Tuesday, June 24, 2008

RECENT SHOOTINGS

In todays Tribune I read about the outrage by a certin group of "reverends" over recent encounters that our fellow officers have had with armed individuals.
Recent police shootings, coupled with rising violence in some neighborhoods, have added tension to the already frayed relations between community members and authorities this summer, a group of Chicago ministers said Monday.

Spurred by seven shootings by Chicago police in the last two weeks—four of them fatal—the group met Monday morning with the head of the Independent Police Review Authority to complain about the pace of police-shooting investigations.


It makes me sick that these people are given an outlet and we are forever put in a shadow of doubt. I often ask, why call us? Why do we bother? And then I was reminded of something written by Lt. Col. David Grossman (retired,US Army)




Warrior Ethos

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: "Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.
Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there that will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf."


If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, which is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up! Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous
battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.

There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one
hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- From sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

"Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"

"There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men." - Edmund Burke
Here is the point I like to emphasize; especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.


Thank You Lt.Col David Grossman.
Stay safe everyone and to hell with the wolves in sheep's clothing.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

HOOAH, AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY!!!

Anonymous said...

SCS,
How can anyone take an asshole named robinhood seriously???

Anonymous said...

BTW,
How many Sgts come out on July 2,08?

Anonymous said...

BTW,
How many Sgts come out on July 2,08?

Wed Jun 25, 01:02:00 AM



That is pretty easy...the same that went into the school to begin with.

No magical formula or anything - the same in is the same out. They did not drop anyone.

50

Anonymous said...

Lt. Col. David Grossman (retired,US Army) sounds like a wise man.

Anonymous said...

"SCC,

They know who you are and are trying to figure out what to do. Careful.

6/25/2008 10:28:00 PM"


and


"SCC is OFF THE AIR TEMPORARILY!

Someone sicced a robot on us and we've been locked out of our account for "up to four days" until such time as Blogger gets around to making sure we aren't a "Spam Blog."

We are screwed for updates for the time being. We'd apologize, but it isn't our fault.

6/25/2008 10:54:00 PM"



The mayor and his crew of criminals are pissing their pants.

First it was the 2nd Amendment, now it's the 1st Amendment that this petty dictator and his miscreant minions are in the process of shitting all over.

Anonymous said...

FYI,

SCC said...
SCC is OFF THE AIR TEMPORARILY!

Someone sicced a robot on us and we've been locked out of our account for "up to four days" until such time as Blogger gets around to making sure we aren't a "Spam Blog."

We are screwed for updates for the time being. We'd apologize, but it isn't our fault.

6/25/2008 10:53:00 PM

Anonymous said...

The BCC Blog is gone and has been replaced by The County Guy Blog,link is up on SCC already.

Anonymous said...

SCS can you put up an open post in the interim until SCC is back online?

Anonymous said...

Crimefile has an open SCC post on his blog.

Anonymous said...

Phenomenal!! i think i spelled that right! too bad a lot of sheep can't see themselves as such.

Anonymous said...

Why can't cops just wing the bad guys like in the movies? This is what family members of the victims of police shootings want to know?

Anonymous said...

Robin Hood is pure Hibbity Dibbity.

Anonymous said...

Off Topic
###ATTENTION###
To all the P.O's that received their letters in the mail from the FOP regarding the BIS program DO NOT SIGN IT. If you do, it prevents you from seeking any form of compensation in the future. The FOP has some balls entering into an agreement with the city concerning this matter without even consulting the people that were in the program to begin with. Then trying to order the P.O's to agree to it.

Anonymous said...

Evanston, IL

Wilmette Suspends Local Handgun Ban
Wilmette has suspended enforcement of its 19-year-old ordinance banning handgun possession in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that appears to invalidate such bans.

Anonymous said...

76 of us will be coming to the districts on 02 JUL. There were 75 on the list and they added one person the first day of classes. See you soon!

Anonymous said...

We eagerly await the arrival of the new Sgts. to the 25 districts.
We only hope that some of you are ready to do a lot more work than you did at Homan Square.

Anonymous said...

Anyone have the assignments for the new sgts? Also, any word on the Lt's promotions?

Please keep in mind that this is an open blog
that can and is read by people other than Chicago Police Officers.