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I'm mad as hell! By Sheriff Michael E. Cook
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
I'm mad as hell!
By Sheriff Michael E. Cook
Published 05. 7. 02 at 21:36 Sierra Time
xxx
"I'm mad as hell," is a line from an old movie I watched years ago. It fits the way I'm feeling today. I was alerted to, and read a posting by a fellow NRA member Detective Ron Willis, a retired police officer from the Gresham, Oregon Police Department. It seems that Ron attended the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting in Reno, Nevada. The story he tells is something he observed while departing Reno at the airport. You can read this article by going to this site.
To make it short, Ron saw a police officer take a 1 1/4 inch lapel pin shaped like a Glock handgun from an older citizen at the airport. It appeared that the officer wanted the pin for himself and had no cause to confiscate this item. This officer told another within hearing of Ron, "Look what I got from the NRA."
Most all of you readers know how I feel about abuse by any one who serves the public, most of all law enforcement officers. I can't think of too many things that make me any more upset than that. Law enforcement officers are the last line of defense that you and I have in this great Republic called America. If you and I can't trust them we have lost. Any officer who would abuse his or her authority to do even a small thing like this would sell you and I down the river in a minute. This is pure and simple abuse of power and trust.
Now ask yourself how this gets started. After the events of September 11th, 2001, air travel has become ridicules as far as security is concerned. Now let me say I am the first to want to see it made more difficult for hijackers to take aircraft. The answer to that is simple and wouldn't cost a bunch of tax dollars. Let the pilots carry firearms and let citizens who have concealed carry permits and police officers do the same. End of problem and no big cost of tax dollars.
Did this happen? No. The government went wild and took over security, over reacting by searching everyone and taking anything they want that could be even thought of as a weapon in some ones nightmare. They take key chains that have a dummy ammo round on them. They take lapel pins that look like a handgun or long gun. Ball point pens are more dangerous than these items but they don't take them, yet. If this is not put to a stop now it will continue to get more stupid as we go. Next they will take the wings that the pilots wear because they may be used to stab someone with.
Police officers, of all people, need not to buy into this stupid stuff. We have always had pride in having good common sense and the ability to use discretion in the application of laws. Any good officer would have known that a lapel pin or a key chain dummy round would not be used as a hijack tool. However there is always that excuse that " had to take it because of the rules" Well no one will ever know if I don't turn it in so, I will keep it. This is where the rubber meets the road and officers start to turn bad and do bigger and worse things. Next this officer will be taking a twenty or fifty dollar bill to look the other way while someone gets on the plane with a real weapon and the desire to hijack it.
I know that the wrong signal is being sent by our government leaders and others in attempting to make those who travel by air feel safer. The fact is, most are feeling picked on and harassed because 99.9% of them are honest citizens and don't need the hassle of being searched and delayed to travel by air. No one wants to be searched by a police officer or to have that officer steal from them. What this officer did was theft. He used the fear and intimidation of his badge and uniform to steal, as well as using the atmosphere surrounding air travel security as his excuse.
We must demand more from our law enforcement people and we must demand that our government stop this stupid slid down the old slippery slope of violating the Constitution, as well as spending our money to do it. Air travel can be safe and it doesn't take harassing every passenger to do it. Simply allow Americans to exercise the right to keep and bear arms, end of problem.
I hope the Reno Police Department does everything possible to locate the offending officer and discipline him. A good start would be to have Retired Detective Ron Willis identify this person.
God Bless America.
Michael E. Cook,
Coos County Sheriff, Retired.
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/05/08/sheriff.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Sheriff Michael E. Cook
Published 05. 7. 02 at 21:36 Sierra Time
xxx
"I'm mad as hell," is a line from an old movie I watched years ago. It fits the way I'm feeling today. I was alerted to, and read a posting by a fellow NRA member Detective Ron Willis, a retired police officer from the Gresham, Oregon Police Department. It seems that Ron attended the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting in Reno, Nevada. The story he tells is something he observed while departing Reno at the airport. You can read this article by going to this site.
To make it short, Ron saw a police officer take a 1 1/4 inch lapel pin shaped like a Glock handgun from an older citizen at the airport. It appeared that the officer wanted the pin for himself and had no cause to confiscate this item. This officer told another within hearing of Ron, "Look what I got from the NRA."
Most all of you readers know how I feel about abuse by any one who serves the public, most of all law enforcement officers. I can't think of too many things that make me any more upset than that. Law enforcement officers are the last line of defense that you and I have in this great Republic called America. If you and I can't trust them we have lost. Any officer who would abuse his or her authority to do even a small thing like this would sell you and I down the river in a minute. This is pure and simple abuse of power and trust.
Now ask yourself how this gets started. After the events of September 11th, 2001, air travel has become ridicules as far as security is concerned. Now let me say I am the first to want to see it made more difficult for hijackers to take aircraft. The answer to that is simple and wouldn't cost a bunch of tax dollars. Let the pilots carry firearms and let citizens who have concealed carry permits and police officers do the same. End of problem and no big cost of tax dollars.
Did this happen? No. The government went wild and took over security, over reacting by searching everyone and taking anything they want that could be even thought of as a weapon in some ones nightmare. They take key chains that have a dummy ammo round on them. They take lapel pins that look like a handgun or long gun. Ball point pens are more dangerous than these items but they don't take them, yet. If this is not put to a stop now it will continue to get more stupid as we go. Next they will take the wings that the pilots wear because they may be used to stab someone with.
Police officers, of all people, need not to buy into this stupid stuff. We have always had pride in having good common sense and the ability to use discretion in the application of laws. Any good officer would have known that a lapel pin or a key chain dummy round would not be used as a hijack tool. However there is always that excuse that " had to take it because of the rules" Well no one will ever know if I don't turn it in so, I will keep it. This is where the rubber meets the road and officers start to turn bad and do bigger and worse things. Next this officer will be taking a twenty or fifty dollar bill to look the other way while someone gets on the plane with a real weapon and the desire to hijack it.
I know that the wrong signal is being sent by our government leaders and others in attempting to make those who travel by air feel safer. The fact is, most are feeling picked on and harassed because 99.9% of them are honest citizens and don't need the hassle of being searched and delayed to travel by air. No one wants to be searched by a police officer or to have that officer steal from them. What this officer did was theft. He used the fear and intimidation of his badge and uniform to steal, as well as using the atmosphere surrounding air travel security as his excuse.
We must demand more from our law enforcement people and we must demand that our government stop this stupid slid down the old slippery slope of violating the Constitution, as well as spending our money to do it. Air travel can be safe and it doesn't take harassing every passenger to do it. Simply allow Americans to exercise the right to keep and bear arms, end of problem.
I hope the Reno Police Department does everything possible to locate the offending officer and discipline him. A good start would be to have Retired Detective Ron Willis identify this person.
God Bless America.
Michael E. Cook,
Coos County Sheriff, Retired.
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/05/08/sheriff.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
Mudge the thinker
(No, I don't have a lisp.)
I can't come to work today. The voices said, STAY HOME AND CLEAN THE GUNS!
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
No way in hell can I condone a law enforcement officer stealing from someone. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I've always felt that a law enforcement officer has to be conscious of his actions both on duty and off. I live in a smaller town, and people who I have no idea who they are, know who I am and what I do. It's going to be difficult to go out and raise hell on my days off, then come back to work and expect locals to "respect my authority for I are a cop". Things just don't work that way in my mind.
I'm a county law enforcement officer in Texas. I'm pro-gun and anti-big government. I know that in many parts of this country things are different than here, but I have never considered my part of the world a "police state", or me a "warden of the people". I do my damnedest not to violate the rights of anyone I come across. In today's society, more than ever before, I have to be conscious of the rights of those I come across.
As far as rights go, the criminal has rights that you and I do not. An incarcerated criminal has the RIGHT to three square meals a day. You and I have to work so we can eat. An incarcerated criminal has the RIGHT to medical and dental care. You and I have to work for the insurance and the out-of-pocket expense so we can be healthy. And yes, the accused criminal has the right to free legal representation if he cannot afford it. In my jail, as we speak, is a man accused of killing a man, wife, their 11 year old niece, and 2 month old baby. The man was shot execution-style in the back of the head, and the wife and niece were apparently shot inside the house. From all evidence, the baby was left alive because he didn't constitute a threat to the suspect. The house was set on fire, and the wife, niece, and baby burned up inside. The case against the suspect is about as iron-clad as it can get. Do I believe he is guilty? You bet I do. But he gets his day in court because the constitution says he does. This is not a police state where he will be tried before a biased panel of judges, then taken out and hanged when the pre-ordained guilty verdict is read. Am I then to believe he is only guilty because he can't afford a high-priced attorney? I prefer to let the evidence speak for itself and let him be judged by a jury of his peers.
In generalizing all LEO's as criminals, pigs, or "wardens of the people", one is committing the same stereotyping behavior as those in all the anti-gun forums we read. In reading the anti-gun forums, we learn that we are all fanatical, criminally minded, anti-establishment neo-nazis. I think I could make a reasonable assumption that is not true of the vast majority of those who like, own, buy, and sell firearms. Sure, there are LEO's who don't belong in the profession. I know a few who fit into that category myself. There are also doctors, plumbers, auto mechanics, teachers, etc., etc., who don't belong in their professions. LEO's are like religious figures in the media. You hear about the few that are criminals, but those who are honest and upright and do their jobs to the best of their abilities you hear nothing about.
Should that officer have taken the gentleman's lapel pin? Not on your life. But rest assured that I, my co-workers, and my friends from other departments are not your wardens and are not preparing the whips to lead anyone to slaughter or to the salt mines. If we arrest you, it will be because we have probable cause to do so. If I saw a co-worker of mine in that situation would I have confronted him? You bet I would. I, too, would be mad as hell.
Let's just not be guilty of the same sterotyping and generalizations as those we consider to be our enemies, and enemies of the Constitution.
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....