Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement                                               7/8/2016

Let me begin first with this. We the people identify to law enforcement as the color blue.

Some people because of the color of their uniforms, some people because of the color of their patrol cars.

As for me, I understand there is no color. But if one was to mix the color of skin of all of the different nationalities that make up Americas law enforcement. Then the thing that I would see would not be color, just harmony. Law enforcement has proved this, if they can do it, so can we as Americans.

This is a hard one to clarify for all of those out there who are not in some sort of security or law enforcement position. And this is just my opinion.

But for those of us who are not in law enforcement we are still intelligent people and we understand the basic fundamentals of life.

When the everyday person goes to work they report to work, do the little things they do prior to starting work and then they sit down or remain standing at their job and begin to earn their living.

Law enforcement officers do the same thing with one exception. Their job requires them to make contact with people on the streets who they do not know. These officers must engage the public on the streets, in their homes or automobiles.

People they do not know, people who do not work with them in their office, strangers whom they know nothing about.

The officer’s contact with strangers is because they are paid by us, to enforce the law. These officers are paid by us to know the laws they are to enforce. So when they see someone who is violating the law. These officers are paid by us to confront those who are breaking the law, to find out why and to make the necessary corrections to insure that person does know they broke the law and to bring that person to justice.

Most of these types of contact result in nothing more than a warning or perhaps a ticket issued for the law that was broken. But sometimes folks, it is a lot more than that.

There are people everywhere in this country who have just done something wrong and they know it was against the law, and no one had to tell them that. Things like thief, robbery, assault, drugs, and even murder. A lot of these wrongs have just happened and it maybe hours or even days before someone reports them so law enforcement can investigate the matter and maybe find out who the person is they need to be looking for.

This is the window of missing time that has educated our officers.

If the officer knows in advance who the person of interest is, when the officer makes contact with that person they know in advance who they are. That makes the officers job a lot better as the officer knows there maybe trouble and he is more prepared as to how to handle the contact with the person of interest.

It is the window of missing time that has forced us to train our officers to expect the worse at every contact the officer makes with the public. The officer has no idea who you are or whether you have just committed a crime or not.

These officers get up every morning, showers, put on their clothes, fix their kids lunch, kiss their husband or spouse goodbye and head off to work just like the rest of us. All of us are just going about doing our daily routine.

And just like the rest of us they would like to return home to their family.

Since there is so much evil going on everyday in every part of this country, the officer has learned the hard way. The lesson learned is that every contact with the public could result in meeting someone who has no respect for the law and no intentions of being caught for what they have done.

You can call it profiling if you want but I call it experience and knowledge. Law enforcement has learned that if it looks out of place, it more than likely is. This attitude is the attitude that has saved countless lives because the officer was right and his decision to engage that person that looked out of place resulted in one or more bad persons being removed from the public.

I know there are a boat load of you folks out there who are going to cry civil rights. The Constitution says due process and so forth. That is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion and it is true that the Law is the Law.

My opinion is the rights of the people were established to protect honest folks from wrongful prosecution. So if you’re stopped for no reason then your rights may have been violated. But if you have nothing to hide and you have done nothing wrong. Then what does it matter if you were stopped and questioned by law enforcement simply because they made a judgment call. A call as to how you looked or perhaps the hour was late and you were the only one out and about at that hour, and that seemed strange to them.

Really folks, if you have done nothing wrong or you are doing nothing wrong, what does it matter? I find comfort in the fact law enforcement is checking on things in my neighborhood.

Not every time does the judgment call work, but more times than not it does work. 

It is because of the above I am not upset when stopped by law enforcement and questioned about what I am doing.

Exhibit A:

IT IS ALSO BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE I UNDERSTAND THE DANGER OF THIS ENCOUNTER WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT.

1. I UNDERSTAND TO KEEP MY HANDS WHERE THEY ARE VISIBLE.

2. I UNDERSTAND THAT I NEED TO COMPLY WITH WHAT EVER I AM

    TOLD.

3. I UNDERSTAND WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF I FAIL TO COMPLY WITH

    ITEMS 1 & 2.

I understand these things because I am paying law enforcement to not only keep me safe but to keep themselves safe.

We pay our law enforcement officers to see to it once they encounter an individual that situation can not move forward until law enforcement has completed their job. We have paid them and trained them to the point they will put their own life on the line should one of us attempt to escape the encounter prior to it reaching a resolution.

We have done this, and we have done so because we know, it needs to be done.

We have paid law enforcement to learn how to protect us and to know how to enforce the laws. With the death of every officer killed in the line of duty. After it has been investigated we pay law enforcement to train again and learn how to protect their selves from what they have learned from the death of a fallen officer. To insure that another officers life is not lost. This is done with firefighters, military, and others.

Folks it does not matter to me if you love America’s law enforcement of if you despise it.

Your decision is your decision, but if you encounter law enforcement I highly recommend you refer to Exhibit A above.

We are paying law enforcement to do their job, and if you chose to ignore Exhibit A, try and run away, try and wrestle with law enforcement, reach for WHAT EVER ONCE YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD NOT TO MOVE.

Then I am sorry for your injury or loss of life, but you should have listened.

A lot of Americans now live their lives with the attitude no one can tell me what to do.

And folks that is almost correct.

The consequences of you leaving your house after your mother told you not to do that are not the same as when a law enforcement officer tells you to keep your hands where they can see them and you decide not to do that.

Attitude is fine folks, but not when you encounter a law enforcement officer. They do not know who you are, they do not know what you may have or have not done. And until they find that out it is best to refer to Exhibit A.

I would guess thousands of people come in contact with law enforcement officers weekly if not daily in this country. And I know that a lot of those are violent encounters and yet no one died. But to believe this is the way it should be regardless of the denial of the individual or the violence that occurred during that contact is living in denial.

Follow Exhibit A listed above, or weep the consequences.