PAX Centurion - September / October 2015

Page 46 • PAX CENTURION • September/October 2015 617-989-BPPA (2772) From Gun-related on page 45 I see it differently; there is a nasty message being broadcast by the media as well as local and national politicians, including the POTUS. The message is absolutely real and it has been delivered to these scrubs ad nauseum. If you have an encounter with Police Officers, act in an aggressive and confrontational manner, and make sure you are loud enough to gather a crowd with cell phone cameras in tow. There are also individuals who are willing to shoot and kill Police Officers without remorse; all they need is a little push to act. No one will judge them on their actions…. they are just carrying out the mes- sage. Yes, there will be coverage and “outrage” that an Officer was killed simply for wearing a uniform, just as Deputy Goforth was. What won't be discussed, is why these types of incidents are happen- ing. The issue won't be dissected because deep down, the mainstream media know where the trail will end. It ends where it all started, from the President’s pulpit. While the President is not hiding the fact that he wants to politicize the mass school shooting in Oregon, gun control activists know they have theWhite House as its own political bulldog for disarming law-abiding citizens. Maybe the country would follow him if he would forcefully condemn the mass shootings and lives being lost that happen every week in his hometown of Chicago. Speak out against the violence there and denounce those lives being lost as unfathomable. Tell a grieving family member in Chicago that their son “could be his.” Hell, do it without cameras and just act the way a leader should. The President has shown countless times he is very willing to comment on a “local issue” when it fits his agenda. How could the carnage that happens in his own home city not infuriate, even shame him to take some action? Unfortunately for us, this would require the President and the media to recognize that this country has lost it's ability to hold people accountable for their actions. Personal respon- sibility is becoming a thing of the past. It is an accepted way of life for certain corners of the country to point fingers and blame everyone else for their actions. The Greatest Generation that built the structure of our modern world has now been replaced by the blameless generation. Stats show a drop in gun-related police deaths… but it sure doesn’t feel that way A TA RECENT PERF (Police Executive Research Forum) conference, police executives and academics from around the country gathered to discuss issues related to “Re-engineering training on police use of force,” in light of several recent, highly-publi- cized incidents such as Ferguson, MO., and Baltimore, MD. During the conference, which was held in both Chicago and Washington, DC, police executives offered ideas and solutions about tactics and strategies that have or haven’t worked and some new ideas for these difficult times. As one of the safer and more successful cities inAmerica, Boston was ably represented by Supt. Kevin Buckley. The Boston Globe’s columnist JoanVennochi first discussed this conference in her opinion/editorial dated Sept. 6 th , 2015. In that edito- rial, Vennochi heaps praise upon those who advocate “re-training” of police officers, who are presumed, or so it would seem from her opinion, to be responsible for incidents such as those which occurred in Ferguson or Baltimore. Not once in her editorial is the violent behavior of the suspects mentioned as a proximate cause of the riot- ing that occurred in those, and other, cities across America. Rather, it is the police who must change, back down, “de-escalate” situations which often occur within split seconds and are thoroughly beyond an officer’s control. The liberal presumption, with benefit of 20-20 hindsight while sitting in the comfort of their office, safe in front of a computer, is that there are magic ways that police officers can control deadly, terrifying situations if they only listen to the wisdom imparted to them by academics and experts sitting in conference rooms in Chicago or Washington DC. (By the way, PERF and the conference attendees might want to take a look out their windows and apply their vast knowledge to their host cities: Chicago andWashington, DC are not exactly paragons of virtue when it comes to crime. I hope they had street cops to escort them to and from their hotel rooms….) Daytona Beach Police Chief: “Police should deal with issues of poverty, inequity” By James W. Carnell, Pax Editor Anyway, Vennochi absolutely gushes over comments attributed to Daytona Beach, Fla. Police Chief Michael Chitwood at the PERF conference. Chief Chitwood says (direct quote from conference report) , “People are calling us because of poverty, inequity, and all these other issues. And our young men and women have to be able to deal with that.” HUH?What does that mean? Poverty and inequity, as issues, are now dumped on patrol officers to deal with?As if we don’t have enough to deal with?As the saying goes, (appropriate for Florida) “When you’re up to your arse in alligators, it’s a little hard to remember that your job was to drain the swamp”. I tried to contact the Daytona Beach Police Dept. seeking clarifica- tion or comment, but I was shunted from one voice-recording to the next: nobody seemed to know exactly who was available/authorized to comment. Therefore, I’ll have to let Chief Chitwood’s comments, praised by the executives at PERF and a liberal columnist for their keen insightfulness, stand as quoted. Are street cops now somehow responsible for issues of “poverty” and perceived “inequity?” Isn’t that what President Johnson’s “Great Society” initiatives, begun in 1965, were supposed to deal with?Why is the failure of liberal poli- cies and programs now being dumped on street cops, among every- thing else? Dump it on the police…. I recall what a long-retired officer once told me in District 2 many years ago: “Kid, you’re all alone, and you’re always put in the middle of other people’s problems. The brass, the stars, bars and feathers won’t be there when you’re rolling around in a project hallway with some crazy junkie on a piss-covered floor. Take care of you and your partners. After that, make sure you go home at night and screw them all.” Geez, that’s a hell of a lot better advice than Chief Chitwood’s, don’t you think?