First, let me say that despite my various incarcerations at the hands of an unjust justice system, I have respect for the work done by LEOs. My brother was one for years.
However, I have noticed a trend since 9/11 (it may have been going on before that) for law enforcement personnel to compare themselves to the military, to "borrow" terminology, to use military equipment and weapons, etc. It has reached the point where I, perhaps overly sensitively, seem to detect a chip on the shoulder of many. They appear to be overly justifying the work they do when on joint boards. Without need as far as I'm concerned.
I have heard them call each other and themselves "Operators", their ops "Special Ops", etc. The latest I heard is LESOM (Law Enforcement Special Operations Medic). This is the name some wish to give the paramedics that work with SWAT teams on raids, etc.
I really don't understand this sudden need to paramilitarize law enforcement. I never called myself a SWAT guy. I also think it is very, very dangerous path to go down, especially if it is coming from within.
There is a reason for such laws as Posse Comitatus and many have seen first hand the effects of deviating from a separation of responsibilitites. My personal opinion is that policies such as having FBI personnel overseas is detrimental to their actual mission. There are training missions overseas that I think should be done by LEO, the military in many cases doesn't have the expertise in the subject matter, personal protection comes to mind. (Yes, I know some military personnel have dones it, but its not core business.)
During Operation Promote Liberty (nation building in Panama) we were assigned a reservist from the LA County Sheriff's Department to "assist us". The idea was to convert the PDF into police. We obviously didn't know the first thing about policing skills, so the planned seemd valid.
Now, this young man was a fine citizen. Hispanic decent with decent language skills, years of experience working in the LA County jail. Nice guy too. He also had no lesson plans or any idea of how to do them or a POI, no instructor skills, etc. So he sat around for a month or two while we did the work. I don't blame the individual, he simply didn't have the mind set to do the job.
Another case is the death and wounding of the Robin Sage guys. I don't know all the details, but there is a problem there. We've been working that area non-stop since 1952. There's no excuse.
I rode with my brother on I 10 just out of Houston numerous times. That doesn't qualify me as LEO, but as I said to him, it gives me enough of a basis to make the statement "No way in hell I would ever do things the way they do." In his case, ongoing training was non-existent. Weapons maintenance, non-existent, intelligence - non-existent, language skills in a primarily Hispanic area - non-existent. I know everybody's experiences will be different, and I'm really not generalizing. Just looking for discussion.
Anyway, I just thought I'd throw that out there and see if there were any comments.
ATTICA! ATTICA!
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