. There is no upside. The cooperative relationship that remains with the law abiding public currently hangs by a thread. Once we lose them then we are finished. Law enforcement executives are always touting that they cannot succeed with the help of the public. Why then be the brutes in closing down a business for example when onerous capacity restrictions could very well mean the end for them? Most small businesses are operating on the margins to begin with and what about the employees who have to be let go due to business falling off? People are hurting all across America right now. Where is the compassion? Why would this profession allow itself to be used in this fashion? The public will long remember how we treated them when they needed understanding. I would not blame them if when moving forward and we need their help to say, get some dangerous person into custody or be a witness in some incident, if they turned their backs on us and refused to help.

When framing the Constitution that would limit government authority over people the Founding Fathers particularly spoke of people being secure in their houses, papers and personal effects against unreasonable searches and seizure without a warrant. It’s called the Fourth Amendment. Now

Governors and Mayors are ordering state administrators backed by law enforcement to do home inspections to check for compliance on the limits of how many people can be in a home at one time and to check if they are wearing a mask and staying 6 feet apart. Some have even set up hotlines that encourage people to rat out their neighbors if they suspect someone has invited too many people over for whatever reason. This is untenable in a constitutional republic and the very thing the Founders feared.

This is why I am recommending that law enforcement stand down here. They do have discretion on how to handle these situations if they are called to the scene. Here is a chance for this profession to let the same government cutting police budgets to be pushed back against. Officers can demonstrate whose side they are on in this unprecedented time period by standing with individual freedom loving citizens. They should in a very public way, tell government officials, they are on their own. Abandon those politicians like they abandoned law enforcement.

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

Welcome 2021: We will endure!

What a difficult year we have been through. With all of the anger, protests, riots, verbal and physical assaults and death we are being exposed to on a daily basis, I have felt compelled to speak out. Here’s a compilation of some of my thoughts throughout 2020 …

ON BEING A MEMBER OF THE HUMAN RACE

All of us have supporters and detractors. It is part of being a human being. It is reality. I am sorry if some people don't like others simply for differences in race, religion, career path, disability, sexual orientation or other identifiers within our society.

Our power is derived from within. Self-examination of our own individual belief structure and taking responsibility for our own choices and behaviors is what will collectively contribute toward the more perfect culture that we seek.

We don't have to agree to get along or at least coexist. By focusing on our commonality rather than our differences we can move mountains moving forward.

ON INNER-CITY VIOLENCE & SURVIVAL

With a resurgence of violence throughout our nation, I am reminded of a revelation that I had over 30 years ago upon becoming an inner-city police officer.

I learned to accept, but not fully understand, that the perceived value of human life on the street in many of the downtrodden areas of America is substantially lower than it is to the police and many others living under better socio-economic circumstances.

When the two cultures of diverse values clash, it often results in those with higher self-worth being forced to take actions they would not choose to take except out of a desire for self-preservation.

If you were an officer being shot at or truly in fear of having your gun being taken and used against you, what would you do? As it has been said many times in the world of law enforcement, it's better to be tried by 12 than carried by six.

ON ACADEMIA and “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”

When the West Virginia University campus police chief apologized for displaying a Thin Blue Line Flag in the background at his home while engaged in an online Zoom conference, the meltdown from many "triggered" students and faculty was swift. It resulted in an apology from the chief for his “insensitivity” and removal of the flag after calls for his termination from office were made.

More recently, the university endorsed the display of Black Lives Matter decals on Mountaineer football helmets and it has “triggered” many others. If the official policy of the university is to allow display of what many view as political symbols or emblems, then this public Land Grant University should level the playing field and fulfill its mandate of fairness and inclusiveness in what is supposed to be an open learning environment; thus allowing freedom for dialogue and reasonable expression for all individuals and groups without fear of being ostracized or becoming a victim of the "cancel culture." It's time for WVU and other campus communities to become "woke" to harmony through fairness to all. Universities must return to their roots and maintain an environment that promotes knowledge through understanding of different points of view. Neither intimidating tactics nor "political correctness" should have any place in education.

I have long professed that we must reject an "us versus them" mentality. In choosing sides WVU has, seemingly, endorsed such an environment through its actions. The truth is we are all in this TOGETHER.

ON LAW ENFORCEMENT OPERATIONS

Over the last many months and years, the trust people have placed in every level of government has diminished. While law enforcement does many things well, there are always things which can be done better. Protecting victims, promoting equality for all, and deploying intelligent, compassionate, and empathetic officers are the foundation of any responsive agency. While meaningful change comes neither quickly nor easily, I know that the best will adapt to the changing environment which is upon us. As a past police officer and chief of police, I have learned that we cannot simply arrest our way out of every situation or social ill. Policing that is even more community-oriented and transparent will result with the right leadership in place and thoughtful plans for action. Our future safety and wellness are dependent on the trust and partnerships forged as we move forward promoting for better days ahead. As always, I maintain a deep respect for and belief in our active and dedicated local law enforcement officers. Stay safe … We will endure!

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

5 Examples of Horrible Political Leadership

By virtue of their position, politicians are in a leadership role. But there’s one thing I think we can all agree on: Some of them are just not very good leaders.

As a leadership professional and author (my book here amzn.to/3mFvVEP), I was mortified when I found out several high-level politicians broke one of the most important leadership rules in existence.

And that is never break a rule you expect your people to follow.

This isn’t new, however. History is filled with examples of reckless and ineffectual leadership by local, state and federal politicians. So I took the time to find several of recent history’s most egregious examples.

This past September, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was captured on video visiting a hair salon in San Francisco, violating local ordinances. She, of course, blamed the business for misleading her. You can add Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for committing the same infraction.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom pleaded with the residents not to gather in large groups, including with their own friends and family. Just last month, he was seen attending a dinner party indoors at a Napa Valley restaurant. His ridiculous response; “should have … got[ten] back in my car and drove back to my house.”

NYC Mayor DeBlasio was seen entering a gym back in March… in New York City! In another absurd response: “I need to exercise to stay healthy and make … decisions.”

Why is this happening? It boils down to three possible reasons:

1- They are unfamiliar with basic leadership principles.

2- They feel they are above the law and better than us “common folk.”

3- They didn’t think they were going to get caught- the mindset of a criminal!

Regardless, it’s a darn shame and I, like most people, expect much more from an elected official. Are they drunk with power? Are they fueled by telling other people what to do and get a rush from breaking their own guidelines?

This isn’t just a COVID-19 issue either. Recall back in 2017 when then New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered all state beaches closed due to a government shutdown. That didn’t stop him and his family from enjoying the beach that state residents couldn’t.

Whatever the reason for political dissidence, it stinks and they should all publicly acknowledge their mistakes and step down, because that’s what real leaders do!

About the author: Eddie Molina is the author of A Beginner’s Guide to Leadership and blogs about it on his website, www.eddiemolina.com/blog

Artificially Driving Down Crime Rates

Keeping crime and violence in check has always been a challenge with major urban city law enforcement agencies. Agencies are almost maniacally driven about crime statistics. Staffing and deployment strategies are being determined based on how much crime is occurring and where. Neighborhood residents get nervous when news reports of crime waves set in. Safe city rankings are determined by crime rates. Insurance rates are calculated by how much property crime occurs in a particular city. Crime reduction matters.

You may recall that beginning in the late 1980s and lasting for nearly two decades, a renaissance occurred all across the country when a crime reduction strategy called Fixing Broken Windows emerged. Its authors, George Kelling and James Wilson, put forth a thesis that was based on police putting a higher priority on going after lesser crimes like property crimes and acts of disorder. The theory was that quality-of-life offenses were an indication to criminals that nobody cared about their behavior and that citizens were numb to it and were not likely to call police nor would anything be done about it. This cynicism allowed the criminal element to operate in the open as resident fear increased. It caused people to withdraw from engaging in neighborhood life. Social interaction can reduce crime. Kelling and Wilson’s thesis was that the occurrence of property crimes and other quality-of-life offenses were the precursor to more serious crimes.

When William Bratton became commissioner of the New York Police Department, a top commander named Jack Maple came up with a strategy based on the Broken Windows theory of policing. He called it Comp Stat, short for computer statistics. When crime was mapped using computers, patterns emerged. The thought was to “put the cops on the dots” thus going from reacting to crime to preventing crime. Computer generated statistics allowed neighborhood precinct commanders to get information to front line officers in real time. It allowed officers to identify the criminals on their beat where they could be focused on while targeting specific offenses. Quality of life offenses like subway turnstile jumpers and squeegee men were harassed. It brought that disorder to an end. Policing went from being reactive to being proactive. Citations began to be issued for lesser crimes and disorder. When fully implemented and over time, not only did property crime and disorder go down, violent crime was reduced by record numbers. New York City went from having over 2,200 murders a year to just over 250. Gotham went from being considered unlivable to becoming America’s safest large city based on low crime rates.

Many of you reading here might remember the period of what was called the great crime decline. It is important to have a reference point to compare what was an intolerance toward crime at the end of the 20th century to what some policy makers are proposing today.

As if ideas like defunding police, abolishing and re-imagining police is not crazy enough, now get this out of the cities of Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis. These lunatics are actually talking about reducing crime not through sensible crime reduction strategies like were done in the 1990s. No, they are actually talking about declassifying certain types of lesser crimes and inserting clauses into certain categories of crime that allow the perpetrator an escape from arrest and accountability if they can show a basic need to have committed a crime. In other words, poverty will absolve the perp along with mental health or addiction. That’s right. If you are a drug addict and you commit crime in furtherance of that addiction then you walk. So if someone throws a rock through the plate glass window of a business or damages your car? If you claim the devil made you do it, you are absolved of that being classified as a criminal act. And get this. Selling property that you stole from somebody else is now lawful if you can show a basic need like poverty.

In any other time period, this would be considered unfathomable. Unfortunately, however, we are no longer applying common sense to public policy. We are going from what worked in keeping neighborhoods safe to a model of social engineering using neighborhoods as petri dishes and human subjects as lab rats.

This is not going to end well. It never does when people in position of suggesting public policy and who should know better behave irresponsibly and in what is nothing more than an act of moral preening. As this, let’s make believe it is not crime, is being proposed, both property crime and crimes of violence are escalating in the cities I mentioned. The shame in all this is that these policy-makers will not be held accountable for this insane policy nor are they likely to be the victims of this buffoonery.

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

PROMOTION “IRREGULARITIES”

The Baltimore Police Department is again answering questions about exam questions members were asked on a promotional test. Recent oral examination results for the Baltimore City Police Department's sergeant and lieutenant promotional tests were tossed out because of "irregularities." After consulting with the city's Office of the Inspector General, the results of the oral exam are being thrown out with new exams being scheduled.

Baltimore City Police did not reveal what the "irregularities" were.

This isn't the first time the Baltimore City Police Department has faced this sort of issue. In the past, there have been allegations of improprieties in the exam process such as allegations of sex for answers schemes and other questionable practices to influence outcomes.

My Attempts at Promotion in Baltimore

My initial goal was to become a three-year sergeant. Officers were eligible to take the Sergeants Exam once three years of service were completed. Occasionally, an officer would be promoted on their first try. Except that the promotional process was tied up in the courts until I had been with the department for 4 ½ years … due to something called “affirmative action.”

It was known that the department had recently been ordered by the court to promote a number of minority officers to sergeant based in part upon racial preference. The goal was to bring the numbered ratio of minority officers/supervisors more equal to the city’s minority population figures.

Nonetheless, I was excited to take the sergeant’s examination which was divided into three areas; a written exam of 125 questions which was about half the final score, a performance appraisal on previous work ethic (about 5%) and an oral interview rounding out the remainder toward final scoring and placement on the promotional list.

I did well on the written exam (96%) and maxed out on the performance appraisal, receiving the highest possible score. Now it was on to the oral interview. I reported to the rented motel conference facility where my oral interview was to be held in suit and tie, a little nervous, but more than ready for questioning. This was far more structured and less confrontational than courtroom testimony, so I felt confident that I was prepared. Plus I had a track history of successful private sector employment interviews.

The interview board was comprised of three individuals holding the rank of sergeant or above from outside agencies. Each interviewer would ask 3 questions (one at a time) and I would be given up to 5 minutes to respond to each question. No follow-up questions could be asked by either party and I could only ask them to repeat their question, if necessary.

No problem, as I was prepared for all of the questions that they asked. One potential problem, though. I had been assured of a diverse and fair board panel. Here’s what I got: an all-minority interview board.

My score? Not even a whole number! I still was ranked 73rd out of over 1,100 taking the promotional exam. It was not high enough for promotion during the promotional lists life span of about one year due to fewer openings since the filling of so many sergeants’ positions previously under court order by those given affirmative action priority-based promotions.

In the meantime, affirmative action initiatives continued on.

By 1986, two years later, I was ready to try for sergeant once again. Now the city had a newer idea to attempt to improve the test scores of minority applicants for the promotional exam.

STUDY GUIDES

I was given a large fill-in-the-blank study guide that made me research or verify answers in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Baltimore Police General Order (policy & procedures) Manual, Traffic Law, Baltimore Park Rules and Wiretapping Laws. Minority officers were given sanctioned study guides with the answers already filled in.

Once again, I did perfectly on the performance appraisal and was exceedingly well-prepared for the written exam. My oral interview board was balanced and the interview went well. I was ranked 52nd out of over 900 applicants for the 1987 promotional list, which again was not thought to be high enough for promotion.

By midsummer 1987 I felt as though my career was going to be permanently stymied and that upward mobility in my career would be unobtainable on my own merits so I tendered my resignation from Baltimore City. Perhaps I should have waited. In fact, if I had stayed through Christmas of 1987 I would have unexpectedly been promoted to sergeant as they promoted up to number 57.

In the words of Ronald Reagan, I will attempt to be “verbose but delicate.” Is this current re-taking of interviews yet another attempt to put chosen persons in charge, further politicizing the agency?

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

13 Reasons Why We Don't Need Another Shutdown

With 2020 coming to a close, I’m starting to see more hope for 2021. But it seems like it’s going to get worse before it gets better. And quite frankly, I’m just tired of it all.

Even though we all saw increased cases and more restrictions coming, I can’t shake the feeling that it doesn’t have to be this way.

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say dealing with this pandemic is frustrating and the politicians in charge are part of the problem. More orders are emerging as to what needs to close, what restrictions need to be put back in place and so on.

But when I was told that my family and I couldn’t get together as we used to during the holidays- it hit a nerve.

Why?

I mean I get why. But what about everything that has unfolded since this has started back in March.

A lot of progress has been made and it’s almost like the government isn’t recognizing any of it. Now it’s been over seven months since the heaviest onset of the virus and a lot has been learned and a lot has changed.

Here’s why we don’t need to shut down again (politicians pay close attention).

There has been seven months…

1) For citizens to understand the importance of social distancing and personal cleanliness.

2) For cleaning product and paper product companies to increase their production and improve their logistics to get it to consumers.

3) For supermarkets, restaurants and general supply stores to learn how to effectively deliver products to customers that prefer to stay home.

4) For the medical equipment companies to develop more ventilators.

5) For people to understand that toilet paper is not ultra- critical and hoarding products is not necessary because the world isn’t ending.

6) For the scientific community to better understand the virus.

7) For the public to see the progress of a vaccine and recognize how close it’s getting.

8) For organizations and businesses of any type to develop protective shields, protocols to promote social distancing and other safeguards for people.

9) For citizens to understand what steps they need to take if they do become symptomatic; contact tracing, quarantining, testing, and recovery.

10) For testing facilities to streamline and improve their testing process.

11) For companies to continue developing more accurate COVID tests with faster results. (jamming something up our nose isn’t the only option anymore).

12) For the scientific community to clearly define who is really ‘at-risk’ versus who will have a very high percentage of recovering.

13) For hospitals to improve logistics and operations to accommodate the higher demand of affected people that was expected.

… and a bonus one- for media outlets to understand why they shouldn’t sensationalize the pandemic and scare the s*** out of Americans purely for ratings.

There have only been two different occasions where we, as Americans, had our freedom and liberties trampled on; the Patriot Act after 9-11 and now this… COVID-19. And I’m ready to fight back.

Now understand I’m not heartless and have a lot of compassion for those that succumb to the virus. But there has been seven months for every person, company, entity, etc. to figure out what they need to do for themselves.

There is no way any restriction put in place by the government is going to stop the virus. It’s going to be around for the long term and I believe there is enough information out there that we, as Americans, should be able to move about as we choose. That is the true American way.

About the writer: Eddie Molina is the author of A Beginner’s Guide to Leadership available on Amazon. He voluntarily writes articles to keep the law enforcement and military community informed on important issues. For more information go to www.eddiemolina.com

New World Order

Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.  - Cesar Chavez

It appears that the battle lines are being drawn in recognizing our rights, responsibilities and to celebrate our individual and collective heritage and the sacrifices of those who have gone before us, with one group vying for position over those of other groups throughout our nation and specifically in Baltimore.

The D’Alesandro family is a known Democrat dynasty with two former Baltimore mayors, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., later his son, Thomas D'Alesandro III and then his daughter, Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, becoming the first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The family fortunes and political influence rose from a small house in Baltimore's Little Italy. It was those of Italian heritage that were the primary political power brokers in Baltimore city for many decades before progressivism and a shifting of political influence in Baltimore began to take hold, with the city still remaining under Democrat control. 

On the evening of July 4th of this year, while much of America was celebrating our nation’s Independence, several hundred “protesters mobilized by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police” (USA TODAY) destroyed a statue of Christopher Columbus at the west entrance of the D’Alesandro’s Little Italy neighborhood. Throwing ropes around the statue, the mob pulled the monument from its pedestal with an impact that broke it to pieces, dragging it to water’s edge, and dumping it into the Baltimore harbor as reported by national media and seen on national television. Although the Baltimore City Police were present, they had reportedly been given orders to “stand down.” The Promotion Center for Little Italy Baltimore, a nonprofit promoting community heritage, has weighed in:

The statue of Christopher Columbus was built with funds raised largely by Baltimore’s Italian American community. It was carved in Italy, gifted to the City of Baltimore, and dedicated by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. It has been a sense of immense pride for the people of Little Italy and those of Italian descent with annual celebrations around the Columbus Day holiday including parades, wreath-layings, and Italian festivals. It is a symbol of immigration to America which attracted hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to seek improved lives for their families. In that spirit is what we as ancestors of Italian immigrants struggle to preserve. A piece of Little Italy’s heart was destroyed along with this statue. The “protesters” gave no thought to the Italian immigrant experience in the United States which included ample discrimination, abuse, starvation, and lynchings.

Now add a third faction to the mix. The Baltimore City Police Department and its Fraternal Order of Police representatives have been further drawn in to the fray when a Baltimore city councilman by the name of Ryan Dorsey tweeted “How is it with all the attention given to the Columbus monuments, and as consistently awful as the FOP is, how is the FOP memorial not on the list of monuments to remove?” The latest proposal in the alternative is to dedicate a memorial to those mortally wounded by police in proximity to the tribute to our fallen officers.

The truth is that this memorial is not an FOP memorial although members of the FOP have taken it upon themselves to keep the area clean along with the victims' families who raised money in their honor to have a place in the city where they could remember their loved ones who were killed in the line of duty. This has been said to be akin to the desecration of graves if harmed or removed.

Dorsey later acknowledged the comments that the memorial might not be an "FOP memorial," but said the FOP is a "toxic, divisive organization" and wondered: "Why would such an organization have a monument in Baltimore City?"

FOP lawyers, at the direction of Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #3 President Mike Mancuso, wrote a letter calling out Dorsey’s “veiled threats” and clearly articulating to the police commissioner that the expectation is that the Baltimore City Police Memorial to those killed in the line of duty to the City of Baltimore will be protected from harm or removal.

Meanwhile, lame duck Baltimore Mayor Jack Young recently vetoed a passed city council bill, introduced by Councilman Ryan Dorsey, to rename a Columbus monument that is overlooking the memorial to officers killed in the line of duty to “the monument of victims of police violence” as an alternative to removal of the fallen officer’s tribute. It is unclear how the new incoming administration will deal with this matter.

While the lines may be drawn in the battle to preserve our own heritage and history, respecting backgrounds and sacrifices of others is essential if we are to move forward in an intelligent and informed manner. While we seem to be in the midst of revolutionary times with a push toward a New World Order, studying history is necessary to avoid repeating past mistakes. After all, as George Santayana, a Spanish-born American author of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s observed, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Or as Winston Churchill lamented, “A nation that forgets its past has no future.” 

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Election Just Threw Police From The Frying Pan Into The Fire

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse for the American police officer with what has happened to them over the last year, it did. And at a time when police agencies are already struggling with draconian budget cuts, record-high resignations and retirements.

Barring some successful legal challenge by the Trump campaign, we are currently staring down the barrel of a cop-hating Joe Biden who thinks that police should be trained to confront armed subjects by shooting them in the leg and his vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris, who stated she was proud of Jacob Blake. Blake was armed with a knife, told numerous time to drop it in the lunge area of two Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officers and headed inside a car that 3 kids were in. Police, fearing for their safety, shot Blake, paralyzing him from the waist down. That is who Harris is proud of. She spoke with him on the phone from his hospital bed. She did not reach out to the two Kenosha police officers to see how they were doing. These two are a threat to every cop in America. And it gets worse.

Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullers, an avowed cop-hater and Marxist who advocates for the destruction of the nuclear family, recently publicly asked for a meeting with Biden and Harris. She said, “We want something for our vote.” That is not a request, it’s a threat.

Black Lives Matter has one objective. It is not to simply defund police. It’s not to reform police. Their overarching objective is to abolish police, and until that happens they are content with advocating for hurting and killing police.

A Biden-Harris administration can do most of their damage to policing in the nomination of the next Attorney General and U.S. Attorneys around the country. Biden has indicated that he will continue with Obama-era polices involving any police reform. That means get ready for more pattern and practice investigation leading to forced consent decrees with any agency involved in a deadly force situation, no matter how straightforward the incident is and no matter that the officer is eventually exonerated. In fact, often times the Obama-led USDOJ rushed investigators into a city without waiting for the locals to conclude their own investigation. Before Obama began sticking his activist nose into police use of force investigations, the role of the USDOJ was to act as an overseer. It reviewed reports and pored over evidence to ensure that a thorough investigation occurred. Under Obama, the USDOJ took anecdotal claims of a racist police agency as pattern and practice. It looked at traffic stop data as the benchmark. That is the wrong benchmark. It then manipulated data then bullied the city and department into signing a consent decree. Most mayors just caved. The decree came with money for training. It’s reporting requirements, however, were onerous and burdensome. Officers were spending valuable patrol time filling out reports at the precinct to satisfy compliance. The Obama-led USDOJ had 21 consent decrees in place after conducting 22 pattern and practice investigations. That doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s a statistical anomaly. It was bad enough to have race baiting US Attorney General like Eric Holder. It will be worse if an avowed cop-hater is nominated. Imagine Patrisse Cullers leading a White House task force on police reform.

So, what do we do? Normally I would suggest and remind mayors that they should resist any and all attempts for a federal takeover of their police department. It’s a Tenth Amendment issue. States have a vested interest in controlling crime. Why give it away to the federal government? Resist the urge to fall on your sword by virtue signaling or flaunting your racial sensitivity. It won’t matter. You will not be given any leniency from the federal government. The problem with that advice is that most of these cities that are likely to be involved in a use of force incidents are cities controlled by Democrat mayors and city councils. So that advice will fall on deaf ears. That leaves few options.

I’m left with something I never thought I would ever say to police officers, but this is existential. No police officer should take anything but manageable risks. Don’t sign up for voluntary overtime. You just might end up in that use of force on an overtime assignment. Take advantage of stress-related duty disability options. These work conditions are destroying officer quality of life. It is an occupational safety hazard to work under these conditions without the safety equipment required to do the job.

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

SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO TAKE A STAND!

“If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.” – Alexander Hamilton

Have you ever been asked to do something you felt was wrong? Did you give in to someone else’s plan or did you take a stand?

My Story

As a 17-year-old high school senior looking for my first “real” job, I was excited when I spotted the “help wanted part time” sign in the window of a local Radio Shack store. I went home to dress appropriately and returned to the store, introducing myself to the store manager. The store manager and I immediately hit it off. He was a former Baltimore city police officer and I an aspiring one. It didn’t hurt that I had been a licensed amateur radio operator since age 13 with a knowledge of electronics. I was immediately scheduled for a pre-hire polygraph exam and was hired after passing with flying colors. It was on my third day of work that I was given some bad news. The regional manager had nullified my hire. It turned out that my being under 18 years of age violated Radio Shack hiring practices and I had somehow fallen through the cracks.

Having already been on the job for three days, I decided to challenge this ruling. With the help of my parents we wrote a rather eloquent letter to the well known President of the Radio Shack division of the Tandy Corporation Lewis Kornfeld, famous for his “flyer-side chats.” After all, I had already been owed money for work completed. By taking a stand, not only was I reinstated but went on to be one of the company’s top salespeople and became a retail store manager for them by age 19.

Having learned a valuable lesson at such a young age served me well when I later myself became a Baltimore city police officer. I utilized my knowledge of the power of taking a stand whenever necessary throughout my career.

I have always placed a high value on truth and justice and took my oath to enforce the law seriously:

 “I, do swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the City of Baltimore, State of Maryland and support the Constitution and laws thereof, and that I will, to the best of my skill and judgment, diligently and faithfully, without partiality or prejudice, execute the Office of Police Officer.”

On one particularly notable occasion, after working a busy day-shift in Baltimore’s western police district in the early 1980s, my squad was drafted to be held over for a detail which happened to be at the AFRAM (African American) Festival which was actively taking place at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Due to crowd size and some incidents that had already occurred, command had made the decision to activate additional manpower for festival patrols. During a roll-call briefing about the assignment, my shift commander ordered the drafted officers in attendance to avoid making arrests and specifically ordered that any observed open-air drug use by festival participants be ignored “because we don’t want to create a riot.” Feeling that this was an unlawful order asking to violate my oath of office to diligently and faithfully, without partiality or prejudice, execute the Office of Police Officer  I found myself asking my shift commander to put the order to suspend the enforcement of laws in writing. I never received that written order and was not sent to the festival.

As years went on, I took a stand against the occasional order which did not comport to my oath of office, written policy, legal requirements or my moral compass. I did not take a stand unless I felt certain that it was justifiable and I was not known as a difficult person to supervise. To the contrary, I had good working relationships with supervision and command. We frequently found common ground and without exception had mutual respect.

Taking the high road

During my recent unsuccessful political campaign to become my home county’s next sheriff, I withstood false rumors about me and more than a few naysayers were revealed. Some continually made ridiculous assertions. Throughout it all, my supporters and I proudly stayed the course on the high road without being baited into the bad politics of mudslinging. Rather, we were not deterred in having a positive impact through solutions-based action plans for change.

In this day and age of political discourse, much of which is against the police and in favor of bad behaviors turning victim-perpetrator roles inside out, isn’t it time for law enforcement officers and leaders to consistently take the high road while individually and collectively taking a stand for truth, service, safety and justice?

Are you “woke” yet? Never surrender!

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

Welcome To The Powder Keg (revised)

Florissant, Missouri, is a suburb of St. Louis County about 18 miles from St. Louis City (proper). Like Minneapolis, Baltimore, and New York City, St. Louis and Ferguson, Missouri were targeted for complete mayhem.  Florissant was added to that list.

Peaceful demonstrations turned violent quickly when professional agitators rolled in and mingled with the Marxist terrorist groups Black Lives Matter as well as ANTIFA, and everybody took the cue to “get their clown on.” They looted and burned, and it had nothing to do with Mr. Floyd.

Let me hip you to something, “These folks don’t give a shit about George Floyd! They don’t give a shit about Rayshard Brooks either!”

The problem is at the top, folks. It’s not the frontline cops who have brickbats bouncing off their skulls every time shit “pops off.”  It’s the command staff, (“the brass”) who are afraid to do their jobs and the politicians who are holding the cops back. They want to protect their jobs, and their money.  Integrity be damned.  Someone gets sacrificed to satisfy the mob.

 “Under the bus you go, tiger! Hold on because we’re going to back it up and then park it on top of you.” And, that’s how it’s done.  Regardless of the sacrifice, Atlanta burned.

It makes as much sense as someone whistling at my neighbor’s wife and I get so mad that I go down the road and beat the shit out a local farmer planting corn and steal his tractor. On the way home I smash out the window of the local liquor store and steal as much as I can carry.  “Don’t worry folks. I’m just acting out.  I’ll be finished in a couple weeks.” Does that sound logical or normal? No!

That’s what is being played out in the major cities where BLM and the ANTIFA pussies (Yup, I said it) are destroying shit, and they are being allowed (if not encouraged and sometimes paid) to do it! You want chaos? You don’t want the police? This country will burn to the ground!

The folks who really need the police are already prisoners in their own neighborhoods!  Defund the police? Defund the politicians and put more cops on the streets to protect these folks. And then, let the cops do their jobs!

Florissant, Missouri. On June 2nd an unmarked police vehicle occupied by three officers attempted to curb a vehicle. Its three occupants bailed from the moving vehicle and the police vehicle struck one of the fleeing occupants and he was arrested, roughly. I saw some of the video. I will neither condemn nor defend the actions of the officer.  That’s what the courts are for. There’s always outrage.  The officer driving was white; the suspect treated and released for an ankle injury, was black. Clergy groups called for the officer to be suspended. BLM got in on the act quick, fast and in a hurry.  They organized protests, and demanded the officer be fired.  The chief of police and the mayor asked for an independent investigation and it was underway. The protesters demanded the officer be terminated. The mayor and chief acquiesced, quickly.  The officer was terminated, quickly.   The protests continued, now demanding the officer be charged and arrested, so that happened, also quickly. The protests continue today. 

I’ve seen it, firsthand. The police station is boarded up.  There have been as many as a dozen police officers protecting the mayor’s house.  The protesters want the other two officers terminated and charged with, well … anything.  They’ve been told, “It’s not going to happen.  They didn’t do anything criminal.”  So, what exactly do the protesters want? Who knows?

The old cop in me, I went up to put eyeballs on the scene.  I took along a friend.  Someone posted on social media that the U.S. flag in front of the PD had been desecrated. That pissed me off!

The BLM and ANTIFA folks bellowing into their bullhorns, signs, buckets and drumsticks, not really organized at all, just screaming at the guys and gals in uniform and making demands.  I saw someone in a white shirt and a gold badge slink out the front door of the PD and spied him, hiding in the bushes near a brick pillar, watching from a place of cover and concealment, the activity on the line some 70 meters away.  He never made an attempt to get off the porch and talk with the protesters or join the cops holding the line. I waved at him. He didn’t wave back. He knew it was me and I, him. It was a disgrace. He should be embarrassed

I was some thirty meters from the crowd, just watching,

“Check this guy out,” a slightly built, smiling black man approached my friend and I,

“You guys here to join the protest?”

“Nope. We’re just watching Old Glory. Don’t want to see anything happen to her.”

He scurried off.

I turned to my friend,

“They’re running counter intelligence.  He’s a scout, watch, where he goes. He’ll tell his friends about us and we’ll have company, pretty quick.”

He did exactly that, and within seconds, we were swarmed by five black men, a tall skinny fellow with a big mouth and something in his waistband under his shirt, another was wheelchair-bound and carrying an AR-style pistol.  A dark-skinned lad with dreadlocks was carrying an AR-style rifle on a sling, another who could have been his twin was similarly armed but with a red bandanna holding his hair up. All smiles, he was the talker of this group. His rifle was equipped with a drum magazine. There was a portly fellow in a “wife-threatener” (usually we call them a wife-beater except in cases wherein the person wearing it is not physically up to the task, and I don’t think he was up for much physical activity) This guy was also sporting “white face,” makeup which added a little “comic relief” to a scene that had the potential to go horribly wrong.

 Red bandanna started to speak just as a pudgy person, that I could only describe as androgynous, bulging out of shirt and pants, joined the group.  It yelled something from behind its mask that was unintelligible, but angry. 

Red bandanna, “What are y’all doing here?”

“Watching our flag,” as I pointed to it.

“It ain’t my flag, shit!” He laughed as he spoke.

“Well, it’s my flag, and my friend’s flag”

“What if I go over there and tear that flag down off that pole and burn it? Whatcha gonna do about that?”

I looked red bandanna square in the eyes, “It’s still there.  You want to take it down you’re certainly welcome to try.”

“You prepared to die for that flag?” he seemed serious enough for me. A threat? You bet!

I answered, “Lots of folks have died for it. What are you prepared to do? That’s the real question.”

It was hot out, but not so hot for the red bandannas’ skin to be leaking so hard.  He had stopped laughing but I hadn’t laughed since the encounter began. To me, this was not a joke.

The tall one with the big mouth jumped up and perched atop an orange water-filled barricade. He was in my space.  Red bandanna told him to move away from me.  He did.

I saw every trigger finger on every rifle I could see.

The fat tub of shit in whiteface had to get in on it, red bandanna suddenly quiet,

“What if I snatch that hat off yo head? Whatchu gone do about that?”

Still watching every trigger finger,

“This hat? I’m bettin’ it’s gonna stay right here on my head. What are you gone do ‘bout that?”

He must have lost his voice. No reply.

Red bandanna,

“What you gone do, kill us? You packin’?”

“You’re all carrying guns. There’s what, five of you and two of us? This is America. You can carry guns. We can carry guns. What’s the big deal? No reason to get all nervous.”

Red bandanna had “that look,” the look when you’ve started something you weren’t really sure you wanted to start.  Brandishing weapons attempting to instill fear, and making threats, weren’t working.

Calmer heads prevail. We were outnumbered, but not really out-gunned; they had long guns and probably very little training.  We were armed and had lots of training. Discretion being the better part of valor, my friend and I agreed that we’d go leave the way we came, so we simply backed up, cautiously (turning and running usually triggers an enhanced mob attack), and left.   

I think they considered following, but red bandanna knew there was something in the wind that told him it might be a bad idea. Old Glory still at full mast, my hat still on my head.  I certainly didn’t want to be on the evening news or in the newspapers.  We would have been labeled as “troublemakers” spoiling for an armed confrontation.  I did wish they had just kept their distance. We were just on opposite sides.  Where’s the harm in me, a law-abiding citizen on a public roadway, engaging in a conversation about our beloved flag, being accosted by a group of armed men making credible threats?  Powder keg. That’s the best way to describe it, and it probably plays out more often than you’d think, but nobody will tell that story.  Another time, another place, a similar situation will play out and someone will do something they will regret.  We, as Americans cannot roll over and let the mob rule. There comes a time when you need to make a stand.  My question, the one plaguing me is, “Where are the other patriots?” The powder keg is there, and somebody is going to touch that fucker off!

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

POLICE REFORM: HERE WE GO AGAIN

After every high-profile police use of force going back to the Rodney King incident involving the Los Angeles Police Department, there has been an immediate knee-jerk reaction call to reform police agencies. Change was needed, we were told. The problem is that the final reports on the need for change were one-sided. Efforts were made to improve policing but no efforts to date have been made requiring criminals to behave in ways that will increase the likelihood of surviving an encounter with police. When you flee police, fail to abide by an officer’s lawful command, resist arrest or attempt to disarm an officer, you are likely to experience a bad outcome.

Yet every time an officer legally uses force to protect themselves against a threat posed by a suspect, we go about the same inane exercise of trying to reform policing. The reason that not much ever changes, however, is that we end up working on the wrong thing. The police are not the problem. Failed communities are the problem, but fixing that seems to be too high a mountain to scale so we go back to picking at the low-hanging fruit, which is to try to reform policing. Panels and task forces are convened, meetings are held and a work product is usually produced that contains nothing more than platitudes, rhetoric and cliches. After a while when emotions have subsided, everybody goes back to doing what they were doing before the incident that got people’s attention.

The last time we heard calls for change on a national scale was after the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, New York and Baltimore. People forget that before Freddie Gray’s death in police custody, President Obama gave a speech in which he heralded the Baltimore Police Department for its reform efforts and its commitment to community policing. He called Baltimore PD a model for change and one that every law enforcement agency should emulate. A few months later, after the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore Police were being investigated by Obama’s Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric Holder for racism, profiling and unfair treatment in black neighborhoods. I’m serious.

Obama signed an Executive Order appointing an 11-member task force titled 21st Century Policing that would “begin the process of healing and restoring community trust”. Yes, here we go again. A 38-page document called an action plan was produced. Most of what was recommended was already being done by agencies across America. All the usual key words were included, like community policing, crime reduction, building trust, oversight and training. The rest was a bunch of pie in the sky flowery-sounding nonsense that was actually dangerous to officers and citizens alike. Nothing changed. And then came the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. And just as sure as the sun rising in the east, the call went out to reform policing — yet again.

I cannot stress enough the importance of blocking efforts by politicians to transform the profession of policing in America in knee-jerk fashion because of one or two incidents involving the police use of force. Knee-jerk public policy most often turns out to be bad public policy because a balancing test is not performed. The balancing test answers this vital question. Have we considered what bad outcomes might result from our emotional decision? Asking this important question can reduce the likelihood of the law of unintended consequences. Another troublesome point is that this reform movement is being led by people who do not like police. In fact, they hate police. Black Lives Matter, Antifa or any other innocently disguised groups cannot and should not be allowed to drive police reform. They are pursuing reform with one goal — to weaken a law enforcement officer’s ability to keep the peace, enforce the rule of law and take law violators into custody. In other words, it will severely hamper effective law enforcement. Calls for reform are not based on any data or research to support sweeping change. These are based solely on emotional rhetoric and propaganda. A recent poll by Rasmussen shows that 81% of people polled believe that police deserve more respect and support. A Gallup poll shows that 80% of blacks polled want the same level of policing and some want more law enforcement in their communities. Why, then, are politicians ignoring the will of the general public?

Fortunately, many police agencies are refusing to cave to major policy changes being pursued by the idiot social justice warriors. The reformers are people who have no understanding whatsoever about police work. A Washington Times newspaper survey of police agencies across the country found that, “Most are making only slight adjustments to standard operating procedures rather than major overhauls.” Calls for more body cameras is a reasonable request. Most agencies banned the use of chokeholds a long time ago. Banning no-knock search warrants deserves more data and research before banning. This is an officer safety issue when serving narcotic-related search warrants. Let’s be clear. What the cop-hating crowd has in mind for reform is to ban the use of tear gas in riot situations and to eliminate the use of police canines as one Milwaukee, Wisconsin, alderman has introduced and to prevent agencies from buying surplus military equipment under the 1033 federal program. Things like ballistic shields and helmets.

Another sweeping change suggestion is a call for national standards in local policing. It’s a terrible idea. That is about one thing: federal control of local police. The Founding Fathers knew the danger of that and did not want it. What the people making this suggestion to police standards fail to understand is that how a community is policed is incumbent upon local conditions. Every community is unique and requires a style of policing tailored to that particular environment and culture. How you police in a dynamic and complex densely populated urban area like New York is different than how you would police a midsize Midwestern city or outlying rural area.

What is noticeably left out from the recommendation list is how the community can do a better job of holding up their responsibility in a representative democracy. People have certain responsibilities to make communities work and function. Parents need to raise socially adjusted children, for instance. They need to instill virtues in them like respect for authority and personal responsibility. Police were designed to keep the peace already in place because of societally enforced standards, not create the peace. Now they are called for everything. Increased police/citizen interaction leads to an increase for potential conflict.  That’s how we arrive at Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and George Floyd.

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

Politics, Pardons and Commutations

Politics, Pardons and Commutations

The power of clemency is one of the fullest powers bestowed on the president by the United States Constitution. The pardon powers of the president are outlined in Article Two of the United States Constitution (Section 2, Clause 1):The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States.

Clemency given by a president falls into one of two categories: A pardon is an executive order granting clemency for a conviction; it may be granted at any point after the commission of the crime. As per Justice Department regulations, convicted persons may only apply five or more years after their sentence has been completed. However, the president's power to pardon is not restricted by any temporal constraints except that the crime must have been committed. Its practical effect is the restoration of civil rights and statutory disabilities (i.e., firearm rights, occupational licensing) associated with a past criminal conviction. A commutation is the mitigation of the sentence of someone currently serving a sentence for a crime pursuant to a conviction without vacating the conviction itself (example: Roger Stone).President Trump, as of this writing, has issued 44 pardons and commutations. This compared to President Obama, who after eight full years in office left with a total of 1,927.

Of greater importance than the number of individuals granted clemency is the severity of the offenses and the totality of the known information on their individual backgrounds, their likelihood of recidivism and their own success at improving their lives and the lives of others while incarcerated. 

While the vast majority of President Obama’s executive clemency orders affected people considered being low-level and nonviolent participants in the drug trade, many with an addiction issue themselves, not all met those criteria. Perhaps President Obama’s most well-known commutation decision was when he ordered Army Private Chelsea Manning to be released from prison after serving just seven years of a 34-year sentence for passing secret documents to WikiLeaks. 

Lesser known is that President Obama ordered the early and immediate release of Oscar Lopez Rivera on Jan. 17, 2017, as one of the final acts of his presidency. During the 1970s, Lopez Rivera headed a Chicago-based cell of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), which waged a futile but violent struggle to win Puerto Rican independence. The FALN claimed responsibility for more than 120 bombings between 1974 and 1983 that killed six and injured dozens. In 1981, a federal court in Chicago sentenced Lopez Rivera to 55 years for seditious conspiracy, armed robbery, interstate transportation of firearms and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property. The indictment listed 28 Chicago-area bombings. FBI agents at the time discovered dynamite, detonators and firearms at two residences occupied by Lopez Rivera. At trial, a cooperating witness from the FALN testified that Lopez Rivera personally trained him in bomb-making. Oscar Lopez Rivera is neither a low-level offender nor a repentant or nonviolent one. 

In contrast, President Trump granted executive clemency and famously commuted the life sentence of first-time, nonviolent drug offender Alice Marie Johnson following a meeting between President Trump and Kim Kardashian. This was followed by landmark justice reforms through the First Step Act which requires the Board of Prisons to assess prisoner recidivism risk and place prisoners in recidivism-reducing and productive programs.

In fact, the president just recently commuted the sentences of five nonviolent offenders. The White House described all of the individuals as having been model inmates during their incarcerations who had worked to better themselves and the people around them while still behind bars. 

So those are the facts. Conclude for yourself the importance executive clemency to those truly deserving second looks who contribute to our society in positive ways versus the potential danger in any president releasing those who could justifiably be deemed to be a threat to our republic.

A complete list of President Obama’s granted executive clemency requests can be found at: https://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-pardons

https://www.justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations

A complete list of President Trump’s granted executive clemency requests can be found at:

https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-donald-trump

https://www.justice.gov/pardon/commutations-granted-president-donald-trump-2017-present

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com

After Further Review, A Change Of Heart

With great amusement I am watching politicians who eagerly jumped on board with calls from cop haters to defund and even abolish police now having to contort themselves into a more serious public policy proposal now that they see the foolishness of these suggestions after polling suggests there is nearly zero public support across all demographics for defunding police.

What started out as blatant calls to defund and abolish have turned into a game of wordsmithing by two-bit politicians who got too far out in front of their skis on this inane idea. Now defunding, abolishing and cuts have been replaced by words and phrases like “redirecting”, “repurposing” or “reallocating” police resources to disguise and mislead their true intentions.

Democrat vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris calls it “re-imagining” policing. All of this is being done after cities like Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland (OR), Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City and Los Angeles have experienced spikes in violent crime rates as police stood down and backed off the need to be assertive in order to keep crime and violence in check, to keep the peace and maintain law and order. Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden gave his vision of police reform saying he should send social workers along with police on calls to talk them out of using force when they legally need to. You won’t find many social workers who will sign up for that.

The New York City council recommends cutting the six-billion-dollar budget of the NYPD by one billion dollars. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett submitted a city budget for 2021 that includes cutting funding for 125 officers on a police department already operating with vacancies. The liberal local newspaper that shills for the liberal mayor said in a story on the budget that Barrett’s proposal was not a true defunding move. Really? Then what is it? In Seattle, calls for cutting the police budget in half led to “only” a 1% reduction in the police budget. In Portland, the police budget has been cut by $10 million or 4% of the budget and far less that the police hater had sought. In Los Angeles, the city council cut the budget by $150 million. The Philadelphia Police Department was scheduled for an increase in its 2021 budget but that was nixed.

As a law enforcement chief executive and former sheriff of Milwaukee County, I know a thing or two about budgeting. A budget is a plan about what you will do to keep the area safe. Most of what is contained in a budget, about 92%, is eaten up in salaries and benefits. That leaves only 8% left for discretionary spending. That’s working on the margins. My budget, like most law enforcement agencies, was underfunded to start with. That means that the slightest cut is a big deal. Cuts don’t include the rate of inflation-the rising cost of collectively bargained salaries and benefits.

All of this has consequences for the public, especially those who live in areas ravaged by street violence. Poor black and Hispanic people who live in these urban centers will bear a disproportionate level of being victimized. Minneapolis has had more homicides in the first three quarters of 2020 than in all of the previous year. Rising crime in cities cutting police budgets has left clueless politicians scratching their heads. In Minneapolis, for example, at a recent city council meeting, several council members have asked where the police are as their constituents demand that something be done about crime. Council President Lisa Bender even accused the police of not enforcing the law or making arrests.

These absent-minded politicians cannot and will not make the connection between fewer police and rising street crimes like robberies, aggravated assaults and homicides. They cannot make the connection that all this cop-hating and physical attacks are having on the psyche of officers. Chief Medaria

Arredondo had a chance to let them know that cuts mean fewer police and longer response times and that his officers are mentally and physically fatigued. He did not. He stood down. Instead, he said he would discuss it with his commanders. I was recently in Minneapolis and talked to several police officers including one who still has not been cleared for duty having been injured during the riots following the death of George Floyd. They told me that the department was totally demoralized. That Arredondo doesn’t know that is telling how disconnected he is from his officers.

Other city leaders have also had a change of heart. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan was all in with Antifa and Black Lives Matter about abolishing the Seattle Police Department. After an awakening that saw her come under attack from the same insurrectionists she once supported, she had to walk back her initial anti-police position. Her veto of police budget cuts was overridden.

Add to this that retirements and resignations are skyrocketing. The Milwaukee Police Department is experiencing an over 40% retirement rate compared to a year ago. In Minneapolis, 100 officers have left the agency. NYPD is seeing what is described as a “troubling surge in officer retirements”. Most officers surveyed say they are leaving due to all the anti-police rhetoric. Losing a police officer in and of itself places a heavier workload on an already overworked staff. An overworked officer is subject to making more mistakes. Add to that all of the experience that is walking out the door. Politicians don’t consider that. Most agencies do not have a succession plan to capture that knowledge and experience before officers retire. That is not replaced by simply hiring a new officer. Most officers know that it takes about 5 years for an officer to become truly seasoned in the science of policing.

I am sounding the alarm now. The fire is getting closer. We need more effective police leadership today more than ever before. The question is whether we’ll see it or not before this proud profession collapses.

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