If the Dorner/LAPD event should tell us anything, it is that the Police cannot protect the citizenry. They may plaster "To serve and protect" on their cars, but they've forgotten whom they are supposed to serve, and their job is not to protect. Their job is to catch, arrest, and bring to the courts criminals who have already committed crimes. Even if they wanted to prevent crimes, they cannot arrest those who have not yet committed a crime. And there are not and can never be enough police officers to be everywhere a crime might be committed.
In fact, IF they are in an area where a crime is being committed, the sooner they are able to stop the crime, the lesser the charges against the criminal, and the sooner the criminal is back on the streets.
The first line of defense against criminals is the Citizen, the potential victim of the criminal, who must decide whether to attempt to stop the crime, to submit to the criminal, or to hope someone else will come to their rescue.
The Dorner case is particularly relevant, as one of the largest police departments in the Nation went to war against a single man, fired thousands of rounds, conducted a manhunt, and shot at many innocent bystanders, without ever hitting their actual target. In at least 3 separate events, numerous LAPD officers opened fire on property and citizens that had nothing to do with Dorner. It remains unknown how much damage they did, but after thousands of rounds loosed at his final location, in an area not only occupied by Dorner, but populated with innocent bystanders, it was not an LAPD bullet that killed him. Dorner killed himself, after the LAPD set fire to a citizens house.
Given audio evidence of Police calling to "Burn it," as well as historical evidence that the LAPD is using devices that are prone to causing fires, denials that the cabin was fire was intentional have the same credibility as the kid who denies getting in the cookie jar, while crumbs litter his mouth and shirt.
The MSM has largely ignored that the incoherent writings of Dorner were in line with Democratic platforms, and prefer to paint him as a "trained military killer," than as a disgraced Navy Reserve officer with little ground combat training, and no combat experience. While much has been made about the "automatic fire" during his final "battle" with the LAPD, little has been said that Dorner was armed only with handguns, and the automatic weapons of the police department failed to be aimed at, or hit Dorner.
It should be pointed out that if a private citizen had fired even one bullet in the manner the LAPD did, the LAPD would have charged that person with felonies and other charges, including reckless endangerment. Video evidence shows that the Police were barely pointing in the general direction of the cabin, owned by an innocent bystander, suspected of being occupied by Dorner, and not at a positively identified threat, much less the subject of the manhunt. It is no wonder they didn't hit their target. They didn't have a target. It surprising that they didn't hit and kill more citizens that had nothing to do with Dorner, or any crime.
But the Dorner case is not the only case that demonstrates a lack of marksmanship training in police forces. In 2012, the New York Police Department shot several innocent bystanders while missing the shooter they were "trying to stop."
Nearly every homicide is a demonstration that the Police cannot protect the Citizenry from criminals. The remainder are those few cases when criminals have penetrated the police forces and murdered those that police officers cannot protect. This should not be taken to mean that my Brothers in Blue are not well-meaning, or that they don't attempt to do their jobs well, but rather that their bosses, the politicians, have set the wrong goals for them, and set false expectations of the people in them.
Numerous cities, particularly the larger police forces, have determined that they don't have the resources to respond to property crimes, except when tens of thousands of dollars have been stolen or destroyed. The same politicians that cut back on police response to crimes against the citizenry, have not cut back on demands for citations for minor infractions of the citizenry. Drivers and pedestrians are still paying fines for speeding and jaywalking, while the police take a "phone it in" response to theft from the vehicles and homes of those taxpayers. The courts are still padding the retirement funds of judges with "court costs" of those taxpayers that don't argue their guilt in speeding tickets, while politicians push for traffic fines, instead of investigations of burgularly rings.
And what is the response of the most powerful politicians? To remove the tools of the citizenry to defend themselves.
While the politicians refuse to prosecute David Gregory for breaking Washington DC laws against possession of 30 round magazines, they push for National bans of private citizens to own or sell their own 15 round magazines.
It is not a surprise that the LAPD failed to hit the target they didn't take the time to identify or aim at, or that the politicians have attempted to increase their own power and influence by removing it from the citizenry, but it still astounds me, that the people have failed to push back against the efforts to subject them to "elected" rulers, and the efforts to remove their Right to Self-Defense.
It is surprising that so many partisan voters have bought into the party line that they should report suspicions that their neighbors are "extremist" supporters of the Constitution, but give up their own Right to prevent a criminal from turning them into victims.
But remember, when life and death is measured in seconds, the police are only minutes away.
Stumble It!
