I have been debating with myself for over a year now as to whether I should post this or not. As you can see, I have made my decision. I will withhold some details to prevent identification of myself and others that were involved. All information provided is firsthand observations by me. My opinions are my own. You are free to have your own opinion and draw your own conclusions. I am not presenting this to argue or debate anyone. This is simply an informational post to my fellow liberty minded and patriotic GLPer’s, do what you wish with the information provided.
I have been a police officer for 25 years now. I am also an armed forces veteran, having served 4 years active duty. During that time, I was deployed to operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, participating in the ground invasion of Kuwait.
I would describe myself as a patriotic American, a person of faith (but not religiosity), still a tad idealistic and a constitutionalist that leans libertarian. I do not believe in identity politics. I firmly believe that identity politics is a primary source of the division we are experiencing in our country. I believe that no matter our ethnicity, gender, faith, or ancestral heritage, we are all Americans first and foremost. I believe that laws should be applied equally to everyone regardless of socio-economic standing or political affiliation. That is what led to my disillusionment and subsequent retirement from law enforcement.
I am what some would call a Whistleblower. I had been provided physical evidence that people closely affiliated with law enforcement officers at my agency were involved in various criminal conspiracies and that they may be receiving aid from officers within my agency. There was no one within my agency I could give this information to since I had no idea who may or may not be involved. I contacted a federal agency since the alleged crimes involved federal criminal violations as well as state level. They took the information and allegedly opened an investigation.
Several months later, ranking members of my agency learned that I had provided evidence to a federal agency. They proceeded to make my life very interesting on a daily basis. At first I wasn’t concerned, I knew I was righteous based on the evidence I was given. I “knew” that when others learned what I was given, they would side with me and stand against the corruption in our ranks. Then I started to see what was really happening. As I was singled out for “special attention”, officers stopped having contact with me. Even officers from other agencies. People that I believed were dear friends. Our families took vacations together. We literally faced life and death situations together. Most avoided me on and off duty. What was worse, they even shunned my family as well. There were a few that took a stand. A rough estimate would put it at about 5% of the agency stood with me. Another 5% actively worked against me. The remaining mostly hid and ran with their tails tucked. A common excuse I heard was “I support you, I know what you did was the right thing to do, but you have to understand that I have a family and a pension, that’s why I cant get involved and stand with you publicly”. Cowards.
This brings me to my point in the subject line. If, and when, the time comes that Americans are stripped of their civil liberties, primarily the Second Amendment, you should not count on law enforcement officers to do the honorable and constitutionally correct thing.
While it would be ideal if chiefs and sheriffs took a stand and upheld their oaths to the Constitution, the vast majority wont. Neither will the rank and file. They, the line officers, will mostly fall in line with whatever their chief/sheriff says. Sure, there will be a few that have honor and integrity, but they will be persecuted and pushed out of the profession post haste. They will probably be criminally charged and made examples of.
Its easy to talk tough and say that they’d never confiscate firearms of fellow Americans when times are easy and the idea of confiscation isn’t currently a realistic possibility. That being said, when things get real, most will act to protect their livelihoods, families and pensions. I was left profoundly disappointed by the majority of my fellow police officers.
Patriot Nurse has a point. The Hitlers, Stalins, Maos, and Pol Pots of history would have never come to power were it not for the complicity and cooperation of the police.
Be very cautious and judicious with who you put your faith in.