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There has been a lot happening the past couple of months, politicians having scandals, uniformed police chasing one another and arresting the other at gun point, Occupy Whatever, and political correctness rearing its ugly head again just in time for the holidays! However, between work and other obligations, once I had a few minutes to myself the last thing I wanted to do was get anywhere NEAR a keyboard. Now that the holidays have come and gone and I’ve had a chance to “vegetate” a little while I thought I’d do one last rant to end 2011.
I am sick and tired, no wait, make that SICK and TIRED, of people making these demands in order to draw attention to their group. I have trouble believing that they are really offended; they complain that they are offended by the recognition and celebration of holidays. If they were truly offended wouldn’t they be offended by all holidays instead of just the ones of the Christian or Hebrew faiths? Where’s the offended when it is time for an Islamic holiday, or how about Kwanza?
I’ve got a novel idea, a bit old fashioned, how about we just respect one another! WOW, display courtesy towards each other, just because their a human being, what a concept!
This incident has not only caused embarrassment to the law enforcement community, it has possibly made it more difficult to discipline an officer in the future for mistreating a citizen or for causing injury to another. If a citizen complains about an officer pointing a gun at them without justification, all the accused officer has to do is refer to this incident. After all people believe that the Trooper acted appropriately. If an agency attempts to discipline an officer for an unauthorized pursuit, or if the officer is sued for such an act, this Trooper’s actions will be brought up (along with FHP’s comments about her acting appropriately) as a defense.
I also want to wish you a Happy New Year; I hope that 2012 is a prosperous and joyful time for you and your loved ones!
That’s My Opinion, What’s Yours
First, welcome home to the men and women of the U.S. Military, thank you for your service! Many people have gone about their daily lives, going to work, getting angry with their spouse or frustrated with their children, and forgetting that there were thousands of military personnel serving overseas. They would long for the opportunity to deal with life’s simple issues and not have to remember to put on Kevlar, or chamber a round into their assault weapon first, or be able to drive down the road without fear that as you pass something along the side of the road it will explode. Say what you want about the military, when called upon they did their job!
Oh, by the way, God Bless the military! This leads me to my next issue, Political Correctness. As graduations, or holidays approach you can count on someone to supposedly be offended and file a lawsuit because students want an invocation at their graduation, or put up a Christmas tree, or a Menorah, or manger scene! It is demanded that I have to respect someone else’s right not to believe or practice a religion; I am victimizing “them” because of my beliefs! To quote a general in World War II, “NUTS!”
Since I’ve started down the political correctness path; if you’re homosexual, transsexual, transgender, whatever, if it makes you feel good about yourself I’m glad for you. However, enough already, not all heterosexuals are bad or anti whatever you happen to be. I’ve got a news flash for you; you’d be surprised at the number of people that don’t care, so stop labeling me because of your prejudice! If you didn’t like being told that you have a prejudice against heterosexuals, too bad, now you can appreciate how I feel when you make an assumption about me.
Next, what about these politicians and their sex, sexual harassment scandals? Herman Cain was gaining ground and beginning to be looked upon as a serious candidate for the Republican nomination, then came information about a sexual harassment claim, then an affair, the so called mainstream media was having a great time with the story. Of course others began to criticize media outlets such as Fox News for raising questions about the legitimacy of the claims.
Herman Cain’s only mistake in this entire mess was that he is not a registered Democrat. Had he been a democrat NBC, MSNBC, CNN, etc would have either ignored the allegations or questioned the accuser’s credibility. Think I’m just being defensive because I’m a Republican, look at President Clinton’s many accusers and how the media treated them right up until the time that President Clinton admitted to the affair or reached a settlement. How about the reporters and media outlets that knew about the John Edwards affair for over a year, even while he was running for President and didn’t say anything. If that’s not enough, how many have seen news articles in the U.S. media about President Obama’s alleged affair with Vera Baker?
The problem isn’t that these politicians may have cheated on their spouse, or caused pain to their family by their conduct, the problem is that we use these people as role models for our children. I have another novel, old fashioned idea, how about we be the role model for our children. America has got to the point that we expect the government to do everything for us, we no longer want to take responsibility for things. We should live our lives and conduct ourselves in such a manner that our children want to emulate us instead of some politician.
About two months ago (while I was on vacation) a story made the local S Florida media about an incident in which a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) Trooper chased and eventually arrested at gunpoint a City of Miami Police Officer. The Miami officer was in uniform and in a marked police vehicle. Eventually the story went national, and law enforcement was both praised and criticized. This was also used by a lot of people to reticule and denounce officers of Hispanic descent (the Miami officer was Hispanic).
I retired from the City of Miami Police Department after serving nearly 27 years and have been a law enforcement officer for a state agency for the past 4 years. I have also served as a Commissioner on the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission. First and foremost the City of Miami officer was wrong to have been speeding because he was running late for an “Off Duty” Job (assignments or work outside of their normal hours and area of responsibility). Every Miami officer, present and former that I’ve talked with feel the same way.
However, the Trooper was also wrong for more than one reason. Not only was she wrong, she has created a situation in which her conduct can be used in the future for someone to justify mistreating a civilian or putting a civilian lives in jeopardy. The Miami officer was polite and apologetic from the beginning, so his behavior when approached by the Trooper can’t be attributed as a reaction to him.
If the Trooper had approached a civilian the same way she did the Miami officer she would have been criticized by the public and media as being gun happy, but thanks to her conduct teaching restraint with the drawing of your weapon just suffered a setback. I have heard that the Trooper was afraid for her safety, the police car may have been stolen and the thief could have had access to weapons. Her own conduct disputes that claim, if that were true the Trooper would have remained at her vehicle for cover and given commands over the loud speaker to the driver of the police car until back up officers arrived.
The Trooper was told at least twice to cancel the chase and she ignored those instructions. The instruction to stop the pursuit was not given because it was a police car she was chasing; it was done for the safety of the other motorists and is done all the time. There was no evidence that the vehicle was involved in a violent crime, had that been a civilian the Trooper was chasing the same instruction would have been given.
Again, I’m not trying to justify the Miami officer’s speeding because he was late to work; I’m just saying that this should have been handled as it has been in the past. The Trooper could have responded to the Miami Police Department and the officer ordered to the station to receive a citation. The Trooper had the car number and this is what has been done in the past. But instead both the Trooper and Miami officer have given those that dislike and distrust law enforcement plenty of material to criticize us, and given bigots more reason to talk about the inferiority of those of another ethnicity. They have also created a distraction from real problems.
Now that I’ve had my rant there is one final thing I’d like to do, I want to thank those that have been reading my Blog this past year. I appreciate your taking the time to read and to offer your opinions on what I’ve written.
