I’d like to thank William G. Baker for taking the time to enlighten us (Return Fire, March 2014). For several years I bumped heads with others over this BS called “political correctness.” No one was ever able to tell me where it came from, but now I know.

Administrators, legal buffs and the media have been using this premise to hide behind for too long. While the top administrators scold us for profiling and claim cases may get thrown out of court, or we may get sued, every cop knows profiling is not a dirty word. It’s officer survival. We need to turn the clock back to the days of common sense.
Sgt. Greg F. Oldziej (ret.)
Via e-mail

William G. Baker is right on with his views although he doesn’t go quite far enough. The Big Lie principle is also in effect. A lie is repeated over and over by people in positions of power or influence to affect a program of their choosing. This is repeated until accepted by an unknowing audience as a truth. Adolph Hitler’s Propaganda Minister in Nazi Germany, Dr. Joseph Goebbels is the poster child for this principle and it’s what led to the Holocaust. It worked well then and still does today. Think about it and our present news media.
Terence G. Marion (US Army ret.)
Wyoming, Mich.

Mixed Feelings

I just finished reading the March 2014 issue and the article, “Of Citizens And Civilians” left me partly intrigued and partly infuriated. Before I decide how I feel I have to know, who is this Mike Wood? Is he a cop, philosophy professor, lawyer, journalist or a combination thereof?
Miguel Fleming
Via E-mail

Mike is the son of a 30-year veteran CHP officer. He’s also an Air Force pilot with over 550 combat hours in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He’s a real thinker and staunch supporter of law enforcement. His article is intended to provoke self-evaluation and get us out of the “what’s good for me isn’t necessarily good for the general public” mentality. Most of us have been guilty of this mindset. SH

Holy Crap!

About those brain-dead searches in Texas and New Mexico, (“America’s Not-So-Funniest Cop Bloopers,” Vantage Point, Feb. 2014), holy crap! I’ve been a cop and prosecutor in two states, and there’s no doubt in my mind at all, those bastards belong in jail. In Texas, the same basic thing has been done twice, meaning the Good Idea Fairy struck en mass. How can anyone even consider that lawful, or ethical — or even a good idea? I don’t know if you noticed this, but in at least one of the Texas searches, it’s been alleged the female officer did cavity searches (two) on each woman, without changing gloves between the four cavities. Holy crap!
Doug Mitchell
Via E-mail

Suzi, your rant lacks any substance. I would hope the modern educated officer is well aware we do not do roadside strip searches or body cavity searches. However, your “newsflash” comment about K9s could not be more inaccurate. A well-trained police dog’s alert is consistently reliable and is why the courts have considered their alerts to be probable cause. Brush up on all of your facts before ranting.
Mac
Via E-mail

Even if I were to agree dogs never make mistakes, which I don’t, open your eyes to the bigger picture. If a dog alerts and a search of the car produces nothing, just how much dope do you suppose could’ve been crammed up the guy’s butt to justify a body cavity search? Is that small amount of dope worth the invasive intrusion into his body? Is it worth the expense? Oh wait, they sent him the $6,000 bill for their half-baked idea. I can tell you the answer to both of these questions is “hell no.” They (the city of Deming and Hidalgo County, New Mexico) immediately settled their portion ($1.6 million) of a lawsuit filed by the man who was subjected to these atrocities.

This kind of conduct is inexcusable. K9s are trained to alert on smells and can even pick up on old smells. It’s up to the humans involved to then use their brains. In these cases it doesn’t appear many of those involved actually used their brains. You can’t fix stupid and you sure as hell can’t justify it either. SH

Virtue Of Backups

Roy’s article was excellent (“Are You An Idiot? Well … Are You?” From The Publisher, March 2014). As a sergeant and a lieutenant I’ve preached the virtues of backup weapons — it saved a life a few years ago. I used to have officers show me their backup weapons during inspections and I’d have a meeting with those who didn’t carry them. One officer took the meeting to heart and started carrying one. While assigned as a school resource officer, a mentally deranged high school student who shouldn’t have even been at the school — but was allowed on the campus because of the liberal policies of the school administrators — came up behind the officer and hit him across the back of the head with a baseball bat. The officer went down and as the student started to swing again, he tried to slide out of the way. Sliding across the ground caused his magazine release button to disengage his magazine, rendering his weapon useless. Then, as the kid went for the kill, the officer grabbed his backup gun from his ankle holster and shot — killing the suspect. When I spoke to the officer after the shooting, he thanked me for insisting on carrying backup weapons.
Lt. Mike Doyle
Fresno PD, Calif.

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