They are human and we can rest assured that they will make mistakes but even those mistakes are very, very, rarely made from any negligent or criminal intent. Recently Dallas Police Officer Rene Villanueva shot and killed 31 year old Derrick Jones, an African-American. The local media reported that Jones, who was unarmed, 6’2” tall and 240 pounds had struck another vehicle with his Mercedes and then fled the scene. This literally occurred right in front of the police officer.

    Officer Villanueva tried to pull Jones’ vehicle over and after a brief chase during which two other African-American passengers in Jones’ vehicle bailed out of the still moving Mercedes, Jones then ran into a chain link fence. Officer Villanueva still alone at this point, exited his vehicle as Jones exits his and begins punching the much smaller officer. Officer Villanueva stated that he was struck 3 times before drawing his weapon and shooting Jones at very close range. According to the media report Jones died as a result of his wound.

   The news report went on to state that “community activists,” including one so called Reverend Jones had produced an “eyewitness” who claimed that he saw Officer Villanueva order Jones to “back away” and then shot Jones in cold blood. It should be mentioned that the good Reverend Jones was also African-American, as were a group of men which the news report indicated were also “community activists.” The news report (you can watch it yourself at this link, http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=135_1222783395), then showed the officers dash cam recording of the incident, stating that the Dallas Police Department had already shown the video to those “community activists” and Jones’ family. Despite the video evidence refuting the good reverends so called “eye witness” the “community activists” still insisted that the shooting was not justified and even suggested that the police had altered the video evidence.

   The reporter went on to state that Officer Villanueva was on investigative leave and it was only at the very end of the news report that the viewer is advised that an autopsy of Jones revealed the presence of PCP present in his system. What’s wrong with this picture? A young, healthy, 6’2”, 240 pound Jones, who had already shown a wanton disregard for the laws of his land and the welfare of the person whose car he had struck, or anyone else on the road that fateful night, and who had then physically attacked a lone police officer much smaller than himself, and who was under the influence of PCP; was the victim of police brutality?

   Since when do any of the actions of this man fall into the classification of “victim?” What of the victimization of the person whose car Jones struck? What of the victimization of Officer Villanueva? He was trying to do his job and it is extremely unlikely that he went to work that evening hoping to kill another human being. Taking another human beings life is never an easy decision and regardless of the investigations and any potential future criminal or civil trials results, Officer Villanueva will have to live with his decision for the rest of his life. He didn’t just shoot and kill some drugged up and violent criminal that evening. He killed someone’s son, brother, friend, and possibly even some children’s father.

   One of the uncomfortable realities of law enforcement that I suspect most young police recruits learn early on in their careers is that every person they arrest is some innocents loved one. The arrested will often lose their jobs which may lead to their inability to provide for their loved ones as well as themselves. I also suspect that every young police recruit also comes to the same conclusion that it is ultimately the criminal’s responsibility not to commit crimes and if they do it is the law enforcement officer’s job to arrest them and turn them over to the criminal justice system. Failure to do any differently by law enforcement would quickly lead to social disorder and chaos.

   Obviously this is only one of many incidents occurring around America on just about any given day. They don’t usually result in a loss of life but when they do the vast majority of persons killed by American law enforcement were certainly no “victims.” Yet it is the rare exception of police making a tragic mistake and using deadly force where it was patently unnecessary. When was the last time you had to engage in hand-to-hand combat with an opponent not only much bigger and younger than yourself, but one who also happened to be under the influence of PCP? So what if he is “unarmed”? When did our liberal politicians, judges, and “community activists” come to believe that the only time a person has the right to exercise our right to defend our loved ones or our own lives is when our attackers are armed with a knife or a gun? Deadly force is generally defined as any attack that a reasonable and prudent person would believe imminently constitutes a serious threat to their very life, or the life of another, from serious bodily injury or death. None of these laws state that “deadly force” can only be achieved through the use of a weapon, nor would it make sense that a person can only use a firearm to deliver deadly force to their attacker AFTER they have been seriously injured, maimed, or crippled.

   Try putting yourself in the officer’s shoes. You have a tazer, pepper spray, a night stick and a gun. You are alone, its dark, and you can’t count on any good citizens rushing to your aid. In fact you are aware that the odds are much better that other individuals like the 2 subjects that had already jumped out of Jones’ car just seconds before the final confrontation, are more likely to try to aid the suspect you are trying to arrest. And let’s not forget that this is not just a one time event, but that you have to be able to cope with incidents like this on a potentially common basis for the next 20 years or so. Let’s not forget that police officers are people too, and as such they tend to have families to support and children to help raise.

   Is it really so difficult to understand why law enforcement agencies are having an increasingly difficult time in attracting enough young people, let alone enough qualified young people, to the law enforcement career? Increasingly our younger generations have less and less respect for authority in general, let alone law enforcement officers in particular. So why would anyone want to take on the stress and dangers of a law enforcement career for crappy pay, long hours of tedious boredom followed by moments of sheer terror; all for a society increasingly disrespectful and distrustful of the best of each generation? The men and women who choose to serve their society for meager pay and even more meager thanks.

   We are often bombarded by the liberal Hollywood view of our law enforcement professionals. Denzel Washington received his first Academy Award for the movie Training Day. A movie in which he played a homicidal criminal masquerading as a cop. It is amazing how many Hollywood awards have been issued during its more recent history to whores and rogue cops. Think about it for a moment. Hollywood cops tend to fall into one of two categories. Either corrupt or the Dirty Harry types. Neither type is the norm but good luck convincing many young movie goers on that point.

   Now think on this for a moment. Every one of those 800,000 law enforcement officers gets tired of being their society’s whipping boys and girls. They get tired of the ridiculous claims of victimization by our nations predators. Become fed up with the ridiculous and frivolous law suits where they are frequently required to prove their innocence instead of the other way round. Lets just think for a moment of a time in our not to distant future where there wasn’t anyone stupid enough to take on the most thankless job in the country, that of the American law enforcement officer.

   Now let’s think on what our world would look like without these magnificent men and women serving our society on a daily basis. Its not to difficult to picture, as we have ample examples around the world today in far away places like Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan; and the not so distant, like Mexico.

   Of course none of us really think that will happen because instinctively we understand that just as there must be predators among us, there have always been the champions and defenders, or warriors, among us. God help us if ever the day should dawn when our society has driven off our warriors for some liberal, multicultural and politically correct make believe world where we have convinced ourselves that if we can all just make nice and get along, why the predators will just leave us alone. If we force our warriors out we will only be left with the predators who by their very definition can feel no compassion for their prey.   

   The thing that worries me, the thing that should worry us all, is that we may not be so far from that scenario as we might like to think. In just the past 2 years a number of law enforcement warriors have been charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison for crimes that were clearly anything but criminal. More often our warriors run afoul of the multicultural-politically correct crowd and find themselves sued and fired. More and more we see, what we are told, are just “average” American’s, supposedly people like you and me, not only failing to comply with the lawful orders of law enforcement, but actively assaulting them with both our words and our fists.

   I am not talking about persons caught red-handed in the commission of a felonious crime but people pulled over for driving without their seatbelts, or going 10 miles over the posted speed limit. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b8b_1209233457 will take you to a great example of exactly what I mean. If Americans think they have it tough right now with the economic melt down just try and imagine our society with out any honorable men and women, our warriors, who take on the responsibilities of an incredibly tough and vital job. The recent Oakland BART shooting death is another example of a horrible mistake made during but a second’s lack of attention.

   As other “community activists” and protestors engage in social unrest, destroy the property of innocents, and demand “justice” in a case that should be clearly one for the justice system to adjudicate, does anyone really believe that officer intentionally drew his firearm and shot a handcuffed and prone subject in the back in front of dozens of witnesses? That officer can clearly be seen reacting in shock and disbelief at what he had just done. His lack of focus and judgment on that day was certainly wrong. I personally don’t believe he realized he had drawn his duty sidearm, but that he was intending to draw and use his Taser. Nor do I believe that he should be convicted of anything less than manslaughter, but I certainly don’t believe that he had intended to draw his gun and kill that young man. I also believe that our law enforcement officials should be held to a higher standard than that of the rest of society.

   In the BART shooting death the officer had no reason to even draw his Taser as the subject was already handcuffed and there were other officers on scene to assist. This was another great example of cops trying to use a “less-lethal” technology like the Taser when they should have simply used their numbers and appropriate training to have gone hands on. I also believe that one of the reasons our police are so quick to go to these high-tech and “less lethal” tools is the constant and very real threat of law suits. Of course when they use these "less than lethal" tools like the taser they and the city/county/state they work for gets sued anyway. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

   When two young punks walked into the Columbine High School, the local police did what they were trained and disciplined to do. They set up a cordon, contained the situation and awaited the arrival of the SWAT team and hostage negotiators. The fact that these two young killers weren’t looking to talk, but wanted to run up the highest possible body count possible before taking their own lives, was an alien concept at that time. What could have possibly prevented police officers from storming the building after hearing the repeated screams for help and mercy, followed by gunshot after gunshot? The ridiculous and often frivolous law suits from the past two or three decades, was certainly a contributing factor. Our police became almost parallelized from the very threat of law suits and so they had attempted to refrain from going “hands on” and taking any “direct action,” even where such actions were not only called for but often the only way to resolve the situation.

   At what point does the criminal become responsible for his own actions? Despite Hollywood’s portrayals, I don’t know of a single instance where someone was forced to commit a crime. That’s not to say that such an event may have never happened, but that it would be even more unlikely than winning the state lotto, or being struck by lightening inside your home. When a criminal sets out to commit a criminal act and then finds themselves confronted by police, it is the criminal who decides the end result of that encounter. When a person pulls a gun, knife, or any potential weapon on you, we have to understand that they have just thrown out any “rules” of conduct, and we must believe that they intend to use the weapon which they produced, and to act accordingly.

   I hope that the next time you see a police officer you would try giving them a friendly smile and wave. And if you happen to be pulled over some day for a simple traffic infraction or offense, I would hope you would try being very cooperative and even friendly to the officer. Keep your hands where they can see them at all times and let them know you understand that they are just doing their job in correcting your mistake, and even letting them know how much you appreciate all that they do for your community. What do you have to lose? Why, you might even just get off with a warning, but if you are sincere in your appreciation, it will certainly make that officers day, and what would be wrong with that?