NOT A JOB FOR SISSIES

‘Why do the police ….. immediately shoot in no-knock raids, even when breaking into the wrong house? You stormtroopers are given the go-ahead to run amok, trampling roughshod over the basic human rights granted to the citizenry by the constitution.’ That’s what some pot head wrote in response to my ‘Law Enforcement for Pedophilia’ (6-22-11) post.

Contrary to what the dopers believe, the cops do not shoot – immediately or otherwise – unless some asshole is perceived as being an imminent threat to the lives of police officers. And cops do not run amok, trampling roughshod over people’s basic human rights. Stormtroopers? What rubbish!

Police involved shootings are really few and far between. When they do occur they always make headlines and may thus appear to be the norm rather than the exception. What is so sad is not that the police kill someone from time to time, but that more and more assholes – including drug users –think it’s open season on cops.

It takes real courage to be a cop. Law enforcement is not a job for sissies.

LAPD OFFICERS DEALING WITH RISE IN ATTACKS
By C.J. Lin

Los Angeles Daily News
June 28, 2011

Echoing a national trend, attacks on police officers in Los Angeles are spiking dramatically this year, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday.

Assaults on officers are up 42 percent from the same period last year, bringing the total to 97 attacks, Beck said. Officer involved shootings are up by 40 percent.

Among the attacks was the shooting of Officer Steve Jenkins, a K-9 handler who survived being shot in the jaw and shoulder on April 4 by a domestic violence suspect in Sylmar, sending police into a daylong standoff before the suspect was killed.

Jenkins was released from the hospital after three weeks of surgery and recovery.

The year 2010 was one of the deadliest on record for law enforcement deaths nationwide, with 162 officers killed in the line of duty, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

The number - which includes traffic accidents and shootings - was a 40 percent spike from 2009, when 117 officers were killed, and the first increase after a two-year decline in officer fatalities.

Shooting deaths were up 24 percent, from 49 deaths in 2009 to 61 in 2010.

So far in 2011, 92 officers have lost their lives across the U.S., with 39 killed by gunfire, according to the NLEOMF.

Meanwhile, violent and property crime rates in L.A. continue to reflect a falling national trend, with homicides down 8 percent and robberies down 12 percent, according to Beck.