Blue Sheepdog

If it wasn’t so sad, I would laugh at the people who think I am there to protect them.

I don’t know any police officer who believes that they can protect any individual citizen from being harmed by criminals. Well, maybe the chief might, but I doubt it.

If somehow I could really protect people from crime, I would be notified 30 minutes in advance, so I could be on time to intercept the cretin, and slap the cuffs on him. But, Minority Report is a work of fiction, and so is the phrase “To Serve and Protect” on my patrol car.

A 75-year-old woman was battered by a 30-something male in my zone tonight. Seems she had the audacity to stop, and yield right-of-way to intersecting traffic (which had the green light, by the way.) The male, who failed to stop before striking her vehicle, was upset, and after they had both pulled over, he shoved her out into traffic, causing significant injury to her arms and hands. The male, who appears to work out regularly, then fled the scene. When I arrested him later, he claimed she was the aggressor.

I wish I could have protected her. But…the idea of police protection is a myth.

Police departments are responsive to the needs of the citizens. In other words, we respond to shootings, burglaries, domestics, and all sorts of crimes that have already occurred. But we never respond to “an auto burglary that will happen in 20 minutes.”

The real tragedy is that the citizens have bought into the political bluster that police officers can protect them. So, many citizens willfully give up their responsibility to protect themselves, for the false sense of security offered to them by politicians.

The reality of self-protection is obvious to any cop: protect yourself, because no one else can.

If a person is being attacked, and actually is able to call the police, how long will it be before the first unit arrives? An excellent response time may be three minutes. If an armed attacker has three minutes, how much damage can he do? How many people can he hurt or kill?

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

I hope that all of us do our part to encourage our citizens to take an active roll in their own survival. A lot of officers know that a citizen who owns a firearm, and receives good training with it, can play a positive roll in their own survival.

However, a lot of citizens simply don’t understand the laws regarding self-defense. When asked about self-defense, try to take the time and help them understand these laws.

An excellent resource that I normally suggest to people is Massad Ayoob’s book “In the Gravest Extreme: The Role of the Firearm in Personal Protection.” “In The Gravest Extreme” discusses firearms and the issues surrounding self-defense. Ayoob covers the legal and ethical issues surrounding self-defense and the use of deadly force.

If you really want to protect your citizens, teach them to protect themselves.

Stay safe!