UNWISE: OVERPLAYING YOUR HAND

“Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.” - Vita Sackville-West

Overplaying one’s hand originated as a card-playing term. In a game such as poker or bridge every player is dealt a "hand" of cards at the beginning of the game and must decide how best to "play their hand" meaning how to use their cards to maximum advantage to win the game. If you err on the side of overconfidence and try to win in ways that your hand really isn't good enough to win, and lose as a result, you are said to have overplayed your hand.

So from there it is easy to understand the figurative use. If you are trying to score in some arena other than a card game, you are still figuratively trying to do the best you can to get your way or make your point with the hand you have been dealt. Those are your assets. Play them right and you will perhaps win whatever advantage or score you were looking for. If you attribute to them greater truth in meaning than they have, and become overconfident, you may end up being discredited, having overplayed your hand.

While playing a game with cards, it may be advantageous to “bluff” your way to making others surrender in the belief that you possess a winning hand; in the real world there is less room to rely on misinformation, deception or insincere practices.

Look at the job performance of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, from his 15 days to slow the spread over one year ago to a seemingly never-ending cycle of changed viewpoints on everything from continuation of lockdowns, to effectiveness of treatments and specific medications, to when a COVID vaccine could or would be available, to the effectiveness and composition and number of masks to be worn (or not), to changes on guidance for social distancing, deep cleaning protocols, and on and on, causing a most predictable questioning of the validity of his breadth of knowledge and his ultimate motives. Now, by overplaying his hand before he apparently had sufficient evidence based upon true scientific fact, he has been consistently losing credibility.

If a police officer or official was as unclear in their direction, can you imagine the result in critical situations? In this day and age of de-escalation, I learned early on in my career to avoid

unnecessary escalation in dealing with uncooperative individuals who were unlawfully breaching the peace. Often times, these were individuals who were nonviolent but for whatever reasons simply angered and upset. The natural tendency for an inexperienced or rookie officer in these situations is to immediately threaten arrest for noncompliance. Once that threat is made however, all other options are off the table unless willing to lose all credibility in the eyes of the violator, further validating their noncompliance and underlying reason for it. Instead, in a nonviolent encounter, veteran officers know to speak to people from a position of strength, empathy and understanding with a willingness to be of help as a way to gain compliance. Of course, when faced with an enraged violent perpetrator, safety must be of upmost concern and appropriate levels of physical force must be used to stop any threat.

Don’t be seen as a joker, hoaxer or clown

Does it seem as though some are simply drunk with power in the eyes of those who are being told what they must do? Today, too many dig in their heels and find themselves in the untenable position of defending the indefensible while overplaying their hand in error often with grave and unintended consequences. Remember, just because something is said doesn’t in and of itself make it so. Whether you are director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases or an officer on-the-beat, instruction and authoritative powers must be used judiciously to avoid a loss of credibility and ultimate control of the environment around you as we strive to work toward the common good.

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

A City's misuse Of Police

As sheriff, I would constantly remind county officials that when they look at a law enforcement officer, they should see with pay and benefits, a roughly six-figured taxpayer resource. It is one of the most expensive resources that local governments have. That means that it should be used sparingly and for a narrowly defined purpose. Police are intended to do two main functions. Preserve the peace and enforce the law. Any use outside that should be resisted by law enforcement executives.

We are at a point in society where police are used for a plethora of things outside their intended purpose. Officers are sent to just about everything today. When people don’t know what to do about a particular thing, their first thought is, call the police. A dog left tied up outside that continually barks, call the police. Somebody gets locked out of their car or home, call the police. Somebody illegally parked, call the police. And it doesn’t stop here.

I want to take you back to a high-profile incident in New York City several years ago that turned deadly. A man named Eric Garner was selling individual cigarettes on the street called loosies. Business owners called police because it was undercutting their ability to sell full packs of cigarettes, thereby costing them revenue. I get that. It however is not a police matter. It is a New York State Department of Revenue issue. It’s a tax stamp violation. Police were sent to handle it. Why? Using police as Department of Revenue officials was a bad idea. The precinct commander should have called the Department of Revenue director and had him or her send their employees to the location to hand out a citation or summons to Eric Garner. Officers relied on one of the few options they possess. They tried to arrest Eric Garner, who resisted. Garner later died of a heart attack in addition to many other poor health issues. So Eric Garner ends up dead and at least one officer involved was terminated. All this over NYPD officers being misused as de facto state revenue inspectors. This isn’t the first time it has happened.

After the death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a Department of Justice investigation that followed showed that the city relied heavily on its police department, especially for generating revenue through police traffic enforcement. I don’t have much use for then-Attorney General Eric Holder’s report, but it did have a valid claim on the misuse of police for things beyond protecting the public. It said in part, that, “A community where local authorities consistently approached law enforcement not as a means for protecting public safety, but as a way to generate revenue.  A community where both policing and municipal court practices were found to disproportionately harm African American residents…and a community where all of these conditions, unlawful practices, and constitutional violations have not only severely undermined the public trust, eroded police legitimacy, and made local residents less safe – but created an intensely charged atmosphere where people feel under assault and under siege by those charged to serve and protect them. 

We continually ask officers to create and maintain good community relations. On the other hand, we ask them to engage in activities like giving them citations for picayune violations like parking meter violations. Nobody likes those. It leaves people resentful of police officers. How many times has an officer heard this: Don’t you have more important things to do? Many agencies have gotten away from officers looking out for and citing people for parking violations and the like, using civilian city employees to do that. Those functions should be expanded to include many things we currently send law enforcement officers to that are designed, not for order maintenance but to simply generate revenue.

I realize that traffic enforcement can yield at treasure trove of criminal activity. Officers can find prohibited persons illegally possessing guns, large amounts of illegal narcotics being moved and people wanted on serious felony warrants.

In the George Floyd case, Minneapolis officers were sent to the report of a guy passing a counterfeit $20 bill. Altering U.S. currency is a federal offense and the purview of the United States Secret Service. They should have been called to respond. But again. Don’t know who to call? Dial 911.

This issue came up in the recent police use of deadly force in Berkeley Center, Minnesota when the driver of a car, Duarte Wright, was pulled over for having expired registration plates and wait for this, having an air freshener tag dangling from his rear-view mirror. Sure, the driver was wanted for a felony warrant, but that was learned after the stop. The driver resisted arrest when one of the officers pulled what she thought was her Taser that mistakenly was her firearm and she shot and killed the driver. Over a traffic stop for dangling from the mirror air freshener? So Wright is dead and the officer has been charged with manslaughter and her 26-year career goes up in smoke. Wow.

Why am I focusing on this right now? Because this issue is part of the current attempt in the U.S. Congress to once again unnecessarily reform policing. HR 1280 in part addresses phasing out municipalities using traffic enforcement to derive a significant portion of their income from traffic fines. This increases police interaction that can turn deadly and sometimes over something as insignificant as vehicle mechanical issues. Why stop there? Let’s look at other misuses of police resources.

Can’t we avoid some of this? We should at least try for the sake of not the perpetrators but for the sake of the officers. Agencies should sit down and take an inventory of things that they currently have police handle and stop sending police resources to these things and find some other resource to handle it. Like we have done with traffic control, parking violations, loud music complaints and the like.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the city set up a Department of Neighborhood Resources where uniformed civilians respond to low-level and low-risk nuisance reports. It frees up the finite expensive resource of law enforcement officers for things like more time for preventive patrols in high crime areas and reducing response times for felony calls like robbery in progress or shots fired complaints.

I am an advocate of quality of life or order maintenance strategies. Let’s review what we are doing, however, to find a balance where both objectives can be met. Let’s find the sweet spot to reduce a police officer being used ineffectively, inefficiently, inappropriately and out of their realm of expertise that results in a bad outcome through no fault of the police. Otherwise, we will continue to be pushing back on the knee jerk response of calls to overhaul policing every time there is a police deadly use of force especially when it is done by agenda-driven two-bit politicians wanting to re-imagine, redefine and remake policing as they look to curry favor with cop-hating groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa.

 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

HYPOCRISY: Who’s the “Lying Dog-Faced Pony Soldier” Now?

“I got involved in politics, to begin with because of civil rights and opposition to white supremacist, the Ku Klux Klan and the most dangerous people on America continue to exist. That is the greatest threat of terror in America, domestic terror. So I would make sure my Justice Department and the Civil Rights Division is focused heavily on those very folks. I would make sure we focus on how to deal with the rise of white supremacy. You see what’s happening the studies that are beginning to be done, maybe at your university as well, about the impact of former military, former police officers on the growth of white supremacy in some of these groups.” – President Joe Biden

When I heard former police officers and military veterans, some of the bravest and most dedicated members of our society in the protection of freedom and liberty, being accused of fueling hatred through belief in any sort of supremacy I was both angered and dismayed. I knew that the president of our United States was not speaking about me or the countless number of my colleagues who have selflessly given themselves to service of our nation, its communities and fellow Americans. This fails any fair-minded fact-checking criteria. Then this falsehood from President Biden about the recently enacted and updated Georgia election laws:

“What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It’s sick. It’s sick … deciding that you’re going to end voting at five o’clock when working people are just getting off work.”

Biden framed his complaint in terms of a detriment to working people. The law would “end voting at five o’clock when working people are just getting off work” or “ends voting hours early so working people can’t cast their vote after their shift is over.” In fact, under the new law, counties have the option to extend the voting hours so voters can start casting ballots as early as 7 a.m. and as late as 7 p.m. — the same as Election Day in Georgia. Moreover, an additional mandatory day of early voting on Saturday was added and two days of early voting on Sunday were codified as an option for counties. Somehow, inexplicably, Biden managed to turn that expansion into a restriction aimed at working people, calling it “among the outrageous parts” of the law, and for that the president earns four Pinocchios from the Washington Post newspaper fact-checkers.

The Georgia voting rights law is now being somehow touted as being inequitable. So in response and in the name of racial and social justice, Major League Baseball and a host of other companies are engaging in behaviors that are hurting the very people that they are claiming to support and protect. Case in point: “Woke” Major League Baseball moving its All-Star Game and player draft from a reportedly 51% Black Atlanta to Denver with a 76% population of persons categorized as white. The game's relocation is expected to deliver a severe economic blow to

Atlanta, reported to be in the $100 million range, where nearly 30% of businesses are said to be Black-owned. So who is being helped and who is being harmed? Talk about hypocrisy!

More mind-boggling hypocrisy:

By October 2021, I am being told, all of us will need to possess a federally approved “Real ID” to board any commercial flight or enter select federal buildings. Yet, it’s somehow discriminatory to ask for ID for voting purposes? Either identity is important or it is not, but the hypocrisy is astounding. MLB, Delta airlines and a host of other companies who themselves require IDs are incredibly taking a political position that proof of identity is unimportant because it is a potentially discriminatory practice? This is what George W. Bush once referred to as the soft bigotry of low expectations and is based upon prejudiced beliefs.

How have we gone from great efforts to reduce crime and enhance public safety through zero tolerance and broken windows policing to bail reform and diminished consequences for criminal activity and behaviors? While there may be middle ground found in criminal justice reforms, do truth, justice and public safety, important to the majority of law-abiding Americans, no longer have meaning to many of those in policy-making positions?

Why is it considered effective to have fencing, armed troops and barricades surrounding the Washington, D.C., Capitol district but not to protect our border against those with potentially hostile intent against our nation and its sovereignty? It has been reported that dangerous criminals and potential terrorists are coming across our now-softened southern border with Mexico. Have we forgotten the global threats that we should have tragically learned from in our post-9/11 world?

How long will we as a nation tolerate the abuse, death and abandonment of children at our border while allowing increased revenue for coyotes and drug cartels under the lying guise of compassion for immigration and immigrants?

Finally, if “progressives” insist that we must entertain the notion of gender neutrality, why can’t those of us who choose to consider ourselves to be race neutral? In this age of DNA sequencing and analysis, many have learned that their ancestry encompasses multiple racial and ethnic components. Why must race be considered? Aren’t we all just human?

We are better than this. It’s time to stop the hypocrisy, eradicate disingenuous policies and restore sanity to our broken world.

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 an 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

What Real Hate Looks Like

The utter contempt, the downright hate being demonstrated by elected officials grandstanding for the cop-hating movement in America was on display in New York City recently once again. Mayor Bill De Blasio and the New York City Council are not content with simply sticking the knife in the back of every one of New York City’s 36,000 sworn police officers, no that isn’t enough. Now they are twisting it.

This should be concerting to every law enforcement officer and every agency in America. This ending qualified immunity for local police will be sweeping every urban agency in America that has liberal politicians on city councils. It has been in the crosshairs of cop-hating groups as part of their inane police reform agenda. Even Congress is considering removing this protection for police officers in its police reform bill HR 1280.

As many of you reading this may know, qualified immunity is a judicially created doctrine that protects state and local law enforcement officers by shielding them from harassment, distraction and liability for acts that may violate someone’s civil rights if it can be shown that the acts do not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would be aware. It is a high standard to prove that when making a split-second decision, an officer cannot reasonably be able to determine in an instant, a legal determination.

What doesn’t get talked about enough is that when people file civil lawsuits against police, their lawyer wants to go after the deep pockets. That would be the city, a municipal corporation and their insurers. That is where the money is. Recently, the city of Minneapolis settled a lawsuit with the family of George Floyd, who died in police custody, for $27 million. You may have heard of the case. No police officer has wealth or assets totaling $27 million. If they did, they would not be in policing. Not for what the average officer is paid in salary and benefits.

So, the question is why it’s so important to go after the assets of an underpaid law enforcement officer in a civil lawsuit? For spite. If given a choice, no civil lawsuit plaintiff would go after an officer’s assets instead of a municipal corporation’s. This has never been an issue until this war on police. It’s why I referred to it as New York City twisting the knife.

The doctrine of qualified immunity takes into account the difficulty in police making decisions. It gives them and their family protection against losing their homes and other assets. It allows police to do what they need to do in serving and protecting. Without the protection that qualified immunity offers, what officer in their right mind will take any risks on the streets. Risks like pulling over a suspicious vehicle or conducting a field interview stop? These police actions can quickly go to hell in a heartbeat, often times through no fault of the officer. Those two activities are what is needed to keep crime and violence in check. Without it, the criminals and perpetrators of disorder control the streets. New York City is finding that out since the Ferguson effect, named after the police use of force in Ferguson, Missouri. Officers are no longer as assertive as they need to be. It’s no longer worth risking not only their lives but their family finances and assets. I don’t blame them. The results have been catastrophic for law-abiding communities in poor black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

Crime is surging in many urban cities as a result of continually pounding on the police. Homicides, robberies, aggravated assaults like nonfatal shootings and car thefts are exponentially rising. Homicides are up 45 percent and shootings are up 97 percent in New York. Across America in 51 various cities,

homicides are up 35 percent and shootings are up 10 percent, according to Christian Science Monitor research.

Crime rises for a number of reasons but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make a valid correlation between a lack of quality of life enforcement and rising crime rates. Assertive policing is necessary for quality of life enforcement. It is not happening and with cities eliminating qualified immunity protection for officers, this vital police activity will not return soon.

Cops are not stupid. It won’t take long for police officers to counter to protect their family assets by taking everything of value out of their name and either setting up a trust or putting assets in their spouse’s name exclusively. With no assets in their name, it will be difficult to go after them. You can’t squeeze blood out of a rock, after all.

My fear is that these attacks on police by cities won’t stop here. Next, these bastard criminal-coddling politicians will suggest an end to benefits for line of duty deaths and survivor benefits. Don’t say that these politicians wouldn’t stoop that low. They have proven time and time again that their moral elevator has no bottom floor.

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

FAMILY: Have We Failed Future Generations?

Have We Failed?

“To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - that is to have succeeded” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Over the past several months our family has been growing with new grandchildren being born. On Feb. 27 of this year, my youngest grandson arrived, and I was honored that he was named Waylon Joel Gordon. Boy, has he made me think. For my 61 years on this earth my goal has been to leave our world a better place for future generations. I have been unable to shake the overwhelming feeling that my generation has now failed in that endeavor.

Of course, COVID restrictions at area hospitals made it so our support and involvement in the blessed event of this child’s birth had to be achieved in a virtual manner. I am tired of being controlled and having personal rights and liberties trampled on, but I digress.

One of the main reasons I personally offered myself to a continuation of my public service through my unsuccessful candidacy for sheriff was to do my part in leaving a better place for future generations to leave the world better than I had found it, at least at a local level. It is the same reason that I look for political candidates who are individuals with a track record of achievement with a view toward furthering that goal.

While we can disagree, for example, whether energy independence is more vital than environmental concerns or if there is a mix in achieving both goals in a balanced way, we can all agree that we would like our children and grandchildren to live an even better life than our own.

The Trump presidency gave many conservatives and I hope, and we thought we had found our path to leaving a better world in many respects of our culture on a whole host of issues such as:

· Freedom and equality

· Energy independence

· Right to Life

· Second Amendment rights

· Continued job and opportunity growth

· Capitalism with prosperity

· Middle East and world peace

· Recognizing value in historical lessons learned

· Law, order and justice

Now just barely into a new presidential administration, through executive orders and changes in guiding ideologies that hope has turned into economic hardship and despair for many and our

cultural divide is being propelled into a further deepening state. The idea that elected representatives in our new president’s own political party want to make it so the president has less authority over utilization of our nuclear arsenal (i.e. strip him of the nuclear launch codes) should reveal all we need to know about the confidence level that even the president’s alleged allies have in the current administration’s decision-making ability.

Three days after the 2020 election, gasoline was $1.80-2.10 per gallon while we achieved energy independence and became a net exporter of energy, GDP growth was at 33%, we had the best overall economy ever (until COVID), engaged in no new wars or conflicts in four years, kept North Korea under control through diplomatic channels, quelled the threat from ISIS who had not been heard from for over three years, enjoyed the strongest housing market in over 20 years as homes appreciated at an unbelievable rate and sold within hours of going on the market with multiple offers. You get the picture.

I had hoped our new leadership would build on these things and keep them going, but if I were a betting person (I am not) I would bet that the only place we will see those results will be here in this writing.

My personal belief is that all things are cyclical and that does give me a level of hope for the future. But as I enter the winter of my own life here on earth I am still worried for the burdens left for future generations.

Make Pap proud, little ones, as you will surely be tasked with fixing many mistakes and overcoming the many failures my generation and the subsequent generation have left behind. If Waylon Joel’s newborn picture is any indication, do you think he may already have a sense of what he is facing ahead?

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

Democrats Play Game Of, If At First You Don’t Succeed

There is not much to admire about the Democrat Party or what in 2021 can be called the Democrat Socialist Party of America. We’ll get to that in a minute. One thing I do admire about this band of cop-hating socialists, though, is their never say die attitude when pushing their anti-police agenda. This on-going attempt to reform policing has been proposed before, but the anti-police Democrats in Congress haven’t quite had the total support of their own party in the past to push it through. Now they do, along with control of Congress and the White House. This bill makes it clear that the War on Police nationally is starting up again after being smothered for four years by former President Donald Trump.

The latest proposed legislation introduced in the Congress is HR 1280, the misnamed George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. First, let’s deal with the name of this bill. As always with politicians, they play a game of creating the name of a bill that actually is the opposite of what it does. There is no justice in policing in this bill. It is an onerous piece of legislation that according to JBS.org, “Would: 1. Establish a national standard for the operation of police departments; 2. Mandate data collection on police encounters; 3. Reprogram existing funds to invest in transformative community-based policing programs; and 4. Streamline federal law to prosecute excessive force and establish independent prosecutors for police investigations.” It would also make it easier to prosecute law enforcement officers for unintentional harm that occurs when using force. OK, let’s cut the crap here.

This bill is nothing more than a naked attempt to federalize local policing, thereby creating a national police force. It is a violation of the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that says, “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” In essence, HR 1280 is a blatant trampling of states’ rights. Policing is a local issue. States have a vested interest in securing the safety of their citizens not to mention that the Framers saw a national police force as a slippery slope toward a standing army, something they abhorred. Once organized under standard policies and training, they are ripe for a tyrant to use them to carry out their oppression under a dictatorship. That California U.S. Rep. Karen Bass is a lead author and pushing this through the House of Representatives is also alarming.

Karen Bass has a past history of belonging to and praising communist groups and she isn’t bashful in her support of the Communist Party USA from an early age where she describes in the book, Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Realities. She was also a member of the Black Panther Party. Enough said on where her American-hating, cop-hating proclivities lie. In speaking about the need for police reform she indicated that 30 years after Rodney King was beaten by police in Los Angeles, “We are still trying to reform policing in the United States.”

Has Rep. Bass ever considered that the reason nothing has changed is because she is working on the wrong thing or that policing is as reformed as it’s ever going to be? Did she ever consider that it’s not policing that needs to be reformed, that it’s the American ghetto that needs to be reformed? Law enforcement officers are more professional, better trained and more educated than at any time in our history. It can’t be reformed any more at this point. It is futile to try. The American ghetto with all its urban pathologies has, in the same time period, gotten worse. Nothing changes because what is needed is not police reform but a culture change, a change in behavior by criminals and reform within the black family which is in tatters. Rep. Bass and other so-called progressives refuse to tell her constituents in her district that better lifestyle choices by young black males would lead to fewer police contacts and fewer arrests. She doesn’t have either the intelligence or the courage to tell her constituents that better parenting would help, better performance in schools will help, more in-home fathers raising, socializing

their sons and teaching them how to respect authority would help. But that is the hard stuff. That requires heavy lifting. Rep Bass and her brood of fellow useless politicians would rather take the intellectually lazy way out and lunge at the low-hanging fruit of police reform.

So here we are again at the well of fixing the police. It reminds me of the adage that the more things change the more they stay the same. These mindless elected officials can re-form, re-imagine, re-direct and any other re-whatever they want to with policing, not much will change over the next 30 years either until Congress enacts real ghetto reform that eliminates the self-inflicted urban pathologies that contribute to needing more police interaction. More interaction with police leads to more potential for conflict when lawful orders by police are ignored.

I have a suggestion for Rep. Bass. Let’s try something different if we want a better outcome. Let’s work smarter instead of on the wrong thing. Your way has not worked, neither will HR 1280. Let’s give my way a try.

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.co

The Persecution of Professionalism

“Those who disrespect you with their mouth don't deserve your ear.” ― Curtis Tyrone Jones

I am tired of DISRESPECT.

Time and time again I hear people who are demonstrating a better-than-thou persona using academic achievement as their guide. Over and over again there is no respect shown for professionalism and knowledge while hard working Americans continue to be of service to their fellow countrymen and women. Only the elitist view of education is recognized as having value by some of the overeducated and underperforming no matter how devoid of practical knowledge their “education” may often be.

It has been disrespectfully said that those who can’t do teach. Of course this is not really true, as many teachers have and do contribute greatly to our society outside the academic world. Perhaps the concept of those who can’t do is even more appropriately applied to career politicians whose lack of respect, appreciation, concern and understanding for the career path of hard-working Americans is astonishing. Many are showing little to no recognition or compassion for highly skilled and compensated blue-collar trades which required years of apprenticeships and training. These are careers, not just jobs.

Law enforcement is a perfect example of a career that is being disrespected. The police officer hiring process is relatively extensive within itself. Typically it involves a written test, physical ability test, medical exam, extensive background check, polygraph test, psychological screening and an oral board interview. Once approved for hire, each person must successfully complete a police academy which can last up to six months. Then on to a probation period during which time you work with a senior partner (Field Training Officer) and receive on-the-job training. On average it is not uncommon to take five to six years or longer to become a seasoned police officer. Plus there is ongoing mandated continuing education and in-service training. In spite of a high level of screening review and regulation, alarmingly, law enforcement is increasingly being subjected to legislative actions and Citizen Review Boards with mandates and oversight by individuals lacking the knowledge, training or experience to make rulings or sit in fair judgment of those who are placing their very lives on the line to serve and protect. Talk about a lack of respect for professionalism!

Occupations with apprenticeships

In fiscal year 2016, the U.S Department of Labor counted about 500,000 active apprentices in more than 21,000 registered apprenticeship programs across the country. Careers such as:

· Boilermakers

· Carpenters · Coal Miners · Electricians · Elevator installers and repairers · Glaziers · Insulation workers · Ironworkers · Masonry workers · Millwrights · Musical instrument repairers and tuners

· Pipefitter · Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters · Sheet metal workers

· Along with many other specific careers requiring professional training and vast experience to achieve a mastery level in a person’s chosen career path.

Disrespectful politicians think that career transition is easy without acknowledging that many skill sets are not readily transferable, nor are the same, nor are earning levels going from a mastery position to an entry-level one. Examples: Biden says learn to code; Climate Czar John Kerry says go work in lower-paying jobs largely not yet created in the wind turbine or solar panel industry. So a pipeline worker can seamlessly transition to a solar power manufacturer or technician, just as a surgeon can become a chef because they both use knives? Not much critical thought went into that, did it? The disrespect and persecution of the working class must end.

What if all of the colleges, universities, research facilities and think tanks were abruptly shut down? What would the vast majority of the unemployed strict academics do? It would surely separate those who can and cannot do outside an academic “utopia.”

In the end, does persecution make us stronger? Time will tell. The lessons of the past show us that those who persecute others have historically done so in fear that the truth the persecuted are carrying will be revealed.

In the meantime, perhaps we all need to hone our own critical thinking skills. It is then that truth should become most apparent and professionals, such as those in law enforcement and others, may finally receive the respect that has been earned once more.

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

Time To Squelch Cancel Culture

Let me step outside the topic of law enforcement issues this column to take on a topic that is emotionally charged and fraught with peril for those who decide to swim in the deep end of the pool of race in America. I often advise people to stay on the shallow end unless they have the vocabulary necessary to thrive, meaning to talk without saying something clumsy in these discussions unless it occurs outside a circle of a few close friends. In this day and age, even personal communications can end up going viral if comments are posted, say for instance, on social media.

Issues of race are explosive. They are even more exacerbated when added to a discussion about politics. We live in a society today where generations of young people grew up being taught to be offended at the slightest transgression. Even looking at a person who feels a part of an aggrieved group can get one in trouble as someone might feel threatened.

There was a time in this country, and it wasn’t that long ago, when one of the most cherished American rights was that one could express themselves freely no matter how abhorrent or offensive it might make somebody feel. There was a time when you could count on the American Civil Liberties Union to stand at the ready to protect the First Amendment even those from controversial groups and individuals. In 1977, the ACLU defended in court the right of the Aryan Nation to march through the streets of Skokie Illinois, as disgusting as people thought that group was. The First Amendment was that cherished. They also once upon a time protected fiercely a person’s Second Amendment right, but I digress.

There have always been limits or borders on what a person could get away with in their speech, as there should be. What to do about someone who seemingly crossed the line in their public behavior or speech that wasn’t necessarily against a written law took place in the court of public opinion. Employers and businesses stayed out of it. There is this thing called the social contract. It is a set of rules that most people generally agree to live by. They are unwritten rules and the guiding principle is proper decorum in a civilized society. For instance, if you step on somebody’s foot or bump into them in a crowded area, most people generally excuse themselves for doing so. There is no law that says you have to say excuse me, but most polite people will.

Under the social contract the same thing happens if, for instance, somebody says something totally out of line. Public shaming occurs and that is usually enough to get most people to see the error of their ways and change their behavior so they would be accepted back into polite circles. If they apologized, even better. And everybody moved on. Not anymore. Not just for intentional unacceptable speech but now even for inadvertent slips of the tongue.

Remember TV star Roseanne Barr? In 2018 she had her top-rated TV show canceled after she put out a tweet referring to Obama aide Valerie Jarret as the offspring of the “Planet of the Apes” and the Muslim Brotherhood. Over the top to say the least. The reaction from most was one of, hey Roseanne, was that really necessary? We know your sarcastic style from your TV show but come on, clean it up in the public square. She apologized but that is no longer is enough. The public shaming under the social contract would have been enough in different times.

In another incident, former Trump associate David Bossie, a friend of mine by the way, was on a cable news show being interviewed alongside a black Democrat strategist. In the exchange the Dem strategist said something that Bossie found incredible. Bossie in objecting blurted out, “You’re out of your cotton-picking mind.” My initial reaction was, oh boy! That statement is an old one that was used to show

disgust. Hell, my mom used to say that to me in reaction to something I did that she did not approve of. But not today and not appropriate for a white person to say to someone black. Many older blacks today can attest to hearing that phrase uttered by a parent showing disgust. Bossie apologized after being suspended as a paid contributor to the cable news network. The public shaming of Bossie should have been enough. Not anymore. Now people want blood, especially those on the left who use cancel culture as a political weapon. They want to destroy your life. Permanently. But they only apply it against political adversaries.

Keep in mind that Bill Maher, who has a show on HBO, was interviewing a GOP congressman who invited Maher to come visit his district. Maher, trying to be funny referred to himself as a “house N-word”. It even drew laughter form the audience. I thought, oh really. Maher was not even suspended, much less fired nor had his show canceled.

Then there is Creighton University basketball coach Greg McDermott, who was addressing his basketball team in the locker room and in trying to get his team to play together told them not to leave the plantation. I mean come on now. He wasn’t making any racial reference. Only a hypersensitive person would think so. If that “triggers” something in you then it is you who needs to get a grip. As a black man I am not offended in anyway by what McDermott said. Hell, in fact I myself have used the plantation reference in TV interviews in saying that Democrat policies shackle blacks to the liberal plantation. Is it OK for me to use that figure of speech but not McDermott? Maybe a little edgy in this over-reactive racial environment but should your career end and basically any future earning potential over it? Please.

We are down the path of a journey to a very dark place in America when only a certain few get to control speech. Dissent and opposing viewpoints are healthy in a democracy. One of the main tenets in a socialist takeover is to silence the opposition. For a despot to take control, all that is necessary is to seize the guns and to control speech. This is scary.

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

So I’m Not the Only One Who Feels That Way?

As I was scrolling through social media the other day, I came across a post that forced me to stop and think. It came from a friend of the Blue Magazine, Officer Deon Joseph (IG @officerdeonjoseph) - another staunch LEO supporter who understands the hurdles and struggles of the law enforcement officer.

In his post, he talks about how his vacation is nearly over and how hard it was thinking about going back to work. Then it hit me- “So I’m not the only one who feels that way?”

Even after my weekly regular days off (RDO’s) I start to have that gut-wrenching feeling once the thought of returning to work crosses my mind. And it’s not about hating the job or hating people I work alongside with. It’s more about knowing that we’re on our way to deal with the decay of society and the stress that goes with it.

When was the last time you went on a call to deal with good news or a humorous, light-hearted call?

“Dispatch to Officer Smith, report to 123 Main Street to deal with a litter of kittens that escaped the home and are running around the backyard.”

Could it happen? Sure.

But what we hear more often are calls for domestic disputes, public intoxication, drug-related offenses, deadly car accidents … you name it. Anything the dark side of humanity has to offer gets tossed on the lap of the law enforcement officer.

It’s no wonder why anyone who’s on vacation doesn’t want to go back. They are on vacation finally enjoying the bright side of humanity; spending precious time with family, sightseeing, sounds of the ocean, or sitting poolside in the backyard for a week (enough for me!). All that gets disturbed once the vacation is over and the time comes where you have to go back to work.

Combine all of that with the fact that LEO’s are facing the toughest time in America’s history of policing. A climate of “guilty until proven innocent” and being labeled as “the problem” from the media. It’s a mixture of difficult challenges with an already stressful job.

If you are feeling this stress and dread going back to work- you are not alone. Just know that there’s hope. As lawlessness continues to spread, it’s going to be more and more evident that society needs police. If America is going to be governed by law, there have to be people assigned to enforce it.

Take full advantage of your time off and spend it doing the things you enjoy with the people you love. Exercise, road trips, nice dinners, a good book- anything to remind you that there is a bright side to life, you just have to go out and find it. That will make the end of vacation less impactful.

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

Civility in this age of Intemperance

"Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Admire and emulate ethical behavior wherever you find it. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives; and if, periodically, you fail as you surely will adjust your lives, not the standards." - Ted Koppel Seemingly everywhere I look, social media has unleashed an unrestrained tidal wave of the airing of public grievances, misunderstandings and angry rebuttal. As the founder and administrator for the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice, some days the cruel and bitter criticism among people who should conceivably have common goals and values is unrelenting and seems nonsensical.

Interestingly, George Washington wrote out a copy of the 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in his school book which was completed by the time he was of the age of 16. His exercise in understanding decency originated in late 16th century France and the ideas were popularly circulated during Washington's time and now are regarded as a formative influence in the development of his character. They included guidelines for behavior in “pleasant company,” appropriate actions in formal situations, and general courtesies. Here are some rules exactly as Washington copied them in the 18th century:

Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive. Undertake not to Teach your equal in the art himself Proffesses; it Savours of arrogancy. Use no Reproachfull Language against any one neither Curse nor Revile. Be not hasty to believe flying Reports to the Disparag[e]ment of any. Let your Conversation be without Malice or Envy, for 'tis a Sig[n o]f a Tractable and Commendable Nature: And in all Causes of Passion [ad]mit Reason to Govern. Speak not injurious Words neither in Jest nor Earnest Scoff at none although they give Occasion. Detract not from others neither be excessive in Commanding. Think before you Speak pronounce not imperfectly nor bring ou[t] your Words too hastily but orderly & distinctly. Be not apt to relate News if you know not the truth thereof. In Discoursing of things you Have heard Name not your Author always A [Se]cret Discover not.

In Disputes, be not So Desireous to Overcome as not to give Liberty to each one to deliver his Opinion and Submit to the Judgment of the Major Part especially if they are Judges of the Dispute. Speak not Evil of the absent for it is unjust. Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Ce[les]tial fire Called Conscience.

A ‘Civility in America’ survey found 75% of Americans thought incivility had reached crisis levels, and 56% expected it to increase. At a time where our ideological divides often seem daunting and overwhelming, here are some thoughts on how to achieve civility in modern times.

First, we should begin to actively listen to or read others’ ideas and thoughts in an effort to understand their point of view; not just how to reply with any rush to judgment based upon pre-conceived notions, hearsay or incomplete or limited available facts. Consider, is there a possibility you may be wrong? The possibility of admitting you don’t know all the facts and circumstances? The possibility there may be some good or validity in others’ criticism or ideas?

When responding to others, are we practicing politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech? Giving respect is our best chance at gaining respect and garnering some thoughtful attention to our cause or opinions.

When engaging in conversations around difficult topics, the age-old adage “Choose your battles wisely” is appropriate to consider. Is this the best time and/or place for a discussion? Will it help or hurt your standing and will the criticism be constructive? A little self-reflection can go a long way.

Perhaps the best act leading to civility is that of living in gratitude for the smallest moments to the greatest of our blessings, as opposed to what changes we might desire in our perfect world scenario. By increasing our own sense of well-being and happiness through being grateful, we become more resilient and can lift ourselves up along with others. In the final analysis with a commitment to a better tomorrow, something we all should be able to agree upon, we must sometimes simply agree to disagree on how to get there. From this point forward, can you and I look for the good in one another, respect each other’s journey and concentrate on what we are doing to make a difference in the world around us through deeds and not just simply words of discontent? Decency, civility and respect… the time is now.

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

The Latest Political Boogeyman

The American left knows this about politics. You have to have a scary identifiable target to put in front of your uninformed base to keep them energized, foaming at the mouth and with a reason to hate. These are the motivators they use to get their base voters to the polls. It doesn’t have to be true, fact-based or real. You just have to be able to appeal to their emotion by repeating some falsehood over and over until they suspend their sense of logic. Then you have their attention, and they are more susceptible to propaganda. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, especially around voting time with a general election being the ideal, they drag the boogeyman out and whip people into a frenzy to drive them to the polls.

The Democrat Party uses it as part of their get-out-the-vote strategy. This was described by a leftist university professor named Saul Alinsky in his book “Rules For Radicals.” You identify a target, isolate it, personalized it and smear the hell out of it. You incessantly talk about how terrible the target is and before long if there is not counter narrative, it sticks.

One of their favorite whipping posts has always been the demonization of police, painting them and their agencies with a broad brush. This goes back to the 1950s. They used some police incident, usually a use of force involving a white police officer and a black male suspect, and before any details even emerged, they exploit it for its race component. Police commanders were slow to respond with a counter narrative to put the fire out. The lie and misinformation about the facts become news headlines and become baked into the pie. By the time all the facts come out it is too late to change public opinion. Every person who wears the uniform of their community to this day carries the stain of being racist and bloodthirsty. All it takes is one incident to negatively brand an entire profession. There are of course some high-profile incidents where police performed badly. Those are anomalies. Doctors botch surgeries, more than you hear about, yet no one brands the entire medical community as horrible.

For most of this new century, politically agenda-driven people and groups continued the drumbeat that cops were racist. The problem for them is that the card was played so often that it is losing its charge. When everything and everybody is racist, well then nothing and nobody are. The left needed a new word or phrase with which to demonize people and groups. The left has found it. Notice that over the last six months racism and racist charges aren’t used as much anymore. The new phrase is white supremacy. This phrase has no doubt been focus grouped and has been determined to elicit more emotion and anger than simply being racist.

A new narrative has started recently about concern that police agencies are being infiltrated by, you guessed it, white supremacists. This is without foundation, data or evidence. It’s a smear that works on police and their agencies. Current research and data have debunked the lie that police are racist so cop haters needed new red meat to feed their masses.

Much of this started with the release of a report by a former FBI agent Michael German who authored a report on white supremacy in law enforcement. He said that, “It’s a pretty significant clue that white supremacy is so prevalent in law enforcement that the FBI is changing the way it does things.” He says that with no evidence. That’s a pretty remarkable claim for a former law officer to make such a slanderous claim with no proof. Then again this is the same agency that tried to smear a president of the United States claiming he falsely colluded with the Russians to win an election with no proof as they lied to obtain a wiretap to spy on his campaign. That smear by Michael German was followed by an FBI report released last year that warned that white supremacists had penetrated the ranks of law enforcement. The report acknowledged that there was no credible evidence to prove infiltration and that it was based on sporadic reporting. Gee, thanks FBI. This is the same agency that doesn’t spend much time working on cop-hating groups like Antifa or Black Lives Matter, MS 13, the Crips, Suerno or Blood street gangs but has no problem chasing the ghost of white supremacy in law enforcement.

Of course, this caused a feeding frenzy among the usual suspects in academia. They, too, acknowledge that nothing exists to suggest that it is true. But what the hell. Let’s look for it anyway. Federal grants will pay for research. Let’s let police live under the cloud of suspicion that they are white supremacists and continue to have to deny that something doesn’t exist. Let’s let cop haters collect traffic stop and arrest data of a white officer working in a high-crime area populated by blacks and misuse the data to claim the officer is a white supremacist. It’s the old let them try to prove a negative. You can’t. This will open the door for politically active lawyers from the United States Department of Justice to start its pattern and practice lawsuits against local police agencies that were prevalent under the Obama administration. Cities will be bullied into signing forced consent decrees as mayors and city councils fold like a cheap suit.

This is straight-up race politics. Shame on the FBI for being a participant in playing along by throwing local law enforcement under the bus. As the saying goes, with friends like this who needs enemies.

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

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

As you know I have written extensively in columns on this site referencing the need for somebody in the law enforcement community, namely an executive, to speak out and push back against this nonstop onslaught against law enforcement officers and their agencies. I have also pointed out that prosecutors, mainly in large urban centers, have been behaving more like political activists and defense attorneys instead of representing the interests of law and order and the rule of law.

In the absence of any courage by law enforcement executives, I have suggested that police unions and fraternal organizations were positioned to speak out on behalf of front-line officers who have no voice as they are maliciously prosecuted or terminated from their employment involving incidents where they were later exonerated. I have said that police union leaders can speak out without being retaliated against because it is their obligation to represent law enforcement officers. Such was the case in Baltimore where six officers were charged in the Freddie Gray death and later had the charges dropped or the countless others who were targeted for prosecution by politically motivated prosecutors but not indicted like former Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson, and Wauwatosa, Wisconsin officer Joseph Mensah, who was fired by a civilian review board after it was ruled that he was justified in the shooting deaths of three violent and armed criminals in three separate actions.

There is, however, good news to report as a grand jury in Buffalo just refused to indict 2 Buffalo police officers after a liberal activist prosecutor sought felony charges of aggravated assault. You may recall the incident after video cam footage of it went viral. Everybody focused on the fact that the goof, who was advancing toward a police line that was clearing the area, was 75 years old. I didn’t when asked about this in TV interviews. People were told to disperse. Everybody did except this lone idiot. He wasn’t pushed, he lost his balance. His head hit the pavement. That was his fault. After being taken to the hospital he should have been arrested and charged for not complying with a curfew order in place at the time and obstructing police operations. This is how policing used to happen in America, but I digress. The prosecutor.,digging in his heels claiming that he believes this deserved felony criminal prosecution of the officers. Here is what this simpleton said the officers should have done, “They should have grabbed him, gently turned him around and walked him peacefully ... off the steps,” Flynn said. I am not making this up. That is a direct quote.

There are several other situations occurring that give me hope that the tide is turning in the war on cops as violent crime surges in just about every large city in America. There are a number of reasons why violent crime is surging. One reason is that police are not being as aggressive as they need to be for fear of something going horribly wrong and ending up being prosecuted by some George Soros-funded activist prosecutor or being unjustly fired by a feckless police chief to appease an angry mob of cop haters. Next is that time spent doing discretionary policing like field interview stops and preventive patrols in high-crime areas is simply not occurring at rates it needs to be. Criminals have free reign right now and they know it. I don’t blame officers for not taking risks when they don’t have the full-throated backing of their agencies or the prosecutor’s office. And, finally, the reason is that failed liberal urban policies like defunding police budgets, agencies disbanding violent crime units, catch and release policies by not holding dangerous repeat offenders on bail or failing to even issue criminal charges stemming from some inane idea and false narrative that the criminal justice system is inherently racist are keeping criminals in circulation. There are signs now that lead me to believe people are starting to get it.

A Washington Times newspaper story points out that activist prosecutors in cities with soaring rates of violence are now being hit with lawsuits from police agencies and others. In Los Angeles, a court will

hear a lawsuit files by a group of deputy district attorneys against LA District Attorney George Gascon accusing him of prohibiting prosecutors from pursuing sentencing enhancements that lengthen the time served in jail or prison for certain major crimes.

In Philadelphia, current and former police officers started a Political Action Committee (PAC) named Protect Our Police that is looking into funding a primary candidate to run against current DA Larry Krasner. The claim being made is that Krasner’s liberal soft-on-crime politics are contributing to increases in violent crime. Among his policies are an end to prosecuting for acts of disorder that lead to a decline in the quality of life in a neighborhood. He believes that a, “lighter prosecutorial touch and less incarceration” would be better for Philadelphia. Better for whom, I would ask? Better for criminals for sure, not for law-abiding citizens.

Of course, these starry-eyed liberals have their talking points down. They claim, without data or research I might add, that crime policies reversing what had led to record reductions in violence for nearly 20 years makes cities safer. They say this even in the face of rising and record violent crime and property crime rates. They’re also buying into the mass incarceration lie.

People locked up in prison deserve to be there. Any officer can attest to how hard it is to get a crook charged, convicted and sent to prison. Most get a lenient sentence with the criminal justice system’s least restrictive means philosophy for punishment. Yes that usually means probation. Most of these miscreants have long criminal histories with very little time being locked away. When they are finally sent to prison, it is because finally the criminal justice system has had enough of their criminal behavior. Contrary to what criminal apologists try to get you to believe, these are not political prisoners. They got their due process and left a trail of victims in their wake. Where is the justice for crime victims? Reminds me of a bumper sticker I once saw that read, it’s not justice until the victim’s needs are met.

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

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