Another terrible day for Law Enforcement Officers no doubt. . There is plenty wrong in this country that is in need of correction. . I would like to see the clock turned backwards 50 years or more. Others would disagree I am sure. Obviously that is not possible. I don't know how to get where we need to go without bloodshed. Nothing seems to change except for the worse. . Saw this in the news tonight. . Deputy shot and killed in Arizona PHOENIX (AP) — A sheriff's deputy was shot and killed while answering a burglary call in the north Phoenix community of Anthem early Sunday, and other deputies shot the suspect, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. Deputy William Coleman, 50, and his partner found a suspect in a van with a pit bull dog at a medical building at about 4 a.m., Arpaio said. The man got out of the van and opened fire with a rifle, striking Coleman under his bulletproof vest. The deputy was taken to a hospital but doctors could not save him. It isn't clear if Coleman was able to return fire, but other deputies eventually shot and killed the suspect, Arpaio said. The dog was calm and was taken to a sheriff's animal shelter. Arpaio said investigators were trying to figure out why the 40-year-old man opened fire. "We're trying to determine his identity, his background, to see if he has warrants or was involved in other criminal activity," Arpaio said. "I want to see who and what his background is, what caused him to come out shooting." Coleman was a 20-year veteran. He is survived by a wife and two young children, ages 4 and 7, Arpaio said. He also has grown children in another state. Coleman was assigned as a patrol deputy but had previously worked the sheriff's lake patrol unit. Last year was one of the deadliest in recent history for law enforcement officers, with 173 killed in the line of duty as of Dec. 28, a 13 percent increase from 2010, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Of those, 68 federal, state and local officers were killed by gunfire in 2011, a 15 percent jump from the year before. "There seems to be a war on cops across the nation, and here in Arizona," Arpaio said Sunday.
That last line pisses me off. The only war on cops is the war being waged against them by the courts who fail to follow through on the work of the officers.
When they stopped make it prison and turned into a country club is when the criminals started to think they could get away with murder .The courts have let the police officer down in so many way it's not funny . JMHO!!!!
It has been a steady change over the past few years we have gone from being the protectors of the community to targets for the criminals. You know it dont bother me that I could at anytime protecting the citizens of the county I have grown to love and call home. The citizen I set and have breakfast with every morning in the mom and pop diner listening to the stories of the week I call friends. What does bother me is when some $h!t bag kills a officer the courts act as if it is part of the job. Then they act as if the criminal was the victim. What about the officer's wife and child ate community? This world has become waste land no morals, no pride in ones self, no right or wrong, no honor or shame. t
Alpha Dog I got a few more years in the game than you and I am sorry that you think they used to think we had value. We have always been expendable to the powers that be. I almost liked it better when I was ignored instead of THANKING ME FOR MY SERVICE. We are something that they don't like and are angry that they have to pay for. Go out do good and forget the rest. You will know in your heart when you made a difference and that is all that matters. I have developed such a loathing for the system that when they had me fill out my killed in the line of duty info I wrote that there was to be no state funeral and that they could not use my name or likeness for any public event.
Who are you referring to when you say "they" and "the powers that be"? It's a bit confusing to me if you are referring to government, courts or the public. From where I sit, it appears that ever since Rodney King, the proliferation of video recording devices and easy distribution of video via YouTube has been almost exponentially highlighting abuse of power misconduct by some LEOs and it's only natural for this to lead to an erosion of respect for the profession amongst the public. It doesn't help matters that some LEOs are increasingly targeting citizens who record events. The "thin blue line" in protecting LEOs who are involved in blatantly obvious cases of abuse (as judged by the court of public opinion) are only serving to paint all LEOs with the same brush. I'm not meaning to upset you guys, just relating an outside observer's POV.
As with all things those who don't do it don't have the time to really come to understand it. Very little of the sound bite video shows the whole taped event. This is what the jury see's in court, which is why the officers in the Rodney King incident were found not guilty by a state jury and then tried in federal court for civil rights violations, because there was a riot caused by the not guilty. The court of public opinion is made up of the same sheep we are all amazed by. I was a Ca LEO when that incident happened. Went to the riot's in SF as that is were I was stationed. Why were there riot's in SF cause the sheep were told to by the man in the box. If you look at the video there are a bunch of baton strikes that do not connect. This is a trained tactic. King was on drugs and failed to comply and submit to lawful arrest. Is all he had to do was what he was told and none of that would have happened. How can I prove that, there were 2 people with him who were no touched. The LAPD officer followed their training and policy, was the policy off yes, they used force very quickly, that was how they were trained and were told by the city attorneys and academy staff that this was legal and proper procedure. In the end the King incident is a great example of the working cop being expendable in many diferent ways. The other point here is we are all fooled daily by people who have degree's in how to manipulate us thru our emotions. They don't care about the truth they care about sales or a political belief ect.
Living in a fairly small town I have to say that few people here hate LEO's and those that do usually do so because they have something to fear. Usually getting busted. I would imagine as a whole that the LEO population is like any other. You have really bad ones and really good ones. Then you have the rest.
That was a good assessment in the past now we have the I want to do the job,(most times a good cop) the I want a job (a more recent thing with the economy) and the power hungry/bully/thief. In most cases we all want rid of the last and a good number of the second. We have one where I work now that the chief is trying to get rid of but it is tuff. The employees do have rights and civil service exists due to the actions of managers in the past.
When "non Rotarians" (what Newt calls some folks) have no respect for their own lives how can we expect them to respect other's lives.
