Friday, May 1, 2015

Don't rely on the police for protection!


If you're one of those who says that you'll rely on the police to protect you, rather than take steps to be able to defend yourself and your family if necessary, consider this.

Michael Lewis is the Sheriff in Wicomico County, and was also a Sergeant with the Maryland State Police. He joined Ed Norris and Steve Davis on Thursday to talk about the alleged controversial orders the police were given during the riots.

. . .

“They said we could have handled this, we were very capable of handling this, but we were told to stand down, repeatedly told to stand down,” he said. “I had never heard that order come from anyone — we went right out to our posts as soon as we got there, so I never heard the mayor say that. But repeatedly these guys, and there were many high-ranking officials from the Baltimore City Police Department … and these guys told me they were essentially neutered from the start. They were spayed from the start. They were told to stand down, you will not take any action, let them destroy property. I couldn’t believe it, I’m a 31-year veteran of law enforcement. … I had never heard anything like this before in my life and these guys obviously aren’t gonna speak out and the more I thought about this, … I had to say a few things. I apologize if I’ve upset people, but I believe in saying it like it is.”

Lewis said though he didn’t hear the order to stand down come from the mayor, he did hear it from police officials.

“I heard it myself over the Baltimore City police radio that I had tethered to my body-armor vest, I heard it repeatedly. ‘Stand down, stand down, stand down! Back up, back up, retreat, retreat!’ I couldn’t believe those words. Those are words I’ve never heard in my law enforcement vocabulary,” he said. “Baltimore City police, all law enforcement agencies are very capable of handling that city. They’re trained to handle that city. These guys were hearing words that had never been echoed in their lives, in their careers.”

There's more at the link.

What happens if you rely on the cops to protect you, but the politicians in charge of those cops think it's more important for their image, or their re-electability, or for whatever politically correct reasons, to stop the cops from doing their job?  It matters not whether it's a riot situation such as Sheriff Lewis is describing, or a problem with community relations that stops police from carrying out their normal duties.  Where does that leave you?

I'll tell you where it leaves you.  Up the creek without a paddle.

I only hope that all my readers have the sense to read Sheriff Lewis' words and draw the appropriate conclusions from them.  Your safety is first and foremost in your hands - no-one else's.  Train and prepare accordingly.

Peter

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since when is it the mayor's job to tell LEOs how to do their job- isn't it the police commisioner's duty ? Do police tell the mayor how to do their job ?

I think the mayor set herself up for lawsuits. Taxpayers pay taxes for a reason - for the cost of services provided by the city / state / federal. When those services are purposely withheld, then ???

Anonymous said...

Our "elected ones" are acting more and more as if they are never leaving office and couldn't care less about what the "prols" think. My only question is; How long will the uniformed ones keep fighting for the "communist party" (our current governance) after the pay checks stop, and how long until a "state of emergency" complete with "peace keepers" is declared?---Ray

Divemedic said...

Read my post on this:
http://street-pharmacy.blogspot.com/2015/05/curious.html

HeroHog said...

Ever since the US Supreme court ruled that the police have no duty to protect you, we the public, have been screwed.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:33 - that may be why the authorities are storing up supplies to KEEP their people on their good side. Money may become much less valuable, but you (and your family) have to eat. Working for your food may become the new reality.

Anonymous said...

The supreme court was right. There are thousands of citizens for every sworn officers, a much lighter ratio of LEO if you consider that they too need time to sleep, eat and do other non work things that everyone does. It's a rational and ethical fact that people are responsible for themselves. In normal times, that is a good thing. In hard times good people lean on each other. You have to have "leanable" people around you and let them know that you too (by virtue of being prepared and reasonable) are someone they can lean on. -Boyd K

JohninMd.(HELP?!??) said...

As Michael Bane has said repeatedly, when the poop hits the occilator, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. When seconds count, the cops are minutes away -- if you're lucky. Ive tried to never reliy on luck alone......