HJL,
After reading this article, I was
terribly, terribly incensed at SFPD/OPD. I am a former law enforcement officer
from Southern California, and I now work in insurance, handling claims from the
Bay Area. Stories like these are unfortunately very common (except for the
heroic and dynamic recovery by the author). Hit and run, non-injury accidents,
vandalism, and theft from vehicles are basically ignored. My professional
advise is not to bother with calling the police unless a suspect is known. The
fact that I have to give that advise upsets me to no end.
It’s not hard to have good police;
it’s really not. I’m from a medium-sized sheriff’s office that took every
traffic accident on city streets, took basically any report you wanted,
responded to every call, and would come to you to take the report. On top of
all this, we maintained a very safe county and had the public’s respect.
I fail to understand why Oakland PD,
SFPD, and their counterparts have just “given up”. They have the money, they
have the resources, yet they simply choose not to police well. They ignore the
minor quality of life stuff that adds up to big crime later on. I’m just
baffled that they don’t bother to even try. The police in these places now are
mainly just enforcing the status quo and interested in only major crimes or
serious emergencies.
Living in Las Vegas now, our last
sheriff chose to stop responding to minor traffic accidents because of cost
reasons, but really it was retaliation for not approving his sales tax
increase. My point is that it’s a choice of the police executives to, frankly,
stink at policing. New York, under Mayor Guliani, cleaned up pretty well (to an
extreme) by a conscious choice to improve policing.
Good for our intrepid author for
taking the law into his own hands, and it’s a shame he couldn’t be armed to
protect himself. My advice as a former cop and insurance adjuster: don’t bother
with lame police departments. Again, I’ll reiterate: it’s not hard to have good
police; it’s really not.
The worst part is that a lot of cops
feel “sold out” by their departments who do this kind of non-sense. It’s easy
for them to get burned out and stop caring.
I guess working in customer service
gave me a new perspective what you can do for people and how going the extra
mile really does change stuff. Cops are in such a good position to be great
ambassadors and a wonderful resource for the public, but bad leadership, poor
policies, and “that’s not my job” syndrome hampers it. Or maybe the fault is
mine; I should have worked for an agency that shot more dogs and unarmed
suspects. Silly me and my high expectations! Signed, – G.C.
XXXX Adds: Judging by the responses SurvivalBlog received, I think
it’s also important to point out a couple of things as well. As the great
pistol masters have often opined in their teaching for concealed carry,
awareness of your surroundings is critically important. We tend to think that
that simple pane of glass is a security deterrent, but it only keeps honest
people out, not the real criminals. Think of it as more of a suggestion than a
deterrent. We shouldn’t place valuables within sight, and we should be more
observant of our surroundings. It’s also important to point out that chasing
down the perpetrator is a personal decision. Some people run out of a building
on fire, and some of us run into them. If you are not comfortable chasing the
perp down and reasonably confident of your safety, let it go. Your life is
worth more than a couple thousand dollars.
From the Survival Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment