Being A Cop Today Must Really Suck

I remember an incident when portable handheld radios were new on the department. The new radios gave officers freedom like never before.

One middle-aged sergeant had a rendezvous with an absolutely delightful 22 year-old girl. The girl went to a North side motel where she checked in. Soon the good sergeant parked behind the motel, quietly paying her a visit. That brand new handheld radio was placed on the nightstand. It was now time for our sergeant to engage in some serious community relations work with the local talent.

All that fast food and lack of exercise caught up with the sergeant while he was having more fun than his 58 year-old heart could withstand. The poor girl had to slip out from under him and there was nothing she could do as our hero was well on his way to see Saint Peter.

Our distraught maiden wrapped herself in a sheet running out to the street where she flagged down a beat car. Soon four of the dead supervisor’s officers were there at his side. The old sarge was a popular guy and the responding coppers soon figured out he needed to have died on the job for his wife and kids to get adequate survivors benefits. Quickly they dressed him and placed him behind the wheel of his patrol vehicle. Then a frantic radio call was made indicating the sergeant was found unconscious and perhaps dead. The sergeant’s reputation and pension was saved. I somehow don’t think that kind of generous intervention was present at Saint Peter’s gate however.

Working in a district lacking sanitary and decent restaurants was not that big of a problem as you could discreetly leave your district for a meal. With the new GPS technology those days are over forever.

Today there are surveillance cameras absolutely everywhere, GPS devices on patrol cars, and every obnoxious teenager has a cell-phone video camera eager to make a YouTube star out of you and your fellow officers.

These days in Chicago, departmental policy is controlled by the local reverends and crooked aldermen. Doing real police work is not an option anymore. The job of police officer has be reduced to one of simply documenting the clean-up of scenes of carnage.

If by chance you are a young person thinking of becoming a cop, reconsider. Wouldn’t you rather be doing breast augmentation surgery at a Beverly Hills medical practice for cash up front?

Author Tackles The Complex Biography Of FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover

This in not just another biography! The Publisher sent me a copy of Young J. Edgar to read and perhaps review. I was somewhat skeptical that this was going to slant one way or another politically. Political creatures usually take these biographies on and focus on their love or hatred for the subject.

Author, Kenneth D. Ackerman has the really Liberal credentials as a career Beltway insider. He gives us the story of Hoover right up the middle. Ackerman exposes both the genius of Hoover along with his public power abuses.

Ackerman readily concedes that Hoover may well have been acting from a sincere desire to protect America from a very real threat by the Red Menace. Hoover was obsessed with investigating not just the people he suspected of disloyalty and treason but their friends, associates and relatives too.

Hoover went after all the Leftist Sacred Cows such as Martin Luther King like an avenging angel. Of course all of Hoover’s excesses and outrageous civil rights violations never caught up with him as Hoover proved to be perhaps one of the savviest survivors in American history.

The surprise with Ken Ackerman is that he is a rare find, a true intellectually honest Liberal. He is a civil Libertarian who is not afraid of the truth.

Biographers are the trustees of characters’ reputations. Here Ackerman proved he is trustworthy. No matter how the reader feels about Hoover you have to admire Ackerman’s attention to detail, solid research and above all his objectiveness.

Ackerman sees all the same signs of Hoover’s abuses in the Patriot Act and other fallout of the post 9/11 era. History repeats itself and any real democracy is always fragile.

Terrorism is certainly nothing new in America, nor the overzealous efforts to contain it to the determent of the freedoms and liberty that make America great. The balance between liberty and security will probably never be perfect. Young J. Edgar is a must read for any student of government, history or law enforcement buffs.

I was partially through the book when, I learned that Ackerman was part of, The Los Angeles Festival of Books appearing with an absolute smorgasbord of great contemporary authors at The UCLA Campus. I couldn’t miss tracking Ackerman down for a lively and delightful half-hour interview and discussion. This is one I think my readers will enjoy.

Meeting The King Of The Choirboys In L.A.

Hanging around L.A. you never know who you will get to meet. Today it was the legendary author, Joseph Wambaugh. I would have liked to interview him but his fans were lined up for miles. Joe is an example for all cops that there is life after police work.

M-4 Carbine Authorized For Chicago Beat Cops

So says, J-Fed, Chicago’s new police superintendant. I won’t hold my breath waiting for this to really happen considering the current ammunition allotment and yearly requalification for the officer’s handgun use.

The M-4's must be purchased and some kind of qualification schedule must be implemented. Then the carbines must be distributed. Steps need to be taken to maintain control over these weapons so the local natives don’t steal them.

One thing for sure it won’t happen in time for the heat of Chicago’s summer or homicide season. This is just going to be another example of too little, too late.

Needless to say the press is already exaggerating the power and capabilities of these weapons. No folks they don’t fire magic bullets that explode in a ball of fire on impact. Chicago’s reverends will be screaming about cops being sent hunt the Black youth with weapons of war instead of hugs and free money.

Hey J-Fed! I like these too. How about getting 5000 of these babies to keep our cops safe?

You Won’t See This In The Mexican Vacation Brochure

How about a trip to the lovely town of Tijuana? Our Mexican Neighbors will welcome us with open arms in a laid back paradise. Yeah, right!

Let this article help you decide just where to find your very own place in the Sun!

Suspected Vigilante Arrested By Phoenix Police

Terrell Andy Moore, 28 faces two counts of aggravated assault and a single count of unlawfully discharging a firearm.

Police say Moore heard his car alarm go off, investigated and saw damage from a break in attempt as the suspect who is now a, “victim”, Jason Rhymes-Taylor, 29, walking away from the home near Union Hills and 31st Drive.

Police said the victim fled to a getaway pickup truck containing two passengers and a vehicle chase began as Moore jumped into his own car. After approximately a one mile chase, Moore allegedly opened fire on Rhymes-Taylor.

Both Moore and Rhymes-Taylor went to their homes. Family members took Rhymes-Taylor to the hospital and a police investigation was undertaken.

Rhymes-Taylor suffered two minor gunshot wounds, was treated and released from the hospital.

Police quickly ruled out self-defense because they are convinced that Rhymes-Taylor was unarmed and merely fleeing from Moore.

I’m waiting to hear the other side of this story since Rhymes-Taylor went home he certainly had time to discard any weapons he may have used or possessed.

Chasing auto thieves is perfectly legal although generally a terrible idea as is shooting car-to-car on city streets.

Arizona has really draconian penalties for these kinds of cases and so far Moore faces more than 30 years in prison.

As for the suspected auto thief, he got a free ride and won’t face any charges.

A jury will decide whether excessive force was used by Moore unless he accepts a plea agreement. Maricopa County prosecutors will never accept any plea deals with less than five years behind bars in such a case.

Even if Moore is later cleared his life will be forever changed.

Read my long time friend Arizona Republic reporter Brent Whiting’s story here.

It’s The Culture And Your Gun Laws Stupid!

Chicago’s most recent spike in violence is a 100% African American problem. Their culture is beyond defective. Black on Black crime is a way of life wherever and whenever school work, productivity and good behavior take a back seat to gangs, drugs, hip-hop and killing.

Thankfully not every Chicago African-American subscribes to the criminal Black culture. They have to cope and try and protect themselves with nothing because they won’t violate Chicago’s gun ban. Instead they avoid seeing, hearing or speaking about what goes on around them. Cooperation with police here spells death and the local cowards know the good folks are unarmed an unable to resist attack.

Chicago’s officials claim they want and need cooperation. To get that cooperation they have to allow and train and encourage people to protect themselves with firearms. The criminal element does not deserve the protection Chicago’s politicians provide to thugs through gun bans.

Here is a report from CNN. As usual they call the 19 year-old gang-bangers children, Listen to Barak Obama stutter his way around this story remembering only too well that attacking gun rights cost him votes.

Let’s Go For a fabulous short Hike!

Okay we need to take a break from war, shootings, politics and our economy, on this blog.

On any given glorious day going for a walk is fun. Add to it breathtaking scenery and it makes you want to bring your video camera.

In Spain there is El camino del Rey’s famous walkway . You have to see this to believe it! Be sure to hold that camera with both hands as you walk so you don’t drop it.

The Ultimate Sell Out Is In The Works

After months of fighting, scratching and biting, look for an Obama/Clinton Presidential ticket.

The Democrats don’t have a choice. Whoever wins this dog/catfight the party faithful are split. The winner will see the loser’s supporters staying home or voting for McCain.

Soon we will see these two hugging like lovers in public even though they hate each other’s guts.

Frankly, I don’t see ten cents difference between any of the candidates.

Gun Permits, Public Records and Privacy Considerations

I wrote many legislative bills for Arizona’s gun owners that were designed to and did eventually legalize the carrying of concealed weapons. For me it was a 14 year battle I did side by side with Prescott’s own Representative, Dave Carson. This was Carson’s sweetest victory in his legislative career. Carson lived to get his own permit but soon passed away. I consider Dave Carson the Father of Arizona’s Right to Carry Law.

With me were two heroes, Landis Aden and often Sandy Froman would drive up from Tucson to lend her eloquence, grace and beauty to our fight. Later Froman was our NRA President for two terms. Perennially working all 90 members of the Arizona Legislature for gun rights was quite a quest during those years.

When the final bill was halfway through the process I noticed that it lacked any privacy considerations. If the bill passed in its current form, robbers and killers could quickly learn if their prey had a concealed weapon permit. News media could learn the personal information and addresses and publish whatever they wanted from the public record. I quickly met with Dave Carson providing him with language to correct the problem. The rest is history and CCW permit holders are protected.

Over the years reporters have written and filed stories about prominent or celebrity types revealing that they had carry permits. I guess it was an effort to embarrass or endanger them. That won’t happen in Arizona.

The Students For A Democratic Society Got it All Wrong

These kids of the Sixties are today just a bunch of Old Bolsheviks. In the 1960s and early 70s they distracted, burned and bombed their radical message injuring many cops along the way. The kids didn’t and still don’t have a clue.

The SDS brats came from wealth and privilege as they put their own families through pure Hell. The antiwar students set out to injure and kill to prove that war and violence was wrong. The spoiled little draft dodgers wasted all the money their parents spent putting them through school.

The countries these little Communist slugs admired the most like the old Soviet Union, North Korea and China would have quickly rounded them up and killed them should they have tried their tricks in those nations. We killed none of these terrorists but for an isolated event at Kent State where four troublemakers fell dead from gunfire.

The SDS, Yippies and Hippies of the anti-war movement have the blood of millions on their hands because they facilitated the post Viet Nam War killing fields in Cambodia. These political creatures had a strong influence on American policy because humans like sheep will follow absolutely anyone including The Weather Underground straight into Hell.

Mayor Daley’s Chicago Gun Violence Summit Needs Help, Much More Than He Knows

Mayor Daley has called his usual entourage of reverends, political allies, high ranking police officials and City Boss Ed Burke to gather round and come up with new ideas to deal with the recent tidal wave of bloodshed on the city streets. New ideas will never come out of that group in a million years.

Daley has destroyed the morale of the Chicago Police Department by completely sidestepping civil service laws and the carefully crafted civil service tests for promotion. The tests predict the success of those passing the examinations by requiring that they know their duties and procedures well enough to supervise others. Now promotions are based on political clout and sexual favors. The police have been badly demoralized beyond repair and have little incentive to risk life and limb for anyone these days.

Daley and his cronies have forced the law-abiding citizens to surrender their only meaningful self-defense tools with un-constitutional and un-American gun laws. Daley needs a new approach to this horrible culture of violence and cowardly killings.

Daley needs to open his mind to people like author and statistician John Lott who has studied gun control’s counter-productive results to controlling violence. Daley did everything he possibly could to force Professor Lott to leave the University of Chicago because Lott told the truth.

Letting citizens protect themselves will level the playing field by making assault, robbery, extortion and murder dangerous for criminals. Daley needs to face the music that he has been dead wrong about his personal and deep seated theories of crime control.

Mr. Mayor, gun control only works against the law-abiding that obey those and other laws. You need these people to help police. Who wants to come forward and provide information if they can’t protect themselves from armed thugs? Crime fighting has to be a partnership and your most important partners are hiding under their beds.

Let’s Tell The Truth About Race and Chicago Crime

You won’t Read this in Chicago newspapers or see it on any television news report. Political correctness has dictated a massive cover-up of race’s effects on crime long ago.

Chicago has been awash in blood from record shootings and killings during the last several days. Who is doing this and why?

City officials will always blame guns for the violence and of course street gangs. That’s so simplistic and somewhat misleading.

The answer is that a significant segment of Illinois’ African-Americans sadly have a solid culture of crime and violence. Life is cheap, fast and short for this sector of society.

You can argue and try to mitigate this with claims of discrimination, inadequate resources or plain and simple poverty. The fact is we have what we have and it’s very ugly. Black on Black crime and then Black on White crime is the deadly Chicago plague.

Caught in the middle of this mess are the hard working and law-abiding Afro-Americans that are not a part of the violence culture. They desperately need meaningful ways to defend themselves and families from the crime culture where they live.

The cops cannot provide any real protection for these respectable people. Self-help is all they have to fight gangs, extortion, threats and worse. The Mayor and City Council of Chicago have taken away their rights, and in too many cases, their very lives by banning the possession and carrying of firearms for basic self-protection. Cowardly criminals are protected from any harm by their victims using self-defense.

Onerous and draconian gun laws impact the safety and lives of peaceable African-Americans more than any other group. Government holds these people down while criminals have their way with them. This is as bad as discrimination ever gets. Law-abiding citizens everywhere deserve better.

Chicago Police Labor Crisis Is Reaching Critical Mass

Chicago had a horrific weekend of shooting Mayhem. The body count is difficult to track as more wounded and dead are discovered and the wounded die in hospitals. The offenders are the usual suspects that can now sense Chicago police are happy to let them just shoot it out.

Major morale problems plague the department as the relationship between cops and Mayor Daley has turned really sour. The department is thousands under normal strength and there’s no contract progress.

The cops are angry that Daley has only made war on gun ownership by normally law-biding citizens. The end result is that the criminals are in charge.

Look for normally quiet areas of the city to go unprotected as the department command staff step up high saturation patrols in troubled neighborhoods. Of course the cops maybe just wasting a lot of gasoline as they drive aimlessly around.

I suspect that brutality complaints and police involved shootings will be dropping dramatically as Darwin’s law will thin the population. Cops that avoid work rarely get complaints or find themselves in shootings.

These days, Chicago’s finest have little interest in doing more than protecting themselves and collecting a paycheck. This summer Chicago will not be a safe place to live or work. By law cops can’t go out on strike but they have many creative and effective job actions at their disposal.

The new police superintendent has been given and impossible task, leading a department hated by the politicians running the city.

The Chicago Police Department is close to hitting bottom. I don’t see a way up or out until Alderman Burke, his puppet mayor and city council are forced out of office and perhaps get prosecuted for crimes.

Blaming Mexican Violence On America’s Second Amendment

The same country that shamelessly exports their violence, drugs and poverty to America is now loudly whining. Mexico’s corrupt and vile government is blaming our freedom and liberty for their violent drug war problems.

They demand we do more to curtail smuggling of firearms to Mexico while they do nothing at all to curtail the smuggling of illegal immigrants, drugs and fugitives into our country.

It seems that a fence dividing our nations with 100% security cooperation between both our countries is the ultimate solution to everyone’s problem. Mexico’s criminals wouldn’t be able to smuggle anything in or out of the United States or back into Mexico.

Our own Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has chimed in with their own self-serving ideas for Mexico’s problems with gun violence. The BATFE solution is a blank check from our taxpayers to uncontrollably increase their powers, assets and manpower like every government agency that ever existed. The BATFE has wasted far too many tax dollars on their unconstitutional mission anyway.

The usual knee-jerk solution offered for every problem is to trash American’s rights to defend themselves, families and country.

America’s freedom is not the cause of Mexico’s violence problems. Mexico corrupt politicians have made sure only criminals have weapons long ago. The result of Mexico’s gun control is that their criminals easily dominate the entire country.

Another real and incredibly simple solution is for both countries to just get out of the drug enforcement business. Of course that would forever cut off the corruption Gravy Train for both of our nations. Peace and prosperity would return as the drug dealers, Lords and Czars all have to suddenly look for a career change.

All the laws in the world have not made a dent into drug abuse. Perhaps we can redirect some of the wasted enforcement money to the medical treatment of those addicted souls that really want it.

Daley Vows Enforcement Action To Curb Chicago’s Latest Gang Violence!

Daly told reporters he and his new Police Superintendent are going to take action to slow down the epidemic of shootings plaguing the Windy City’s Black neighborhoods..

What’s Daley’s plan? As usual Daley will have the cops out searching far and wide for more middle-aged, White, gun collectors who own handguns banned in Chicago for decades. Of course these collectors only crime is to collect firearms.

The usual result of Daley’s war on gangs is that the gangs win absolute dominance and control over the entire city since Daley does his best to make sure only criminals have guns.

Daley will never live long enough to learn the simple truth, that his gun control efforts only make the problem much worse.

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

I don’t really care who they are or what they believe. They have a right to exist and marry who they please as often as they like.

Okay we’ve all heard about young teen-aged girls marrying older men. I believe that nature or God, not other people’s religious and social values determine when younger people are ready for marriage and child bearing. That said, I find government’s uninvited and manufactured probable cause evidence used to obtain a search warrant an un-American outrage.

No adult or child should be forced to live with anyone including their own parents if they don’t want to. The same goes for marriages. I’ve heard no evidence of any involuntary membership of this community. What willing families no matter how different, wish to do should not be anyone’s or government’s business.

I don’t care if these people collect welfare entitlements beyond their personal needs or personal wealth. Since all of Central and a lot of South America have been raiding our treasury it’s nice to see any Americans getting theirs too. The answer to welfare fraud is real welfare reform. Don’t hold your breath until the Bolsheviks in Congress deal with that idea!

I do sincerely hope that the women of this community get some serious fashion and makeover tips while they are away from their big social/religious community. It’s sad to see so many young women dressed in such drab and ugly attire.

Felons Recruited For Our Military, An incredibly Dangerous Trend.

Our military has opened the enlistment door to sex offenders, burglars and even killers. This is dangerous. I’m not talking about juvenile crimes but infamous and despicable crimes

Felons don’t belong in our armed services. Our military provides training for use of every type of weapon including improvised explosives. Convicted felons caught with weapons are normally subject to ten year prison sentences.

Is it an incentive for law-abiding young Americans to serve their country when they learn they'll be forced to shower and share barracks with common criminals? In the military your very life depends on your fellow soldiers. I don’t want anyone’s life placed in the hands of thieves, drug offenders and burglars.

Are we sending our impressionable young people to our armed services to be influenced by convicted felons? Someone please tell me how this could be good public policy?

Food Shortages, Rationing And America’s Current Population.

There were a few times in our history when Americans went hungry. The Great Depression and food was rationed during World War Two. We’ve been able to keep food inexpensive and plentiful for all through longstanding pricing schemes.

Now there are lots nasty rumors that our food supply may be interrupted. We may find ourselves in monetary crises as our printed money backed by nothing becomes worthless. We can definitely count on some serious inflation brought on by runaway fuel prices.

The only fix our government seems to know is to print more money while they tax productivity to death. Most businesses just can’t survive any more taxes and regulation. Unemployment can be the only result.

In the past Americans have proven themselves resilient to these kinds of problems but I think the Me Generation will not be able to cope.

I just don’t expect to see our urban freeloading populations quietly shedding pounds without uncontrollable violence. We maintain an entire underclass with handouts and they are too spoiled to submit to any deprivation.

Our banks are in serious trouble and the FDIC $100,000.00 per account insurance is too insufficient to protect American assets in the endangered financial institutions. America’s wealth is in danger of redistribution.

Any such crisis will bring out our Communists like flies on a manure pile. They will convince far too many folks in our ignorant population to join the Karl Marx train straight to Hell.

Urban Americans will be the ones that suffer the most. People in rural areas will hunt, fish and grow their own food. Perhaps the rural Americans will be on the receiving end of the wealth redistribution for a change as food becomes the new currency. How will the new conflicts shake out?

Heckler & Koch XM8, 5.56mm Assault Rifle Wins The Army’s Latest Torture Test

The current M-4 service rifle of the US military is the Grand child of the Colt M-16. The M-16 was introduced into combat at the beginning of the Viet Nam war. The M-16 had lots of problems related to unreliable cycling and being too needy for constant cleaning and maintenance.

The M-4 has not really been improved outside of cosmetic changes and adaptability for accessories many of which I question their value. Nothing replaces disciplined marksmanship.

I’m not fond of the 5.56 MM cartridge outside of law enforcement use and close in jungle fighting. I much prefer the 3.08 NATO round used in the Belgium FNFAL. The sad truth is today’s military boys and girls don’t shoot so well and rely on spray and pray. The need for lots of extra ammunition for poor marksmen is a reality. The real issue I have is the poor penetration of the 5.56 lady round that turns simple concealment into cover.

We are so heavily invested in the 5.56 MM round I don’t see a change in my lifetime. The H&K XM8 won the latest Army testing and as you can see in the video is an impressive performer. This little rifle has the feature I want that the M-16/M-4 does not have, access to the bolt and chamber.

RICHARD LARDNER of the Associated Press provides us with the details of the testing here.