[TheeBadOne]

SWAT team

There's a new team working out at Spinney Field, where the Bengals used to practice futility. They wear blue and white, not orange and black, and they're undefeated this year: 32 wins, no losses.

Since the Bengals moved out, Spinney Field has been home to the Cincinnati Police Academy and the SWAT Team - the elite Delta Force of the police army. And just like the soldiers in Iraq, these guys are real heroes.

They play for keeps.

In a classroom where the Bengals studied game films, the cops practice "shooting'' an armed suspect on a movie screen with infrared guns in a simulated traffic stop.

Next door, a beat cop is working in a squad car simulator that's a cross between NASA training wheels and a game at Dave & Buster's. As he chases a red pickup, an SUV suddenly darts out from a blind corner and a crash spreads spider-webbed glass all over the simulated windshield.

Always on call

The SWAT team has been called out 32 times in 2003 - on pace to break last year's record of 111 calls. Before the riots, in 2000, there were just 78 calls. Only 39 the year before that.

When things get so bad the cops need to dial 911, they call the SWAT Team. If risk factors such as guns and violence reach a critical number on a point scale, SWAT officers are paged. They drop what they're doing wherever they are, to suit up and knock down a door in a bunkered crack house full of guns, ammo and dopeheads, or wade into who-knows-what white-knuckle situation.

Sometimes there are children behind the barricaded doors. Or attack dogs. Or all of the above.

SWAT members don't get much attention - except when they get unfairly painted as reckless Rambos with badges.

Two years ago, near the end of the riots, a SWAT team was ordered to clear an intersection and fired non-lethal beanbags into a crowd of protesters that refused to disperse. You'd think it was a police version of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

The Justice Department found no wrongdoing. But the city paid jackpots to the out-of-town protesters anyway. Come to Cincinnati. Break the law. Win big money.

The cops were not so lucky.

The truth prevails

The feds threatened the cops with prison and disgrace if they didn't roll over on their friends and admit it was some kind of racist conspiracy. Legal bills ate up their kids' college funds or pushed them deep into debt.

They didn't crack. They all stuck to the truth, and the feds left town in a foul cloud of lame excuses.

Now, nearly two years later, the city has finally paid the six cops $75,671 for their legal expenses. "It's like my life was on hold for two years,'' one of them said.

On St. Patrick's Day at their rowdy SWAT dinner, the best of Cincinnati's finest - men and women who would lay down their lives in a heartbeat for any of us - stood to toast and cheer the "beanbag six."

The Marine Corps of CPD is still undefeated.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/03/28/loc_bronson28.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh, come in to work....on your time off....in the middle of the night...or a wedding.....and, uh, you're on your own if things go south? Isn't the city's refusal to go good on the indemnity outrageous?

[Pilgrim]

A fellow I know was a sheriff's sergeant who shot and killed a fellow who had shot up the town with an AK series rifle. A couple of sheriff's cars had bullet holes from this shooter's AK. Because the deceased was a member of an "oppressed" American minority, enough stink was raised by the NAACP that the FBI got involved.

The sheriff's sergeant said it is a really scary and spooky feeling to be sitting across the table from FBI agents and have them read to you your Miranda rights when you know you haven't done anything wrong.

Pilgrim

[rock jock]

Politicians who cave to blackmail ought to be tried as co-conspirators. Don't these weasels have any backbone?

BTW, kudos to the SWAT members.

[TheeBadOne]

Politicians who cave to blackmail ought to be tried as co-conspirators. Don't these weasels have any backbone?
rockjock, I think we all know the answer to that... :scrutiny:

[Don Galt]

You know, cops would get more respect if they acted more respectable.

In Seattle, during the WTO, the cops covered their badges, making them anonymous. What do they have to hide? Well, we now know-- they assaulted hundreds of innocent people-- I'm not talking about the protestors, I'm talking about people walking nearby, or trying to get away from the protests. Not to mention the fact that the protestors in seattle were peaceably assembled, as is legal in this country.

And what has come of it? Nothing. Not one cop charged, let alone put in jail. This despite CNN showing them stopping two art students who were in their car, driving home, and then filling the car with pepper spray... a clearcut case of assault.

But its hard to charge the cop when, even if you can see thru the pepper spray, his badge is covered.

When cops start obeying the law more often than not, then they will get respect from people like me-- people who actually believe in the constitution.

[Standing Wolf]

Don't these weasels have any backbone?

If they had spines and guts, they wouldn't be leftist dupes in the oft-cited "first place."

[TheeBadOne]

Pilgrim Sounds like a fine old time... :fire:

[rock jock]

Not to mention the fact that the protestors in seattle were peaceably assembled, as is legal in this country.
Don, I distinctly remember those protestors being pretty destructive and violent.

[Gewehr98]

that the militarization, and glamourization of said militarization, of civilian police forces hasn't gone full swing, when there's stuff like this in print?

The Marine Corps of CPD is still undefeated. :what:

And, while waging war on fellow Americans:

- the elite Delta Force of the police army. And just like the soldiers in Iraq, these guys are real heroes. :barf:

Coming up next, the White House names a new cabinet-level "czar" for the next big campaign, the War on Sedition.

Maybe civilian law enforcement should fall under the Department of Defense next. :(

[Bob Wright]

Comparing a SWAT team from a medium-sized city to the Delta Force or the Marine Corps is ridiculous.

It's kind of like calling a Pee Wee League football player a Pro Bowler.

[TheeBadOne]

Well, the writer may have taken creative writing to a new level, but it's his words, no one elses.

[Orthonym]

Riots are scary. Angry people in crowds don't act normal. I used to know one guy a little bit, a USAF Capt, who'd (involuntarily) taken part in a riot back in 1948. (It started as a peaceful protest against one of the Talmadges "occupying" the Governor's office in Ga).


He said he had no memory of what happened between the troopers arriving at the Capitol and finding himself back at Ga. Tech, out of breath. That's a couple or three miles!


I'm afraid that sometimes the popo in charge of quelling the riot get a leetle bit infected by the mob vibes, pheromones, whatchacallit....and get too excited as well.

That said, I believe there was at least one person in that Seattle business who decided to ignore the whole thing and just go to work. He heard there was tear gas about, so he wore his gas mask. The story I read said he was accosted by rude policemen who were right mean to him before he was allowed to go on his way , WITHOUT the mask! I'd be interested to know how that came out; sounds like armed robbery under color of authority to me. I've never seen anything about it after the first account; I guess he wasn't rowdy and leftish enough for the mainstream media to pay attention to him.

[Don Galt]

Don, I distinctly remember those protestors being pretty destructive and violent.


Then you remember what never was and never happened.

A few kids broke windows at about 9am for the TV cameras. They quickly were stopped. Then for the next three days the cops rioted while protesters were trying to get away.

You believe what you want to believe because the truth is too difficult to accept--- it disproves your faith.

[Don Galt]

That said, I believe there was at least one person in that Seattle business who decided to ignore the whole thing and just go to work. He heard there was tear gas about, so he wore his gas mask. The story I read said he was accosted by rude policemen who were right mean to him before he was allowed to go on his way , WITHOUT the mask! I'd be interested to know how that came out; sounds like armed robbery under color of authority to me. I've never seen anything about it after the first account; I guess he wasn't rowdy and leftish enough for the mainstream media to pay attention to him.


There are a lot of stories like that from that day... a common tactic for cops is to heard people in a specific direction towards a line of cops who say the direction is closed and then start attacking them (with pepper spray and battons). I saw this at the Republican National Convention in Houston. And it happened in Seattle as well.

A couple weeks prior to WTO, I encountered about 50 cops practicing aggressive, attack oriented moves in the streets of downtown. Since I didn't know WTO was meating or that there would be protests I didn't know what it was.... but clearly these cops were preparing for the initiation of force, not defense.

Its a stone cold fact that cops here assaulted people-- there is video and numerous testimony.

But since the cops had no identifying marks-- no badges or badge numbers anywhere-- they have gotten away with it.

Thus, as far as I'm concenred, every cop in seattle is a criminal-- either they committed the crime, or they didn't turn in their friends who did. (Course we knew that, you can't be a cop without enforcing illegal gun and drug laws, so therefore they all violate their oath to the constitution and are criminals.)

[Augustwest]

every cop in seattle is a criminal
And all the sinners, saints :D


JMO, but the militarization of cops is cause for concern. CATO's had some good pieces on the issue including the one at this link (PDF file):

Paramilitarism (http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp50.pdf)

[TheeBadOne]

And all the sinners, saints :D
LMAOhttp://smilies.crowd9.com/contrib/blackeye/lol.gif

[Don Galt]

Course not, the criminals are criminals. I just wish our cops were honest enough that we could have confidence in them.

[dustind]

I am surprised no one was armed, I am armed even in my home and when I go for a jog in the park. I would not dream of going some place like a protest unarmed. I would also probably wear full body armor, leather, moto-x, something. If the protestors started breaking the law, I would leave, if I was assaulted by anyone I would defend myself, while leaving. We need a do not tread on me smiley.

If the police were assaulting people why do fellow police officers stand by them? If that is true they are one of the worst forms of criminals, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault/battery (is that the right charge?) is a serious offence.

[Orthonym]

I am reminded of someone I used to hang out with. This woman told of leading an anti-Vietnam-war demonstration and insisting (righteously, I believe) to a policeman who blocked her path that she and her fellows had a right and and a police permit to proceed where they were going. According to her, the cop's answer was a dose of Mace in the face.

Fast-forward a few years. When I met her she was working for the IRS and making excuses for not telling the public about all of the Treasury regs governing taxpayer relations, because only govt employees needed to know such. (As I remember) To give her due credit ( she answered the phone at the information and help number) she said that she told people who complained about the tax laws to write their Congresscritters, rather than do what her bosses wanted: Turn'em in to the CID.


The point? The anti-govt person turned into a pro-govt person once she started cashing the paycheck and internalizing the bad meme!

[BluesBear]

So Don,

Where exactly were you during the WTO bruhaha? At home watching it on KOMO or KING or KIRO? Because all of your "facts" seems to parallel the media.

[Teufelhunden]

In Seattle, during the WTO, the cops covered their badges, making them anonymous. What do they have to hide?

I'm not familiar with the events that transpired between protestors and cops in Seattle during the WTO, but elsewhere on my side of the country, I've seen a couple (and heard of a few more) of cops have a really rough time for a few months because they legitmately arrested someone who felt that they were arrested too enthusiatically.

Scenario:
Cop gives a lawful command to comeone who is breaking the law and informs them they are under arrest. Person decides 'The hell with you pig!' and resists arrest. Cop applies necessary force to protect the offender and himself from further harm. Three days later (and after talking to his attorney) arrestee claims the cop beat him during the arrest. Cop now has months of mental anguish and financial strain clearing his good nameso he can go back to serving his community.

Consider that masking the badges might have been an amateur (but evidently effective) way of keeping your name off of some spiteful protestor's list when he decides to make up bed-time stories...

Chicken or the egg? Do protestors name any cop they can identify because they've been beaten in the past, or do cops mask badges because they want to stay off a hit-list?

-Teuf

[TheeBadOne]

Chicken or the egg? Do protestors name any cop they can identify because they've been beaten in the past, or do cops mask badges because they want to stay off a hit-list?
Good point. When it comes to protests (no matter the cause) that is one of their tools, bog the system down with complaints. If name tag covering really was going on this could certainly be one reason for it.

[BluesBear]

Covering the badges was done because in the recent past, in Seattle, several officers had been accused of deeds in which they were no where near the area. It's very hard to read a badge number from more than a few feet away. At anything more than arms length 8 turns ino 3, 4 turns into 9, etc.

The reason that name badges were covered up is, that at the same time, there was an internet list showing ALL of the area police officers including their SS# and HOME telephone numbers.

Do you want some political wacko calling your house and scaring the hell out of your wife/husband and kids?

[Sergeant Bob]

Do protestors name any cop they can identify because they've been beaten in the past, or do cops mask badges because they want to stay off a hit-list?
If cops are allowed to cover their badges and nametags, how are people with legitimate complaints able to file a complaint? Should the rights of the innocent be trampled because of something that "might" happen to a cop? Maybe the cops should just wear dark tinted or reflectorized face shields for a more complete storm trooper image.

[Teufelhunden]

Should the rights of the innocent be trampled because of something that "might" happen to a cop?

Cops are citizens too. Is persecuting them on the say-so of some protestor not also a trampling of 'the rights of the innocent'?

I don't advocate covering identifying marks at all times, but when they're going into a situation where they have been falsely accused in the past, I can't blame them for this bit of CYA.

Considering cops usually get paid in the mid $20k/year range, they can't really afford to spend a whole lot of time (or money) on suspension or in legal wrangling over something they had nothing to do with, covering your badge number seems to be cheap insurance.

-Teuf

[Sergeant Bob]

If you're being thumped in the head in the name of the law, you have a right to know who's doing the thumping.

[Don Galt]

:banghead: