Justifiably Proud

If you earn a Distinguished Flying Cross in an AC-130A, you are officially awesome.  The person driving this van makes it cooler to live here, because they also live here.

Tough Morning, Chief?

I said a prayer, and I hope you will as well. Austin Police Chief Acevedo must have been having a rough morning early this morning.

First there was an officer-involved shooting. One of his men had to* chase down a fleeing suspect and ended up shooting the dude DRT when he went for the officer's gun. Nelson Lender and his racist-hate-mongering finger pointing act swung into action immediately because the decedent was dark brown.

Then there was an officer-involved shooting. One of his men responded to drunk guy wandering around WalMart and the dude shot the cop in the neck, fatally wounding him. The murderer was caught on film and then caught, tackled, and disarmed by some heroic soon-to-be-ex WalMart employees. Nelson Lender probably just can't find a microphone to talk about this incident. Or something.

And all this before the first pot of coffee. Yikes.

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*Yes, he did too have to chase the sweet innocent choir boy down. We still don't know why the traffic stop was initiated, but we do know that somebody in the car bolted. The sworn duty of a policeman is to enforce the law, right? That's his job - somebody is breaking the law and an officer MUST go after him. Yes, that is the way. No, you can't just let them run off. That's how you have dead hostages, guns tossed into drainage culverts, drugs ditched, and stolen cars turning into more stolen cars. A cop HAS TO give chase. That's his JOB. The report is that the cop tackled the fleeing suspect and his taser failed to deploy so there was another chase and another fight. Reaching for the gun of a uniformed policeman during a fight you initiated is the same thing as shooting your own silly brains out, as far as the cop being right or wrong goes.

You wouldn't know it from the kneejerk reaction in public defense of the dead by Nelson Lender, but the APD actually has a record of shooting people to death much less than other cities the size of Austin.

Yeah, No, I Still Wanna Be A Cop.

My Darling Wife is watching some movei where four police went to catch two Goblins. Involved were a crack ho walking out of an open door where two suspects were known to be hiding (problem) an attic search (nightmare) and a foot chase complete with the rookie getting lost because of not knowing the streets.

She said she's glad I decided not to do it. I told her I hadn't decided not to do it (but I did take the hint). But I still want in. Dangit. Well, I guess we'll see what happens.

One thing is for sure: the Police have few supporters as fast as me. If I had spare money and time, I'd spend it making their lives easier and/or safer if I could . . . but I don't.

New Fellow Gets Good Advice: Yet Another Plug for Pain Free

There was a guest speaker at my church tonight. At the start of his speech, he mentioned getting backaches, shoulderaches, etc. Knowing what I do, I started looking at him to see if he was off-balance. Sure enough, his left shoulder was riding a good couple of inches lower than the right side.

I asked him if he would get pains on one side of his back after exertion. Yes, he says. I asked if it were from an injury and he described a marginal parachute jump with more time than he liked with a cigar-shaped parachute, with a "sack-O-potatoes" style landing. He preaches in the way-back down in Mexico and there are no chiropractic practitioners there, but he will be pain free for a while after getting straightened-out when he comes to the States. Pete Egoscue says "a pain free, active lifestyle is the way you should expect to feel and live." Pain Free is JUST the ticket for this guy. I gave him the Cliff's Notes and he seemed very interested.

If you hurt, and you read books, you should read this book. Seriously.

No, It's Not So Hot

Borepatch reminds us there are worse things than walking from your air-conditioned car to your air-conditioned home in shorts and a t-shirt in 106º heat . . . for instance, wearing a pair of tall boots, a pair of long pants, an undershirt, a long-sleeve shirt, a 40lbs vest, 60lbs of gear and humping 10lbs of rifle, while running at full-speed in the middle of a firefight, in 122º heat.

Next time you see somebody in uniform, thank them for their service. They earned it.

Private Citizen vs. Civilian

It could be that government schools are failing us in this also, but I think *sometimes* it evinces an "us vs. them" mindset. There is a fire in Central Texas that injured two people (as of this afternoon): a firefighter and a sumdood. Earlier in the day on a the radio they called the sumdood a "civilian." The reporter I heard on the way home used a phrase which was a pleasant surprise to hear: "private citizen."

Policemen, firefighters, & EMTs, however militaristic they may be, are not military. They are citizens - public citizens. To an extent, they are not their own persons. Military personnel are effectively not citizens. They literally live by a different set of rules and are NOT at liberty to do as they please. A COP might be fired or suspended for not going to work - a solider can go to JAIL. In some particularly unpleasant circumstances, a soldier can be shot dead right there with no trial or appeals or nothing, just for refusing to do his duty. THAT is military. The opposite of military is civilian. The counterpart of Police is not civilian; the counterpart of Police is Private Citizen.

The only people who are able to call "all else" civilians are military people. Not your "only ones" in city-purchased wannaBDUs.

It is not proper, convenient verbal shorthand. It is both wrong and offensive.

Oh, Finally. Army Abandons Dumbass Berets.

SRSLY?


image source VA Mortgage Center

These stupid hats were coming on the scene as I was separating from military service, so I have only seen a few of them on the odd Soldier I see at the grocery store parking lot or wherever. I have ALWAYS thought this was one of the stupidest uniform directives EVAR. The army spent a decade telling people their berets were on crooked, and finally they got somebody with some [deleted] sense in the top slot and they're going back to patrol caps. My commentary when I saw Mike mention the story:

VFD: Oh, finally.
Darling Wife: What?
VFD: The Army is finally abandoning the beret in favor of the patrol cap
DW: Oh, good.

You know who should wear berets? Army Special Forces men should wear them, and they should not be black. Frenchmen wear black berets. Soldiers on duty in uniform should wear the patrol cap or a helmet, as the situation requires. Preferably and a sidearm, but that may have to wait until I'm the Commander in Chief.



image source: Qwiki

FINALLY Austin Police Testing On-Officer Cameras

I hope they find them as useful as I think they will, and that the Austin Police Department ends up buying a camera to fit on every single officer in the field. SXSW as a testing venue was sheer genius. BZ to whoever thought that one up. Honorable mention goes to Chief Acevedo, who says he wants to hold off buying the cameras until they only cost a hand, vs. an arm and a leg, each.

If I am a Policeman acting in good faith, I want a camera to back me up when a defendant brings in a lawyer whose hourly rate is my weekly rate. If I am an innocent falsely accused, I want that COP rolling film constantly. If I am a drunk ass in a fight or a race hustler trying to put a protection racket together, not so much.

This is a positive good. Too bad it comes when Austin is totally out of money.

-1 Soldier. R.I.P. MAJ Winters.

The world is a poorer place today. A man among men has died.

R.I.P.

Police Shoot Another Dog. Good.

A fuss is being made. A family says it is like losing their child. Here's VFD's off-the-cuff take on the latest COP-shoots-dog story being reported on the radio news:

Family has labrador retriever off-leash in the front yard, with an electric fence to restrain the dog.

No signs announce the presence of the fence.

Said dog has the habit of barking and charging when anyone comes around

A warrant needed to be served. This is a duty of the Police and a requirement for a stable society.

The person to be served no longer lived there, but the COP didn't know that.

COP approaches, and is charged by a bigass barking dog.

BANG

Family is on charges for having the dog off-leash

Family is all upset that their like-a-child-who-has-an-electronic-restraint dog is now dead

Officer Dave says: if your bigass barking dog is charging at me, and I don't see any restraint on it (leash, chain, etc) then your dog is about to be a bigass dead dog. Sorry. Oh, and here's a warrant for your arrest, which is why I came around in the first place.

If it's a little yip-dog, I might consider OC spray instead, but a big dog is a mindless killing machine until proved otherwise. It's up to responsible dog owners to restrain their dogs out of the house.

Come on VFD, a mindless killing machine? A frikken LAB?!

If you have a strong stomach, click this here. Much like a person with a knife, a dog can inflict up to and including deadly wounds on as little as zero notice. As in the case of a person with a knife, an officer is under no obligation to suffer bodily harm himself before eliminating an imminent threat to his own or someone else's well-being. Nobody told him the dog was going to stop short, roll over on his back, and wag his tail. If you've got over 40lbs of this coming at you, it's a deadly threat, regardless of how the dog's master or the local residents feel about the matter after the fact. Based on what I know at the moment, this was a Good Shoot.

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I'm a certified dog lover. I don't recall a time when my family didn't have at least one dog, from six to a hundred and six pounds. I have dogs. LB has and loves dogs also, but when I told him about this story, he said that sometimes a COP has to send 'em back to Hell. NP is convinced he could fight off a dog. He admitted to never having play-rassled (let alone actually fought) with a dog, but that was obvious when he started talking about fighting one off. You can't fight off a full grown dog, and you shouldn't be expected to try, if one appears to be attacking and you've got a little friend handy.

Happy Christmas

Last night my brother the EMT came by the Christmas party. For 10 minutes; then he and his partner went back to their station. If you know someone who is a Policeman Fireman, or rides with an ambulance crew, thank them.

Whether you know such a person or not, today of all days you ought to be thanking Jesus for putting off his place at the right hand of the Father to be born as a lowly little man. Now THAT is a public service!

Quote of The Day 10/09/2007

"I have a special place in my heart for drunk drivers. It's called jail." -Officer "Smith"

This quote and the associated post sum up my feelings about drunk drivers quite nicely. Having read ALL of the Officer "Smith" stuff right back to his first post, I now quietly add him to my blogroll under the "When I have extra time" category. Recommended.

What Do You Say To A Veteran On Veteran's Day?

Veterans Day is a national holiday, but it is not a "happy" day. It is a day to remember, not to rejoice. Some of the vets you will encounter are not exactly happy about what they had to do. They did it because it needed to be done, and they did not shirk their duty. But when you remember being gory with what used to be your best friend, it is not a "happy" day for you. When you remember being on watch for eight hours after working for eight hours, it is not "happy." When you remember spending a year at sea or in the sand box, it is not "happy."

It's remember. Preferably, remember with gratitude. Somebody asked me what is the appropriate thing to say to a veteran on Veterans Day. He would usually say "Happy Veterans Day" but he always felt weird about it. I told him: say "Thank you."

He said, "Thank you for your service."
I said, "You're welcome."

That's all you need to say. If you want do something nice for a vet, do it. If you can pick up their tab at the restaurant, or mow their grass, or whatever, that's great. But don't "happy" at them. It is not always so happy a thing to be a veteran. Maybe we are happy to be alive, but that is every day not just Veterans Day.

We know what day it is. You don't have to remind us what it's called. Just acknowledge it.

Quote Of The Day, Photo Edition

I LOL'd. Sure it could be the prelude to a good-natured smile. It could also be the beginnings of a grimace right before an armbar gets thrown.

Priceless imagery from Moonbattery.

Texas Veterans' Widows Now Entitled To Benefits.

From the radio news today: The Texas Veterans' Land Board has announced the spouses (read: wives) of servicemen killed in the GWOT are entitled to benefits just the same as their Husbands would have been, had they not been killed.

Good.

Disabled Veterans in TX to Get Reduced/Waived Toll Fees?

I switched on the idiot box, and the county commissioner's court was having a hearing. Apparently there is an effort well underway to get free or reduced toll fees automatically applied to cars with Disabled Veterans', Purple Heart, and Medal of Honor license plates.

I say go for it. If the CTRMA board approves, it could happen as soon as September. If somebody is gimpy or a certified hero from their time in the military service of our country, they deserve a few bennies. Let's have a waiver of toll road fees be one of them.

Now if we could get property and sales tax waivers also that would be really something!

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ETA: If I were on some low or mid-level political functionary body, I would go insane. Blah blah blah blah blah blah all day long? No thanks. Everyone is on board with this idea and still it's blah blah blah blah blah. Ugh.

Here;s To You, Mister Safety/Revenue Officer Guy!

Reeeeal Men of Geeeenius!

The Austin Police Department has announced an 18-month progrm of enhanced enforcement of the law, and I for one think it is brilliant. There is a very strong negative reaction from some of the citizenry, to whom I can only retort: "Then why don't you slow the [deleted] down in a construction zone!?"

The idea is to put APD officers in construction zones, dressed up as construction workers (and yes, the Village People jokes are rife) with a radar gun on a tripod as if it were a surveying instrument. Some [deleted] goes blasting through the construction zone -as they do every day- and the plainclothes officer calls ahead to his buddy who then issues a citation for speeding. Make that, speeding in a construction zone with workers present, for a DOUBLE fine. At the pilot location, tickets were issuing at a rate of 15/hour. So let's see: a $150/ticket * 2 for a construction zone * 15/hr * 4hrs of rush-hour = a nice little benefit for the city's $10M+ lacking budget.

Jeff Ward was quick to decry it as pointless the first day, because after all, who would know until it was too late? People are going to speed anyway, right?

Yes but (and remember that "yes but" means "no") if for a YEAR AND A HALF people around town are made to think that a construction zone = double fine tickets because there might be a COP there, people will be MUCH less-inclined to speed in construction zones. The safety of construction workers being a nice side-benefit to the enforcement of the law, I fail to see how this is a bad thing. Sure you will have to go slower. Leave earlier already - this includes me, by the way, with a stupid 45-in-a-60-zone construction zone for several MILES of my commute. I'll deal with it, and so will thousands of Austinites, by getting into the habit of slowing down in construction zones. Then I hope, when the year and a half are over, we will all have a safe new habit to live with.

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But it puts the officers at increased risk!

You mean the officers who routinely walk around parked patrol and citizen/suspect cars in traffic every day? The ones who just might catch a bullet for saying "good morning ma'am" when a window rolls down? Those officers? Risk is part of being a police officer, and this is only a different type.

1.5 Mile Kill Shots. Two of Them!

Craig Harrison, a Corporal of the Household Cavalry, and his driver/spotter Trooper Cliff O’Farrell, both should get free drinks for life. TWO one-shot kills at 8,120 feet. At that range, even the mighty .338 Lapua is dropping like a stone, and to land two back to back kills is a feat of arms indeed. Just because he wanted to show off what an absolute shooting machine he is, Corporal Harrison went on to shoot (to disable) the rifle the two mooj's were using, which drew his attention to them in the first place.

Accuracy International (who produced the rifle used for these shots) had the modesty to admit that luck is a big part of shooting at this range. I'm going to say sure, luck to get perfect weather, and luck to be a human mannequin who can stay still enough to make THREE such shots. Thank God that such men are on our side!

Contact Shots and DARs: Things to Think About

I'd heard of officer-mounted video cameras before and I think they're a good idea if small/unobtrusive enough that they don't interfere with normal locomotion. What I hadn't really given much thought to is a supplemental digital audio recorder. I mean, the officer can key up a hot-mic on his radio and he has a recorder in his car, right? Well let me tell you, I've heard with my own ears what happens when an officer's arm or (fill in the blank) is blocking the radio mic: no audio recording.

Assuming your radio mic is in a different location than your DAR, this is a huge bonus when the feces has hit the impeller and Internal Affairs would like to know what, exactly, was going on when it happened. A personal digital audio recorder should be on your person if you are on patrol.

Also something I had almost-thought about: contact shots (shots fired when your gun is actually touching the target). Most pistols won't fire out of battery, and pushing a pistol into a Bad Guy during a struggle (or having him pull it in to himself, or if he lands on top of you with the gun pointing into him) might just render a pistol unable to fire. I think the Springfield XD has a protruding guide rod for the recoil spring, so it's harder to push it out of battery against a Goblin, but it could still happen. I hadn't gotten any further in my thinking than "gee, that would suck if you needed to make a shot just then" but the people who think about use-of-force for a living figured it out for us. You push that puppy back into battery. It works and it won't destroy your non-firing hand to do it, as shown in the short, worthwhile video, here.

In case you didn't click through, both of those links are to Spartan Cops. If you are in law enforcement or are some other type of person who may have to use force on another person, you should be picking up what they are laying down, at least every once in a while.

BREAKING NEWS! FIRST RESPONDERS ON SCENE!

A car has been pulled over! Details pending anything actually happening. Film at 11!

Hat tip to Moonbattery