Justice is Served

I'm glad to hear this cop-killing piece of garbage is now dead and it is finally over except the grief.

Good shooting officer.

Lakewood police shooting suspect killed by Seattle police officer in South Seattle early this morning

Troyer praised the Seattle officer who shot Clemmons, saying the officer was lucky he wasn't killed. The officer has been placed on routine administrative leave.

Seattle police said the officer, a seven-year veteran, was on routine patrol when he saw a car with the hood up and the engine running.

The officer ran the license plate and determined the car had been stolen, said Seattle Assistant Chief Jim Pugel.

The car had been stolen in another neighborhood shortly before 2 a.m.

As the officer sat in his patrol car doing paperwork on the stolen car, he noticed a man was approaching the driver's side of the patrol car from behind.

The officer immediately recognized the man as matching the description of Clemmons and got out his patrol car, Pugel said.

"He ordered the person to stop. He ordered the person to show his hands, that person would not show his hands, and also began to run away counterclockwise around the vehicle," Pugel said.

The officer again told him to stop and he didn't comply, Pugel said.

The officer then fired several shots at Clemmons, who was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

Ranger School! You'll Fight Tigers!

Because we all need a laugh right about now:



You'll choke the shit out of people!

Officer Down and Life In the Red Zone

My heart sank today when I read about the four Washington State officers that were murdered today. It is a horrible thing and it is another example that ambushes are becoming much more common.

Heck, it was only a few weeks ago that Seattle PD Officer Timothy Brenton was shot while sitting on the side of the road. Even more recently, LVPD Officer Trevor Nettleton was ambushed in front of his house. Of course let's not forget the Oakland officers that were gunned down on a traffic stop and the SWAT officers who died trying to arrest the piece of garbage that did it.

The first thing I thought when I read about today's shooting was, "How did this guy get the drop on and kill four officers?" The four were experienced cops. They had over 40 years of police experience between them and ranged in age from 37 to 42. These were not a couple of academy cadets sitting around.

Unfortunately it is not that hard to kill a group of police officers, especially when they are not on a call. When we are on a disturbance call or a traffic stop, our radar is up and we are ready for trouble. We need to stay in that mindset for our whole shift but it is hard to maintain staying in the "red zone". I know that I tend to relax when I am sitting at the dinner table with some of my coworkers. There have been times that people have walked up on us to ask a question and we didn't notice him right away. This shooting could have easily gone down the same way.

Take that level of complacency and add a reaction gap plus the difficulties of drawing your weapon while seated and it is easy to imagine how these officers went down. So what can we do to protect ourself? Remember that when you are in uniform, YOU ARE A TARGET! Several times while off-duty, I have seen deputies walking around Wal-Mart after work but still in uniform. How do I know they were off-duty? They DIDN'T HAVE A GUN BELT ON! There is no excuse for that. I know the belt is uncomfortable but if the blue suit is on, the vest and gun stay on too. No compromises!

Another thing you can do is watch your positioning. If you go to a coffee shop or restaurant, try to get a table in the rear of the establishment. Make sure at least one of you sit with your back to the wall so that they can keep an eye on the door. I would rather see trouble coming at me instead of taking one in the back of the head.

Practice drawing your weapon while sitting down. Many level 3 holsters require the gun to be tilted a certain way and the chair could prevent this while trying to draw under high stress.

I sometimes get into internet debates with people who claim that the police are paranoid and too quick to take command of a situation. These same folks claim that police are too militarized and more concerned with being a Law Enforcement Officer than a Peace Officer (whatever that means). My answer to them is always the same. This job is dangerous and we have to adapt to the dangers. Life is not a Norman Rockwell painting and there are people trying to kill us. Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

Be safe out there brothers and try to learn from this tragedy so that we all make it home at the end of shift.

Way to keep a low-profile

My shift and I were working a traffic assignment the other night. There is an area in my beat that gets a ton of vehicle traffic on the weekends. Due to the number of cars, traffic gets backed up for several blocks. What we do is ride our bikes up and down the street and keep an eye out for any violations.

We usually end up finding expired registration stickers, people smoking weed, seatbelt violations, DUIs, and all kinds of other goodies. It is a great spot to get some decent activity. I usually hate stopping cars while on a bicycle because it is so easy for the car to evade. However this area is so backed up that the cars have nowhere to go. Even if they go up on the sidewalk, there are concrete benches that will stop them before they get far.

On the night in question we were going back and forth when we heard a loud car stereo blaring. When I say loud I mean the bass was so heavy it was making the glass shake on all the other cars in the street. We quickly narrowed this down to a big shiny H2 Hummer going down the road. An officer rode up to the driver and knocked on the window to get his attention. The driver looked over and his eyes popped out of his head.

The Hummer cut to the left and the driver punched the gas. This tank came within inches of slamming into the officer. The car tried to get up on the shoulder and go around traffic but due to some huge pillars blocking off a nearby bus station (empty) the car had nowhere to go. Within seconds he had several red laser dots dancing on his face while other officers pulled him out of the car by his ears.

We ended up finding several pounds of weed, a few thousand dollars, and digital scales. The driver was also out on bond for another drug case that was pending.

My question is if you are carrying around a felony amount of drugs and are out on bond, why the hell are you blasting your music and driving one of the most conspicuous vehicle around? You might as well have a "take me to jail" sign on your door.

Ahh sweet sweet job security.

Show some respect

I read this story and I almost broke my keyboard. At least the family of this murdering scum is speaking out against it.

So a police officer gets shot down while sitting on the side of the road and some POS garage band wants to make a t-shirt with the murderer's face on it? Makes me sick.

According to the story, "A local punk band created the T-shirt because "we like this guy and back his actions," according to a Web site, which is selling the shirts for $13."

Excuse me? What the hell is wrong with people? At least it looks like the shirts are no longer on sale. I sure would like to know the name of the band.

The assassination of Officer Tim Brenton just shows that there are people out there who have an insane hatred of the police and you can't let your guard down. Whenever I need to do some paperwork while in my unit I try to park in a place where I can't be approached from behind. I prefer to find a parking garage with a high concrete wall behind me. If that isn't available I look for an empty parking lot and park in the middle of it with a clear view 360 degrees around me.

This isn't the first time an officer has been ambushed while sitting in his car. I can remember reading about the same thing happening to an officer in DC a few years ago and I bet there are others I don't know about. Be safe out there folks and watch your six. It's a dangerous world.

Wasted Youth of the Counter-Culture

*photo removed at request of counter-culture loving photographer*


My city has recently started to suffer an infestation. It happens every year as the weather changes. If you live anywhere on the West Coast such as Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco, you are familiar with the problem.

Teenage bums. Dozens of them.

It's probably a good thing that the picture was removed. Just use your imagination and think of a young person who hasn't bathed in months and likes to wear dirty cargo pants.

They usually range in age from mid-teens to early 20s. They love to have nasty dreds and smell like the ass of a camel (or at least how I imagine a camel's ass smells). It seems like each one is issued a mangy dog to lead around. Most carry backpacks bigger than the ones carried by US Infantry. Heroin is often their drug of choice.

Apparently they migrate south when the weather gets cold and then head back north during the summer. I really hate dealing with them. While there is something sad about dealing with older homeless folks and the concept of a life wasted, I just get angry when interacting with these kids. Many are homeless by choice and think it is cool to buck society. Whenever I deal with them they are disrepectful, smug, and think they have life figured out. What they don't get is that the longer they waste away on the street, the harder it will be to get out when they decide they have had enough.

I just have to shake my head at their stupidity. Don't they see the older homeless and see what their lives will turn into unless they shape up? I don't understand the appeal of stinking while sitting on the sidewalk playing a guitar for change.

I give them very few breaks and often "suggest" that they go back to wherever they came from. Unfortunately I know that they are like cockroaches and I won't be rid of them until the weather changes again.

Poor dogs.

At least he is upfront about it

I actually hope this guy got a job. *(click to enlarge)

Dealing with the police

Sometimes I really wish they taught a class in school on how to interact with the police. It seems like people have absolutely no clue on what is proper behavior. Since I work in an entertainment district I often arrest people who are out with a group of friends. I don't know why but many of these friends think it is appropriate to run up in the middle of the arrest and try to get in our way.

I understand that people are concerned for their friend but it is not acceptable to grab the cops arm and demand to know what is going on. The proper (and smart) thing to do is stand aside and ask to speak with an officer once things are under control. I am just amazed at some of the stuff people do. I've seen people try to pull their buddy away from us. People have tried to block our path as we walk them to the car. These things always end badly for the friends that get in our way.

When we are arresting someone, other officers try to form a circle around the incident to keep crowds back. We once had a suspect's buddy run up and sucker punch an officer making an arrest and gave the officer a serious concussion. Because of incidents like that we typically keep everyone way back.

The other night a bunch of us responded to a call of a fight in the street. When we arrived there was a man laying on the ground unconscious. As we were trying to help him, his buddies came up and tried to get between us. They said they would take care of him. We wouldn't let them because he was obviously injured and EMS was on the way. One of his friends wouldn't get back so we put him in cuffs.

A struggle ensued while handcuffing him and another buddy came running up full speed at the back of one of the officers as if he was going to jump on his back. I had both hands occupied but I was close enough to kick the guy in the gut. He went down and another officer started to put him in cuffs. I heard yelling behind me then the CLACK CLACK CLACK of a taser going off.

All we originally wanted to do was stand by with an injured subject until EMS arrived. We ended up arresting 5 people for interfering with police and resisting arrest. What the hell is wrong with people? If they had just stayed back like we asked, EMS would have treated their friend and we would have been on our way.

I really think that alot of it has to do with how people are raised. I deal with a majority of college students and soldiers in their early 20s and it seems like people are not used to having to listen to authority figures. Everyone thinks they can just so whatever the hell they want to. It is only going to get worse as time goes by.

That's pretty much how I remember it

Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks