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You’re Not Listening To Me
I’m getting tired of all the so called experts on policing. Whether it’s David French, Radley Balko, or any number of Woke mayors, prosecutors, college professors, the ACLU, and the rest of the usual suspects. I don’t remember any of them wrestling around with me at 0200 hours helping me make an arrest of a suspect that had committed crimes ranging from assaults, vehicular homicide, or any other form of homicide, and robberies.
Some want police officers that are Golden Retrievers and not Belgian Malinois. There are times when you have to be both. I get that videos of arrests that result in violence are disturbing. In a very real way that is good that enough people find it disturbing. I was compassionate when I could be, and I could fight when I had to fight.
One afternoon, I had to become the Belgian Malinois. An information call went out for East Precinct officers from Radio about an individual that would stop his car in front of someone’s front yard. He would get out of the car and walk towards the children, and their parents and display a knife an threatened to stab them. He did this at about three to four different homes.
I found him drifting around the neighborhood in his car. The car matched the description, and he matched the description. I turned on the lights and he pulled over to the curb. When I got up to the driver’s windows Officer Friendly (that’s me) didn’t pretend he was pulled over for a traffic violation. I told him exactly why I stopped him. I asked him if he had a knife in the car. He started to reach under the seat. I pulled my pistol from the holster and pushed the barrel into his left ear. I told him, “You’re not listening to me. I asked you if you had a knife. I didn’t ask you to show it to me.”
I got him out of the car, handcuffed him, searched him, and placed him in the back seat of the car. I found a Bowie knife under the driver’s seat. I called Radio and asked them to have the complainants meet me at their homes. They identified him and identified his knife that I had placed in the trunk of the police car.
I will not apologize for being the Belgian Malinois when I had to be.
Published in Policing
We have lots of opinions out there, but not much experience. Thank you for providing your experience.
Reporters and politicians do not know what they are talking about in journalism and politics, why should we expect them to understand police work?
Add it to the Best of Ricochet — 2020.
Doug, this was superb.
Never, ever apologize for going Maliois. The French Poodles won’t understand, but then again they never do.
Too many people are just too busy with their own thoughts to listen carefully. 🙄
Thank you for being the Belgian Malinois when we needed one.
People who haven’t so much as thought about it have no idea how dangerous someone with a knife can be if they are within 18-20′ of you. They expected the Kenosha cops to once again go hand-to-hand to get Mr. Jacobs out of the car that he was leaning into. Whoever did grab him first would have been in serious danger of being killed.
Doug,
Sounds fine to me. Did they let this lunatic [redacted] out without bail? Normally, I shouldn’t need to ask. However, as of late I’m not sure the sun comes up in the east anymore. Let me know. I mean about the bail. For that matter is the sun still coming up in the east, as far as you know?
Regards,
Jim
Perci,
Believe it or not, this became an issue in Israel. Apparently, some of the more idiotic Judges thought of a knife as a non-lethal weapon. Well sure, it might take a full 60 seconds to bleed to death, or if the guy with the knife doesn’t know what he is doing maybe even longer to bleed to death.
Needless to say that the reality of life in Israel on a day to day basis convinced the idiots that they were idiots and to shut the hell up.
Regards,
Jim
I suspect that he ended up in the State Hospital for the criminally insane. He never came to trial. I never followed up on cases that didn’t go to trial. The prosecutor did his job I did mine. I didn’t chase cases on my own time.
That is flat-out nuts.
Sounds perfect to me, Doug. Well done.
@dougwatt, how about going a little further. It seems like something has to change. I wonder what you would do, if Congress gave you $1B to make improvements.
All one has to do is experience once a situation where he avoided being a victim of a couple muggers by virtue of having a loaded Smith & Wesson. And then occasionally remind himself that there are people who put on badges and deal with those people willingly. Cops get the benefit of any doubt.
Doug,
“The prosecutor did his job” … gee, about now that has a very reassuring tone to it. If the damn prosecutor would (or is it could) start doing his job again maybe things would get back to normal and I’d be sure that the sun was gonna come up in the east tomorrow morning.
Interesting but the State Hospital for the criminally insane sounds like a really good spot for most of the Antifa that I’ve seen on the YouTube videos. They look like 25-year-old twelve-year-old kids playing like they are in a kung fu movie. Of course, the actual 12-year-olds don’t commit actual crimes like assault, robbery, arson, and vandalism of public property. Putting them in a rubber room would be quite kind considering.
Regards,
Jim
Can’t count on this one any more. See Kim Foxx, et al.
Another occasion for this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUYsz3Zh7WM
But… but… it looks so easy in the movies.
That is a huge problem right there. Everyone thinks they know what it takes. They’ve seen the cop shows.
It’s the same mindset than gets angry at law enforcement for using their guns to shoot to kill, instead of aiming for an extremity just to wound them, because they’ve seen all those movies and TV shows where someone can shoot a weapon out of the perp’s hand. They know what they know, and they’re smarter than the people actually dealing wit the situation.
It’s possible (faintly) that something I have done in my professional life has directly improved the lives of others, in an important way, literally saving their lives or removing a deadly threat. If that has happened, I will never know it.
You don’t have that problem. You, and probably every other LEO, firefighter, EMT or first responder, know darn well that you have saved lives. No one can take that from you, and I hope it brings you satisfaction and peace. You and your brothers and sisters in the professions heartily deserve it.
I suppose I got my first dose of the red pill in high school. The city park across the street was a popular lunch spot, and I was crossing the street to go there when some jive-ass punk started shouting at someone and then pulled a switchblade.
The cops showed up pretty quickly, and subdued him forthwith. There was one on each arm and leg, and nobody got hurt. I was hearing “but it’s not fair, he’s just a kid and they outnumbered him four to one.”
I was pretty dumb, but not dumb enough to believe that.
To be clear, are you tired of “David French, Radley Balko, or any number of Woke mayors, prosecutors, college professors, the ACLU, and the rest of the usual suspects” because they are wrong in their positions, because they are not entitled to their positions having never served as a police officer alongside you at 2:00 in the morning or some mixture of the two?
I like to think I have informed views on the wisdom of military engagements though I will readily concede that I have never gone over the top of a fortified embankment to face an onslaught of enemy fire. Not at 2:00 am. Not ever.
Your touching testimonial is both commendable and informative and certainly informs my thinking on the matter. But should it given that I didn’t actually experience it by your side at 2:00 am?
Don’t miss the forest for the trees. His point is that a lot of these yahoos (reporters, politicians, college professors, etc.) say lots of stupid things because they have never even been close to the truth of what policemen are doing and putting up with by dealing with the very glory of humanity. By reading this conversation and learning lessons from it, you are now more informed than many in charge of municipal policing policies. Ain’t that a shame?
I find it curious that you would say Belgian Malinois instead of German Shepherd or Doberman Pinscher. That breed has really taken over. It’s a shame German Shepherds have been so poorly bred.
The knife looks like high quality, almost a Randall Made Knife, but the handle is more of a Ka-Bar design. I wonder what kind of knife that is.
Oh, and I’ve not read Radley Balko in a long time, but he has always had some very good points. The police have become too militarized. Yes, there is a need for police to be violent. Yes, we should put more restrictions on how people get arrested. For instance, I think we should not allow police to arrest someone without a warrant unless there is a threat of violence, or the officer sees the crime himself. Go to the magistrate and get a warrant if the only crime is the accusation of passing a bad $20 bill by some untrained shop keeper. Escalating for every petty crime is too common and inexcusable.
The police are not monsters, but they are not always saints. I’ve met too many that were fools and bad people to think that we should tolerate the level of bullying they often commit with no repercussions. I’ve met about as many that were good and faithful to the law as well. The problem is that you don’t always know which one is in front of you. The police should do a better job of enforcing themselves. In many places they do well. Even here in Austin, where they have problems, generally they are good.
However, you should be very afraid of the police in New Orleans and other cities, and many, many smaller towns and cities. To say that they are often corrupt is not an exaggeration.
This is directly linked to the lack of masculinity in society. Most people just don’t understand how violence works. They have never been in a violent situation. They think that:
Great post, Doug.
Because arresting someone on a warrant always goes so well (Kenosha).
Or are we not supposed to pick people up on warrants either?
I would certainly like for the cops to outnumber the perps at every opportunity.
Sure, but the problem comes when they are using their power to beat people up without a good reason. Don’t pretend that doesn’t happen. Cops are not saints.* Some of them just like beating people up and jump on the chance when presented with the least excuse.
A Belgian Malinois is only to be trusted when it has a good handler who can control it. The Belgian Malinois doesn’t decide for himself whom to bite. We are the people and we are supposed to hold the leash for that Malinois.