Crisis of Confidence!

03 Aug 09 This telling commentary, from a friend in the Federal System: "The sad reality is that the disturbingly absurd advice promulgated by the SAC you mentioned in your Quip is not is not limited to those outside the Agency. What those up the food-chain dearly want to tell us Grunts is, 'Never shoot anyone under any circumstances.' Lacking the courage to come out and say it, the chosen approach now is to make it so ponderous to comply with all ' administrative rules' involved in going after violent criminals, that it is rare indeed any more when we actually do. A mere decade ago, I had a boss who regularly sent my partner and I out, on our own, to track-down, confront, and arrest dangerous, armed bank robbers. His only guidance was some variation on, 'Arrest the son-of-a-bitch. If he resists violently, shoot him!' Now, prior to even conducting an interview, let alone an arrest, we are saddled with the absurdly cumbersome requirement to complete a lengthy, written 'arrest-plan' that must then be approved at every level of management, a tedious, insufferable process which eliminates any species of spontaneity. In many divisions, now only the SWAT team is allowed to make felony arrests. Little trust, much less confidence, is conferred upon street-SAs any more. The problem is not that we mere Grunts might get hurt. Far from it! The problem is that we might actually do our job, fire our weapons, killing some dirt-bags in the process, an event that will invariably have, God forbid, the anguished result of derailing someone's career. It is infinitely safer, from a career standpoint, to 'encourage' one's subordinates to never fire their guns at all, under any circumstance, in fact, never to 'do' anything! Many of us are trying hard to stand against this, but we do so while counting the days until the current Director finds something else to do. Extremely unlikely under the current Administration!" Comment: Owing to this flawed philosophy that has crept into the upper levels of law-enforcement, described in the foregoing, SAs, and police officers in general, are regularly exposing themselves to what can only be described as suicidal risks, in a desperate effort to avoid shooting, in cases where shooting is clearly indicated and justified. Political support from violent criminals, and their families, is an openly coveted and sought-after commodity with many sleazy, shameless politicians. Simply put, they're much happier with dead police officers than with dead criminals! And, they get elected! /John