I have no doubt that it is tough to be a police chief. Your Mayor and city council don’t want you to actually enforce the laws. They vote to take away your ability to use tear gas and rubber bullets, which endangers your officers. You have to sit there and watch the city that you are sworn to protect burn when every fiber of your being scream to get your men out there and make some arrests. But when you do make arrests, you have to see the criminals be let out of jail by prosecutors who have let politics rather than laws decide their cases.
I don’t blame you for wanting to resign, but I say hold tough, make the fire you. Most police chiefs are hired for four or five year terms. They have a contract. Don’t give them an easy way out by resigning.
Instead, do your job and let your officers do theirs. Arrest the criminals. If they don’t allow to use tear gas, then use pepper spray. If they don’t let you use rubber bullets, than issue paintball guns. Allow your officers on riot duty to use their batons on fleshy body parts, like thighs and arms. Leave a bruise the rioter will remember. It may be the only penalty the suffer
Go on the Offensive
The minute you get push back from a politician, go on the offensive. Arrest 10 rioters you arrested before, call a press conference and pose a series of questions on behalf of the citizens in your city. Say, I’d like to know:
- If someone who threw a brick at an officer, or who set a dumber on fire, or who broke a window, or who looted Nike’s from the shoe store is back out on the street a day later, what is going to prevent them from doing it again?
- Why the FBI isn’t arresting criminals who have crossed state lines to come here and commit a crimes?
- Why the governor hasn’t activated the National Guard to stop this destruction?
- Doesn’t the mayor and governor want to protect private property and government property?
- Why our hands are being tied and officers are being endangered and we are not allowed to uphold our oaths?
- Why police are allowed to protect the Mayor’s houses, but not the CVS or the liquor store that were looted?
- What will all the damage do to our budget?
- Why don’t the mayor and city council want to uphold the city ordinances and state laws?
That’s right, call the politicians on their behavior. Make it clear that you were hired to do a job and the politicians are trying to stop you from doing your job. You and the department wants to fight crime, bu you are being told to stand down. Tell them that you are going to uphold the law, because that is what you have sworn to do.
Then remind people what it would look like if there were no police. Tell them how many criminals were arrested and taken off the street last year. Ask them to think about what it would be like without the thin blue line. Encourage citizens to buy guns because “they may be on their own” if the police are defunded or all decide not to show up one day.
Two Choices
Chances are, one of two things will happen: You will get asked to resign, in which case you should refuse and force them to fire you (which leaves open the opportunity to negotiate a large exit package in return for not suing them); the politicians will be pissed but do nothing and not extend your contract, assuming they have not been voted out of office when your term is up.
Either way, you end up ahead of where you would be if you resigned in disgust. That’s a one-day news story, a blip on the radar. Holding a press conference, forcing the city council to meet and debate firing you, and then holding a press conference after you are fired is a multi-day news story that is not easily forgotten.
Politicians Need to Grow a Pair
These protests may start spontaneously, but they continue because they are being co-opted by Marxists who are trying to divide and conquer our country using professional protesters. Read this article for specifics. Many of the politicians, especially those in big cities, have either caved in or were already aligned with these communists. We need the police chiefs to hold the line.
But they need backup, and that means state prosecutors should charges those who are likely to released by local prosecutors. We need Federal officers to arrest and federal prosecutors to try criminals who cross state lines to commit crimes, violate Federal laws, or vandalize Federal property.
Our elected officials need to fight back against these Marxists before the people have to, because that’s an ugly place none of us want to go. If faced with no alternative, I have no doubt people will eventually rise to the occasion, but that will be a sad day for the country and the resulting battles will make what has happened so far pale in comparison.
