Most police won't support the Constitution - they'll support those who pay them

 

I've worked alongside police in a law enforcement support function (as a prison chaplain).  I number several police officers among my friends (and my comments here certainly don't apply to them).  Nevertheless, painful though it is to say this, I have to admit that many police in this country - certainly in the larger departments - will not take a stand in defense of our constitution and laws.  Instead, they'll take a stand to support those who give them jobs and pay their salaries.  They'll back the status quo rather than what's intrinsically right.

We're seeing this in riot-torn and unrest-plagued cities across the USA right now.  The police are not being allowed by their governing authorities to take action against those responsible for the unrest.  Indeed, in all too many cases, they're acting against those trying to stop the people responsible for the unrest.  They're choosing sides - or, rather, being ordered to take a side - and it's not the side of law and order.  It's the side of political correctness - and ordinary people are taking note.

Michael Yon reports, somewhat cryptically:

The situation is clear.  There is a clear sea change in Oregon -- increasing numbers of people who are avoiding conflict, and those who are joining battle, are turning away from Back the Blue.

I saw this to a more limited extent in D.C., but now in Oregon the pattern is as clear.  Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will see this and know exactly what is going on.  As will Vietnam vets.  Before my time, but they know this story, too.

In a subsequent comment below that report, he adds:

More extreme forces on the right of US politics appear to be openly defying such partisan policing.  A Twitter thread filled with video reports demonstrates how that played out in Portland a few days ago.  Click over there to see and read for yourself.

Herschel Smith points out:

While allowing Antifa/BLM thugs to do whatever they wanted in various places in the U.S., the most worrisome thing for patriots is what the “justice system” would do to them if they fought back.

Here is the chain of command.  Officers report to their chief, and their chief reports to elected officials.  The elected officials determine policy.

LEOs the world-over will work ensure one, single, solitary thing: the continuance of the status quo and their chain of command.  They will obey orders.  They work to ensure continuity of government, not justice.

. . .

We’ve discussed how LEOs aren’t required to protect anyone under rulings in Castle Rock versus Gonzales and Warren versus D.C.  There is no need to rehearse that now.

The point is that even patriot groups are turning on LEOs where Michael is right now.  We are entering a very dangerous time in the history of the republic.

Only an idiot wouldn’t see this.

There's more at the link.

I am emphatically not anti-police (and commenters please take note:  if you try to turn this article and responses to it into an anti-police polemic, I'll delete your posts - that's not what this is about).  Policing is a necessary function in society, provided that it's properly and fairly carried out.  Nevertheless, I have to admit that law and order departments and agencies are typically controlled by the powers that be.  They make sure to pick chiefs of police and senior officers/administrators who will "toe the line" and do as they're told.  Ordinary men and women in uniform may try to be fair and even-handed, and when operating individually, they can often do that;  but as soon as they're called into larger forces and formations, their individual freedom of action goes away.  They have to work with those on either side of them, or take the consequences.

I know several honorable men and women who've resigned or retired from law enforcement positions, rather than enforce what they see as the creeping politicization of police work.  Others are still on the job, doing their best as individuals to uphold the constitution and laws, and turning a blind eye to unconstitutional rules and regulations.  Some, particularly sheriffs and their departments, are going so far as to openly refuse to carry out unconstitutional orders - and full credit to them for doing so.  Nevertheless, the majority of officers I've met will, I think, "go with the flow", and obey the orders of those who issue their paychecks.

That's what the progressive left are counting on when it comes to law and order.  History suggests that the average law enforcement function or agent will "play nice" with the powers that be, enforcing the "new order" when it comes and punishing those who resist it.  To mention just one example, note the number of former Nazi policemen and agents - even of the Gestapo - who joined the East German Stasi after World War II, and immediately became as enthusiastically Communist agents as they had been Nazi bully-boys, enforcers and torturers.  See here for a devastating catalog of Stasi excesses - and compare them to, for example, the recent Homan Square scandal involving Chicago's police department.  Notice any similarities?

I hope and pray it doesn't come to that in this country.  Many Americans will not "knuckle under" and blindly obey, and will resist those who try to make them do so.  That's a recipe for social turmoil and the collapse of law and order - for everyone, not just left- or right-wing - if ever I heard one.

Meanwhile, if you find yourself forced to take action to defend yourself, your loved ones or your home against "politically correct" rioters and unrest, remember that the police may not be on your side, no matter how justifiable your actions may be in terms of a traditional understanding of law and order.  I wrote about this a few months ago, in two articles:

Self-defense under a justice system

that's no longer on your side

No, I wasn't being alarmist -

rather, I wasn't alarmist enough

I recommend both of those articles to your attention, if you missed them the first time around.  Under the circumstances discussed above, they may have been prescient.

Peter