GUNS ( Part 5: Interacting with the Police )

Interacting with the Police

So let’s review:  We’ve established that stressful, violent encounters with a firearm result in a significant degradation in motor skills to the point that the police record a hit rate on the assailants of something on the order of 6.5%.  Abysmal.  And the media, essentially the propaganda arm of the democrat party, supports defunding the police as a solution to the narrative that the police are disproportionately shooting people of color, despite the fact that people of color are disproportionately engaged in a greater percentage of crime, specifically violent crime. So let me get this straight: we have concluded that the police need more training, so the solution is to defund them, so they are stretched thinner and unable to fund more training?  Or perhaps we should take a more pragmatic approach and seek to lessen the number of violent encounters people of color have with police officers.  But that would require a fundamental change in the behavior of the citizen.  Here’s something novel:  how about when stopped by a police officer, you do what you’re told?  Radical thinking, I know. Regardless of the perception that people of color are being disproportionately accosted by law enforcement, it seems to me, and this is based on a review of body cam footage from the recent shootings, that complying with the officer, even if that compliance means getting cuffed and hauled down to the local precinct, results in a much higher rate of survival.  Duh.  And come on, all of us have had negative encounters with law enforcement, most often in the dreaded “speed trap” when the 75 MPH speed limit is suddenly reduced to 45MPH, seemingly for no other apparent reason than to entrap you and line the local coffers. And for some reason, the vast majority of State Police officers all treat you like you’re public enemy number one, their wife left them, their dog died, their shorts are too tight and it’s all your fault.  And besides, they have to wear those funny hats. And despite being a model citizen and being treated like dirt by officer cranky-pants, why haven’t I been shot? Because I complied and followed the officers instructions.  Shocking, I know.  I had a friend who was a senior surgeon, faculty at a large southern teaching hospital.  He was stereotypically, in what would be considered a racist description these days, Mexican in appearance, as if he was the villain in a Clint Eastwood western.  Thick, black, slicked-back hair, an enormous moustache that obscured his upper lip, dark complected and with a heavy accent to go with it.  Amusing, self-effacing, smart and affable. He was pulled over for a speeding violation on his way to work.  When asked for his license and registration, it suddenly occurred to him that the documents were in his glove box, inconveniently nestled next to his .357 revolver.  Uh-oh.  So he informed the officer with a chuckle, of the location of his papers and the legally owned firearm, and asked how he wished to proceed.  After backup arrived on the scene, most of the hospital staff and a few of his residents witnessed him cuffed and sprawled on the hood of his car while officers searched his vehicle. He was late to work, arriving unscathed, with a speeding ticket as a souvenir of his encounter.  Why wasn’t he shot or beaten?  Because he complied with the officer’s instructions.  He suffered some embarrassment, was probably profiled to a degree, but he lived to tell the tale. Life is full of choices.  You have the option of being a good citizen, of following the law.  The other option will result in an increased possibility of encounters with law enforcement.  So which should we, as a society chose? Law and order? Or the dismantling of our security to favor those that choose to ignore the rule of law? Not to go all Vulcan on you but “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”