Many officers and administrators will tell you I’m incorrect, but I’m telling you I am correct. Because much of this is occurring subconsciously on the part of officers on one level.
One reason — amongst many reasons — that crime is starting to rise is in fact due to what some are calling the “Ferguson Effect.” That is to say, law enforcement is not being as aggressive as they used to in terms of what is known as “self-initiated activity.”
Certainly, cops don’t shirk going to assigned calls. Where they’re sent and why they’re sent is meat-and-potatoes to cops.
And certainly cops don’t lack for bravery, as it is the Sheepdog in us (I write “us” because, though retired for only three months, I still am a Sheepdog and, as an Oathkeeper, I swore then and swear now to uphold the US Constitution, Bill of Rights, and protect this nation from all enemies be they foreign or domestic) that brought us to the profession in the first place.
That said, we are all human in LE. We have feelings and emotions and good days and bad days, just like everyone. We are affected by external circumstances and situations just like everyone.
The following is just one more example, upon many others, where LE has been denigrated, removed from businesses, had their food purposely tainted, spat on or urinated upon recently.
From Fox2Now.com:
Olive Garden apologizes to police officer after hostess asked him to leave
by AP.com
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – All Michael Holsworth wanted to do on Sunday was enjoy a nice birthday lunch with his family, but a hostess at Olive Garden wouldn’t even let him wait in the restaurant.
The Kansas City police officer was dressed in full uniform when he was refused service from the Olive Garden on 40 Highway and Noland Road for carrying his service weapon, WDAF-TV reported.
The employee allegedly asked Holsworth to leave the restaurant. Believing it was a joke, he asked the hostess if she was serious. Her simple reply was: “Yes, please leave.”
Thanks to social media, the officer did precisely what I would have done: spread the news. Just as there are consequences for cops being stupid, there are consequences for businesses being equally stupid in their own domains. Olive Garden has since apologized.
This is but one in a continuing series of factors which are resulting in cops deciding to do their work but not to rock the boat. Because at this point in time boat-rocking is not paying dividends to cops. It’s called officer survival and career survival.
LE administrators will say this is false because they have to. Some officers will say this is false because they are not watching their surroundings carefully or don’t have their finger on the pulse of reality. But I have had deputies on my department tell me covertly that is precisely what is happening. They are watching their physical and political and career backs very carefully.
When I retired as a Sergeant, I was responsible for 50+ deputies per shift. My number one goal was to ensure they got home safe at end of watch. I trained and emphasized that in terms of their priorities the flow chart went like this:
- Themselves
- Their partner/fellow officer
- The citizens
- Suspects
Why is it, you may ask, that the citizens we are sworn to protect are third on the list? Because if we cannot take care of ourselves individually, our partners and fellow officers, then we cannot take care of the citizens. One officer killed or injured in a vehicle accident, a shooting, a fight, is just one fewer officer available to respond to future calls for service the next hour, the next day, the next week. And Officer Safety was my personal priority when it came to my troops. It was my duty to ensure they all went home safe at the end of their shifts to the people who loved them.
To me, the acts of Ray Tensing and Michael Slager are irredeemable. They are beyond the pale. But the other acts that have been quoted as responsible for Black Lives Matter, as in Ferguson and New York and other places, are justfifiable and in most of those cases predicated upon outright falsehoods. The black DA in Baltimore charged too quickly and overcharged. Race played a huge factor in her decision. She will be greatly disappointed when she does not get her convictions. Because, frankly, she “acted stupidly” — to quote another racist black.
Of course there was blowback throughout the nation because the national meme, pushed by our Commander In Chief, was that cops “acted stupidly” and in a clearly racist fashion, even when they were defending themselves and way before all the information was acquired.
Now, Rahm Emanual chimes in. From the ChicagoTribuune.com:
Emanuel blames Chicago crime uptick on officers second-guessing themselves
by John Byrne
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday stood by his contention that Chicago police officers are becoming “fetal” out of concern they will get in trouble for actions during arrests, blaming officers second-guessing themselves in the wake of high-profile incidents for rising crime rates in Chicago and elsewhere.
Last week, the mayor was part of a meeting in Washington, D.C., with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and a group of mayors and police officials from across the nation to discuss a spike in homicides and other crime.
“We have allowed our Police Department to get fetal, and it is having a direct consequence. They have pulled back from the ability to interdict … they don’t want to be a news story themselves, they don’t want their career ended early, and it’s having an impact,” Emanuel said, according to the Washington Post.
Officers “second guessing” themselves is what results in hurt or seriously injured cops. And trust me, cops know just who has their back, and who doesn’t. They will work for people, like me, who had their six. Not so much for folks who don’t. Just like any other job, anywhere else. Because we’re human.
BZ
