1) Neighborhood Police Patrols: As many metropolitan police forces have found themselves at times stretched to the limit, many suburban and urban neighborhoods have taken a smarter approach, and that is, hiring (for a reasonable annual fee per resident) private neighborhood patrols and in some cases employing off-duty officers. The result so far has been beneficial in reduced crime and the police being able to give themselves to some weightier cases that require more attention. A number of Atlanta neighborhoods for example are adopting this novel approach, one story HERE Another instance in NYC (see this NY Times article) illustrated clearly the need and the prevalence of neighborhood and community policing. There are some that are worried about some private patrols exceeding their rightful bounds (see this Washington Post article), but I tell you, I'd rather have them a little overzealous than leave an area vulnerable to dangerous criminals.2) Reclaiming Our Second Amendment Rights:
Amendment II
Right to bear arms
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
For FAR too long, liberals have been hell-bent on a misguided notion that somehow eliminating the right to own guns will eliminate crime and violence. It's plenty obvious to anyone with half a mind that it just ain't so. One of the best deterrents to crime is an armed citizenry. OK, I also know that NOT EVERYONE should have firearms, either because of prior criminal activity and/or mental illness, but it can be VERY well documented from many sources that a quick thinking responsible citizen in posession of a firearm may well have prevented a major tragedy.
Click HERE for a list and a number of true accounts of this.
I for one believe it's high time we started not only fighting back against the liberal assault on our constitutional rights (and I'm also including the wimpy liberal Republicans in my disdain) but also, we need to start fighting back at the criminal element as well. Simply put, we don't need to get tough on crime, WE NEED TO GET MEAN AS HELL WITH CRIME AND CRIMINALS! We need to strike back with a clear indication that their destructive actions, parasitic lifestyle and terrorizing innocent people will carry a VERY HEAVY price tag, up to and including their very lives. Yes, you read right, I think we need to start putting more of these punks in a pine box! We need to untie the hands of our police and allow them to do their jobs, and stop punishing/criminalizing them when they take out some punk who kills, rapes, robs and steals. They should be getting medals for this! Personally, I think we need to have more "Harry Callahan's" on every police force that aren't reticent to use necessary deadly force to stop crime and save lives. No, I'm not advocating people being trigger-happy (it'd be a sad day for us if people started getting executed for parking tickets), but I am saying we DO need to fight back at the violent/psychotic/destructive type of criminals that have become more prevalent. Personally, I believe the following crimes should carry the death penalty:
- Murder
- Rape
- Kidnapping
- Armed Robbery
- Production/Distribution of Meth/Coke/Crack/Heroin
- Home Invasion
- Chld Molestation
- Treason
- Membership in a criminal gang, Mafia or terrorist organization.
In short, we've been too afraid of the criminals, now it's time to make them literally scared to death of us.
3) Keeping Our Police Honest: Theres another side to this dilemma, what about the occasional police officers that become the very thing they swore to fight against. Sadly, it does happen, a good cop goes bad, like this sad example of an Atlanta cop who led a double life as a vicious drug-gang leader. Sometimes, the allure of easy money and lots of it becomes too much for some to resist. Sometimes the frustrations of the job can be too much, some are seriously underpaid and underappreciated, and sadly, some just have NO morals and/or capacity to feel remorse. In any case, our police departments always need to keep a VERY watchful eye on their own too.
One very tragic example of a lack of accountability and/or bad leadership happened this past Novermber 2006 in Atlanta. In the Narcotics section, several officers conducted a no-knock drug search that escalated into a violent episode, in which an elderly woman, Kathryn Johnston was shot to death (I guess it didn't help that she pulled out a gun to defend herself). It turns out that the officers involved coerced a drug-dealer/informant to plant drugs in this person's home, lie on their behalf to obtain a warrant. Worse yet, it was all done in the interest of impressing the brass and fulfilling a quota in a system under the incompetent leadership of one police chief Richard Pennington (who by all rights should've been fired). Pennington denied that there was something wrong, but later conducted a purge of the narcotics unit in a desparate attempt at making himself look respactable. Here was an example of why a quota system is a bad idea, namely because, Pennington assumed the absolute worst of his officers (that's REAL good for morale GENIUS!) and imposed the arrest quota system under the assumption that officers would do nothing otherwise. WHAT THE HAAAAAIIILLLLL!!!!?? Well, because of this bit of incompetence and stupidity, a woman lost her life, 2 officers are doing time and the Atlanta PD found itself in great disrepute. Not a good thing. I can only hope that the APD will learn from its bungling and do the right thing by FIRING and/or prosecuting Pennington over this whole mess.
In NO way do I disdain our men and women in blue, I take my hat off to them for willing to be in harms way on our behalf. It's just we need to be more watchful and decisive in dealing with those occasional bad apples.
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