Savannah cops posing as delivery drivers in hopes of catching criminals in the act. Or at least making them think twice before robbing someone.
Navies have used “Q-ships,” vessels that look like merchant ships but are well-armed with concealed weaponry, to lure enemy submarines into attacking. Then the guns come out and the predator becomes the prey. Though the actual results of Q-ships in action weren’t stellar, the principle is sound and it’s a solid tactic in deterring attack.
The same thing can be said for defense of cops working to deceive would-be pizza delivery robbers. They’ll no doubt make robbers take the time to be sure of their target, which can help legit targets get out of the danger zone before things go bad. And maybe the cops will even nab a robber or two. That’s great, for what it’s worth.
But overall, the results are likely to be minor. Worth the effort, but not a solution.
I haven’t had a chance to weigh in on the story that British police armed with automatic weapons will be assigned to permanent routine foot patrol, so head over to Kevin Baker’s.
They’ve had very strict gun control for over a decade. They are on an island. And they cannot stop criminals from getting guns despite disarming every law-abiding citizen they could track down.
In August, a man shot two people to death on a bridge near San Francisco. At the moment of the killings, two on-duty Marin County sheriff’s deputies were within 100 yards of the shooter. One was close enough to see the muzzle blast of the shotgun. The police officers, however, did not move against the culprit. One, stuck in traffic, called in a description of the killer’s vehicle as he fled. The other positioned her car to prevent traffic from entering the crime scene.
These two law-enforcement officers did what police officers tell the public to do: Don’t intervene. Get a description of the offender. Call the police. Be a good witness.
Much debate ensued about whether the officers’ behavior was appropriate, but the real tragedy is that the victims of this rampage did not have the legal opportunity to arm themselves. To them, the message was clear: Be a good victim.
“May Issue” can be better than “No Issue”, but it’s a compromise that can work against the God-given and Constitutionally-guaranteed right to bear arms. Sheriff Robert Doyle in Marin County requires applicants to demonstrate “extreme need” before he’ll okay a permit. That’s like forcing drivers to demonstrate that they’re going to be in a traffic accident before the government allows them to put on their seat belts.
Rittgers writes about the District of Columbia and concealed carry, adding:
Tom Palmer (disclosure: Tom is my colleague at the Cato Institute), once used a handgun to deter a mob of violent aggressors who were yelling death threats at him. Tom’s right, and the right of any other citizen, to arm himself should not be subject to approval by a civil servant who will not be present to protect them.
Criticism leveled at he Marin sheriffs for the August incident may not be warranted. Though close, they may not really have been able to do anything.
Smith & Wesson Corp., the legendary 157-year old firearms maker, announced today that the Washington State Patrol (WSP) has selected firearms from the company’s Military & Police (M&P) Pistol Series for duty use. The Smith & Wesson M&P40, which is made in the United States, will be issued to each officer of the Washington State Patrol to replace firearms supplied by a European-based manufacturer that had previously served as the primary duty sidearm. The Washington State Patrol has ordered 1,400 M&P40 pistols.
It should be clear that Murdoc is strongly opposed to the anarchists and so-called “progressives” that show up to demonstrate at things like the G20 Summit or the deployment of a Stryker brigade. The majority of these people appear to be idiots.
But a number of disturbing images, videos, and witness accounts have come out of Pittsburgh, as well as from similar high-stakes political events in recent years, that reveal the disquieting ease with which authorities are willing to crush dissent—and at the very sorts of events where the right to dissent is the entire purpose of protecting free speech. That is, events where influential policymakers meet to make high-level decisions with far-reaching consequences.
I’ve got no beef with quasi-military tactical teams when they’re used for things that require quasi-military tactical teams. But it sure seems like we see far too many camouflaged cops with automatic weapons doing things that ordinary cops in ordinary police department uniforms could and should be doing.
And, honestly, if the anarchist jackasses aren’t causing actual harm and breaking actual laws, the requirements for even ordinary cops should be less than we often seem to see. (via Instapundit)
A large port-wine birthmark on the face of an alleged criminal will not be allowed to be used to help identify him in Britain because it it is too distinctive and makes the list of possible suspects too small.
When the witness is shown the line-up, everyone in it will have to cover half of their faces to conceal a birthmark or the lack of one.
If I put this in a screenplay, it would be dismissed as unbelievable. (via Hell in a Handbasket)
A few days back I posted a YouTube of a Pittsburgh protester being snatch and grabbed by some clowns in BDUs and dismissed it as a poorly-produced hoax:
I’d had a few comments and emails claiming it was for real, but I hadn’t been able to find anything derfinitive online until a reader sent Murdoc a heads up:
Statement from G-20 Joint Information Center to College Politico: The individuals involved in the 9/24/2009 arrest which has appeared online are law enforcement officers from a multi-agency tactical response team assigned to the security operations for the G20. It is not unusual for tactical team members to wear camouflaged fatigues. The type of fatigues the officers wear designates their unit affiliation. Prior to the arrest, the officers observed this subject vandalizing a local business. Due to the hostile nature of the crowd, officer safety and the safety of the person under arrest, the subject was immediately removed from the area.
So these are guys from a G-20 “tactical response team.” Personally, given the shennanigans that these anarchists pull at every G-20 and WTO meeting, maybe they really do need a “tactical response team.” But to arrest a vandal by nabbing him in broad daylight? They just recruited a thousand more protesters for the next meeting.
Suddenly, everyone who should be dismissing these protesters as the anarchist goons that they are has reason to despise the authorities the goons are fighting.
But it wasn’t the military or even the local PD.
I’d be curious to know who mans this “tactical response team.” Guys that couldn’t get in at Blackwater and DynCorp?
UPDATE: These were “law enforcement officers from a multi-agency tactical response team assigned to the security operations for the G20″, so they WERE cops. My mistake despite it being spelled out clearly in the excerpt I posted.
Which leaves me wondering why they looked such a shambles, why their uniforms had virtually nothing at all let alone LEO insignia or department ID, and exactly why they needed apparent SWAT types to pick up an idiot anarchist vandal in the first place.
Police in Philadelphia say a white officer who came to work with cornrows was ordered by a black superior to get a haircut because the braids violated department standards.
The Philadelphia Daily News reported Monday that Officer Thomas Strain was put on desk duty this month because of the braids, even though the paper reported dozens of black officers wear cornrows [Emphasis Murdoc's].
No, not a big thing in the grand scheme of things. But it doesn’t sound right.
