Topic: Looking for candid LEO comments

[sfetter]

I have respected and admired the police in my community all my life.  Certainly there are bad apples and sometimes even more than just one questionable LEO.

But as we all know, things are changing at an alarming rate.  My respect for LEOs is being challenged more every day by what I see around this country.  More and More average citizens rights are being trampled.  Much in this area has to do with the effort to remove guns from law abiding people. 

I try to keep as up to date as I can, and in most cases we hear about what a Local police force or county sheriff is doing by enforcing some unconstitutional law.  I could name examples but you all know them.

Here is what I am getting at.  We all know that in most cases these laws regarding guns are not constitutional and the statutes themselves are unlawful.  Sheriffs and police are sworn to uphold the constitution and serve and protect.

How can these LEOs trample peoples rights with so little regard for their oath.  Certainly I am not saying all LEOs, but should there not be a ground swell of apposition from law enforcement around this country refusing to obey or enforce unlawful statues.  Yet you hear very little.  These communist leaders keep putting laws on the books which violate citizens rights and the LEO just seem to step right in and do their bidding. I know some will just say - In order to keep their job.  Has to be more than that.  Many of our LEOs are x-military who would lay down their lives for the country, so why the shift against their own neighbors.

I would really like to hear the LEO point of view as well as others comments, because once again,  one of the more important threats is coming from within.

[Glock32]

I think we all share your concerns and frustrations.  I've also come to discount the bad apple theory, because if it were truly a small number of bad apples then their peers should have a vested interest in purging their ranks of these bad apples.  Instead what we usually get is the blue wall of silence.

There's no question that the demeanor and posture of civilian police agencies have changed considerably over the past few decades.  Too much military doctrine and mentality has taken root, and the dynamic has become less of civil peace officers and more of occupying force vs. insurgents.

Me?  I've heard about one too many no-knock raids at the wrong house, one too many family dogs shot to death, one too many suspects dog-piled while limp as a rag doll, and definitely one too many insulting rationalizations for these things.

[IronDioPriest]

Our previous Sheriff told me face to face that he was a "shall issue" sheriff before we ever had a shall issue law. State law at the time said all permits in each county may only be granted at the will of the sheriff based on his determination of the applicant's need. He had all the power and discretion, and he chose to use the constitution as his guide - in accordance with state law - by determining that every non-felon who applied had sufficient need.

Our law became shall-issue during his tenure - was briefly overturned by a Leftist judge based on a breach of archaic procedure - and then reinstated by the legislature sans the breach. It was in the context of that reapplication process that the Sheriff told me that the law being judicially overturned didn't change what he was doing one iota. He kept issuing permits the same before, during, and after the law.

He retired a few years ago, and his long-time protege was elected in his wake, and he will likely have the job until he retires and passes it on to his protege.

I know we live in a decent jurisdiction in a time when many are not. But I realize that it is at the whim of law enforcement. It is only because our Sheriff's department has chosen the path of honor and restraint that we don't have SWAT teams burning people's houses down and confiscating private property from traffic stops. That could change.