WHAT HAPPENED TO LAW AND ORDER?

INTRODUCTION:

Thanks to all that were kind enough to send me emails and messages commenting on how they enjoyed my video blog post on 9/21/20. Blogs are not as popular as they used to be, however, I like them because it provides my readers, and others, the opportunity to get to know me. Not only as a writer, but as a person, which I believe is quite important for a writer. Podcasts are great, and also very interesting, however, at times it is difficult to get a variety of guests, and variety, is the spice of life. Thank you to all that subscribe and support my blog.

Tonight's topic, "What Happened To Law and Order," is a topic of grave importance. Luckily, the majority of people do not need to use the 911 system, and that system is not only in place for when the need for a police officer is required, it is also for any emergency such as fires, medical problems etc. When I was a career firefighter and paramedic, and went into a road supervisor position for a commercial ambulance company, we were required to do a minimum amount of hours at a dispatch counsel. The purpose for this was for the road supervisors to understand not only what the filed first responders had to deal with, but also, what those behind the scenes, the people who answer the 911 phone calls, had to deal with while dispatching the proper units. You would be amazed the things people dial 911 for, especially in an intercity environment such as where I worked, that have nothing to do with any emergency situation.

At the present time, the law enforcement officers and community are taking a huge hit in the media, and by people in general, and, especially by politicians. Face it. It's an election year. To gain a vote, some politicians will NOT stand by their beliefs and go with the flow that they believe potential voters are standing for, regardless of whether it is right or wrong, and trust me, they know the difference. I've dealt with my fair share of them. It's all about getting the votes in an election year.

With the present climate in our society, the theme is to defund and disband the police. Honestly, that thought process is not shared by the as many as it appears. It's really only a select few. The few that fuel the fires and use any and all means to violently protest, loot, burn, and destroy property. The property and businesses of innocent people. We only here about these issues thanks to the media. It's news, and they report it. Therefore, that's all we hear about day after day. However, let's look a bit deeper.

CAUSE AND EFFECT:

Cause and effect is the relation of a cause and its effect. Let me give you an example. If enough people talk about something, the effect would be, that many might believe it to be true. Another effect might be that more people will talk about it, or react to it. This is what is happening now. However, it is not only resulting in one single effect, there are many effects. The worst of which I believe comes from, and is caused, whether from stupidity, ignorance, trying to get votes, or they are just plain stupid, local and state politicians, and in some cases, an entire political party.

I believe that we would all agree that there must be some form of law and order, and to achieve this, we must have law enforcement officers. How do we know this? Well, it's simple math. Crime in many major cities such as New York, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, and many more, has increased at an alarming rate since local government holds back, or has defunded their police departments, and in the case of New York, disbanded an entire street crime unit. Residents of the city are leaving at an alarming rate because they do not feel safe. What was once a vibrant city, full of excitement and opportunity, has turned into a place filled with fear. Add the pandemic into it, and businesses in the New York City are closing and struggling. The state has massage debt. Not all of that debt was caused by the pandemic. This is only one example.

Ladies and gentleman, this is not my opinion, these are facts. In New York, shootings have better than doubled. According to the FBI crime report, 335 murders were reported in Chicago from January to June 2020, a huge increase from the 244 murders tallied during that time period a year ago. Arson in Chicago is up even more: a 52.9% increase from 2019. Aggravated assault and burglary in Chicago are also up over last year. Read the article.

I could go on and on, but you all have heard this on the news for months now. The cause; a group(s) that wants to defund and disband the police. A group by the way, which is driven by the fact that many Afro-American people have been murdered by police officers. However, it seems we never hear that over 93% of violent crimes where a person of color has been murdered in a violent crime, was murdered by a person of color. ARTICLE. Again, facts. I ask you, what does that tell you about their cause?

Let me also tell you some of what I believe adds fuel to this fire of racism. UConn, which is a highly respected college and is known for their woman's basketball team, has a spirit rock that each year a message is painted on. Well, this year Black Lives Matter was written on it, and some students changed it to All Lives Matter. UConn President Thomas Katsoules said in a Twitter post, and I have provided the link to the full article reported by the Chronicle, by Michelle Warren.

"Someday, in an ideal world, maybe all our lives will matter equally, but for far too long, Black lives have suffered discrimination and racism."

He further went on to say,

"I'm sorry to see our Spirit Rock altered as it was today and the insensitivity to that context that it represents. All Lives Matter has become a common response from individuals opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement and it is considered in some circles to be a racist retort."

This entire statement is a matter of opinion, not fact. I support the meaning behind the PEACEFUL faction of the Black Live Matter movement. However, in the grand scheme of things, I believe that All Live Matter. I ask you this. Do all races have to suferr injustice until they catch up to the wrong and social injustice that people of color have endured until we are all evem. Tit for tat?

Is that the answer? Is a colleg President sending the correct message to our younger generation? Anyone with any degree of intelligence knows we cannot change what has been done, and we all know it was wrong. Correcting it now and for the future is what is paramount, and not supporting the theme that all lives matter does not promote that, and it never will. I can respect his statement as it is his opinion, however, I do not have to support it and can equally state I believe he is wrong for making it. I realize what he is trying to say, but his wording was poor at best and in my opinion does NOT promote constructive change.

POLITICIANS:

Politicians and Politics has certainly contributed to the social and domestic issues we face. Have our local, state, and federal political leaders forgotten who they are here to serve? Are they here to serve their agendas, or the needs of the citizens of our great country. Small businesses are suffering tremendously. Small business is what drives our economy, especially on the local level. Some famlies are still unemployedand in desperate need of finanacial assistance, yet, the speaker of the house refuses to pass the parts of the Hero Act that both parties agree upon. Thus, hurting the citizens and small businesses in our great nation. All over personal political agendas. The worst part being, both Democratic and Republican Congressman and women alike, allow it. Everyone blames the President. You cannot blame any President for this, becuase in this regard, the President has little or no power. That is why we have a Congress and a Senate. Therefore, remember that when you vote next time, because these are the politicians that have forgotten who put them there, and why.

These are also the SOME of the same politicians that support debanding, and/or, definding the police departments. This is also part of their personal ppolitical agenda to show empathy for certain groups of people during this election year, in their attempt to gain the extra votes. At times I wonder. Is it the citizens of this great nation that cause our social issues, or is it the politicians that make these decisions at the true root of the problem. This is an election year people. Now is the time to get these people out, and get people in that will do what is best for we the people. As I always said, I am NOT partial nor do I favor the Democrats, or the Republicans. I favor, and will vote, for whomever I feel will do the job keeping the best interest of our citizens, and our country, in mind. Regardless of what party they represent. Keep this in mind when you vote.

TO ANSWER THE QUESTION:

The topic is, WHAT HAPPENED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT? Is any profession perfect? Whenever a human being in involved, the possibility for error exists. People will make mistakes. Regardless of the amount of training, or profession they are in. The medical profession is probably a bit more controlled since in most cases, there is time for checks and balances to come into the equation. However, In my over 30 years in medicine, I have witnessed mistakes when a split second decision had to be made. It is a simple fact of life, and it will always happen. Are there some police officers that should have never become officers that got throught the system? I'm sure there are. Can the training and screening in some areas be improved? Of course it can. Any mistakes that costs a person their life is NOT acceptable. However, that does NOT make every law enforcement officer a bad cop. There are well over 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. SEE THIS LINK.

They all share many things in common. However, at this point in time, the main thing they all share is lack of support, and a fear to do their jobs. Many do not receive support from their local and government politicians and offificals. The worst being some of their own superiors. Image being in a situation where your life is in jeopardy. The extra one or two seconds it takes you to react in a manner to protect your own life can be the factor that costs you to lose your life. In the real world, it's not like TV. Things happen and decisions must be made in a split second or less. This is NOT an excuse, it is reality.

We lose many first responders in the line of duty. However, when you look at the ratio of loss of life to the volume of calls they respond to, exposure, the number is relatively low. Still unacceptable, but thosre are the risks of their profession. Therefore, I ask you, why aren't more first responders, firefighters, or police officers killed in the line of duty? That answer is simple. TRAINING. However, at times, no matter how strong, efficient, or intense the training, lives will be lost. Now add that extra one or two seconds of hesitation into the equation, and the risk go up exponentially. Although not the best analogy, how many times have you been driving your car. Something happens where you need to make a split second decision. You react and cause and accident, hit another car or a pole, or a deer runs out in front of your car. In a split second you have to decide what to do. You react. Afterwards, you look back and say, "If I had only done ...." You realize you made the wrong choice. In these examples, your life may not have been in jeopardy, yet, you still made the wrong choice.

In that split second, you had to make a choice. You did, and hoped it was the correct one. Now, intensify that moment by making it a life or death situation. Deosn't that change how you looked at it? We have all seen TV specials where a civilain is put into a senario that a police officer faces. In almost every one I have seen, they have shot the victim and the victim never had a gun or weapon. Understandably, a police officer is trained much better, but I can tell you from exact expereince. In a dark alley at night, all you can make out is a person, and cannot see anything else, it is scary as hell. Many of calls I responded to for a possible medical problem when I had to walk down that dark alley to look for a shooting victim, no police on scene yet, being alone with my partner, and someone jumps out. Your heart skips not one, not two, but many beats. The moral being, until you are in that situation, you can never really understand it.

IN CLOSING:

I worked the streets for over 30 years as a paramedic and firefighter. I know thousands of law enforcement officers from various different agencies in the state and cities I worked in. I have seen situations go from controllable to bad in a split second, and a split second later, get even worse. Does all of this mean we should condone or defend the actions of a bad cop? No, never. However, it does mean we must understand the conditions they work in, and yet, if they make the wrong choice, that does NOT mean every law enforcement officer is bad. It shows us we need to institute change. Possibly the screening methods, training, etc.

People are so concerned about their taxes going up, but maybe we need to go back to the days where every police vehicle is staffed with two officers. Or would you prefer to have a bad situation going on in your house and an officer arrives but just sits outside in their car until more officers arrive? We cannot increase our training or have enough officers to do the job by taking funding away. The math simply doesn;t add it, so you must decide how you want it. In the case of Mr. Floyd, that was clearly not a split second choice. Those cases are totally a different situation, and should eb dealt with according, by the law, which does apply to all.

However, it does NOT mean that we take away from them. It does NOT mean we do not allow them to do their job, which is to protect and serve, or attempt to kill them while they are sitting in their patrol car.

It does NOT mean, we create laws that further cause increased risk to their lives, and it does NOT mean we do longer support them. It is NOT an excuse to riot, burn things, destroyu things, or hurt innocent people. That is NOT peaceful protest. That is criminal. Shame on any politician that uses these difficult times in our society to take the opportunity to get votes by defunding or disbanding law enforcement officers in any way. Let's take your security details away, let you go out in the public with the same protection as everyone else and see how you feel. The world is filled by too many people who sit behind a desk and make decision that the luxury that the everyday citizsen does not have.

To all the mayors and governors in the states that want to defund or disband poice departments. Get off you rear ends and spend a few shifts without your security detail along riding in a sqaud car in a police uniform, and repond to some of the calls an officer responds to. After seven days and nights of that in the streets of Chicago, New York, and others, tell me then how you feel. Yes, Black Lives Matter, and a movement that supports that happening is fine, but let me say again, ALL LIVES MATTER. In an effort to institute change, we are hindering the ability of our men and women in blue to do their jobs. Jobs they choose to do. Insitute change. It is needed, but intitute it properly, not by increasing the danger to these men and women, and the public to which they serve.

Thank you ... Caesar Rondina

Check out my new private investigator series coming in 2020.

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