I have always been a supporter of law enforcement and believed in what they do just as I believe in the military. My own service in the military is a source of pride for me.
I have deeply troubled by videos showing law enforcement enforcing unconstitutional executive mandates that do not carry the force of legislative law. I have seen gross violations of the civil liberties of the American people committed by law enforcement. It has not just been a few incidents that might be blamed on lack of training or a misunderstanding. There has been a systematic and nationwide disregard of the Constitution by law enforcement.
There have been notable exceptions coming mostly from Sheriffs around the country and some police chiefs. Unless rank and file law enforcement demonstrate fidelity to the Constitution and to the service and protection of the people and their rights then my support will end. I understand they are in a precarious position but doing the right thing only counts when you have something to lose.
In the military if I carried out an order that was unlawful then I was held responsible. “Just following orders” was never an acceptable defense. “I was just following orders” has been uttered by those who have committed some of the worst atrocities in human history. It is what a coward says when being held accountable for the consequences of his actions.
If the Blue isn’t going to stand against the tyrannical and totalitarian orders of the authoritarians then they have aligned themselves against the People. It saddens me that I have put so much into supporting law enforcement but the moment we need them to stand with us against tyranny they abandon us.
They need their job to pay their bills and feed their families but so do the business owners they willing shut down and arrest for simply running their business. These law enforcement officers are still getting by tax payer dollars while throwing people in jail for trying to feed their families and pay their employees.
I back those who have my back but those who don’t have chosen to side with the tyrants. This is a cold civil war. Not anything like the last one. We are engaged in information and psychological warfare and we are losing the battle but the war is just beginning. Truth and justice will win but this will be a long and difficult effort.
I ask that law enforcement remember those who have always stood with them. We believed in you and we believed in what you do. You are putting that in jeopardy when you knowingly violate our rights because you “just followed orders”.
4 replies on “Back the Blue?”
Now we must be more discerning. Back only the oathkeepers (not necessarily the group–just those who keep their oath), not the oathbreakers.
I must admit, however, that I’m very tired to having to constantly filter out people I thought were trustworthy. At this rate, there’ll be but one person left by the end of 2021.
I am a veteran and used to back the blue all the way, knowing they could use some extra training and maybe restructure and get rid of unions that keep them from getting fired.
However, during this rona mess I’ve seen plenty of cops abuse their power and not uphold their state constitution nor the Constitution of the U.S.
I will still support honorable police officers, but the other ones I consider “Oath Breakers” and will not support. They are supposed to have our backs.
Having a family to feed and bills to pay is no excuse for all the horrible “edicts” you choose to enforce.
But thank you for showing us which side you’re on.
I am on the side of law enforcement that follows the Constitution. Not “oath breakers” who violate our rights.
It is not your duty merely to not obey an unlawful order. It is your duty to have the stones to refuse an unlawful order. That distinction is why Edward Snowden went to Russia and Bradley Manning went to jail, while I got an unofficial “attaboy” from the very CO I refused to obey.
***
It was 1989 I think, aboard USS Voge, FF-1047. The ship was 27 years old and was about to be decommissioned and sold. So they could get a higher price, they wanted to do an INSURV (inspection and survey, about the most nitpicky inspection the Navy ever does) on the ship. They could charge a lot more if it passed.
I was a DS2, Data Systems Technician 2nd Class. Computer tech, copier tech, what the Navy calls a twidget. I happened to be the DCPO for OE Division, meaning everything having to do with damage control in Division spaces was my problem. Watertight doors, vents and drains being able to seal watertight, valves being in good working order, etc. Since it was a Division of twidgets, most of this stuff had been haphazardly maintained, if at all, for decades.
I had put in for leave about a month before they decided to do an INSURV on the ship. The prospective dates moved around the calendar for about a month and a half before they settled on their firm date…. the day I was supposed to go on leave for 2 weeks.
My leave had already been approved, but of course once the date for INSURV was firm, they said they were going to cancel it. Of course, I bitched. My leave had been approved for nearly 2 months by that time, I had already committed to various plans. Oh well. If the Navy wanted me to have a family they’d have issued me one.
That didn’t stop me griping about it. Finally my Division Chief told me, “You want to go on leave during INSURV? Fine, I’ll make you a deal. Give me Division spaces with NO DC hits, I mean ZERO, and you can go.”
“Done Chief, not a problem. You watch me.”
Well after about a month of chasing this and that, I got to the point where it was 3 days before INSURV, and I had one thing left. The main vent trunk door for the Fire Room was on the centerline passageway just across from Radar. I’m not sure, but I don’t think it had had any maintenance done on it since the ship was commissioned. I had rebuilt the dogs, cleaned up the knife edge, dismounted the door, taken it over to SIMA and sandblasted it, primed it and painted it. It had just gotten a second coat of paint on it, needed to let that dry, put the gasket back in, let it shrink into place, trim it and re-hang the door.
Regs require that any DC fitting (which a watertight door most certainly was) that is kept open must be logged with Damage Control Central. Every 24 hours it has to be logged closed and re-logged open again, until it’s done. I had done this faithfully for most of a week by that time. It was Friday, INSURV was scheduled to start Monday, and I was in the duty section for that weekend. The maintenance schedule for that door would have it back in place and working perfectly by 8 o’clock Sunday morning.
Fine and good…. until the skipper decided to have a General Quarters drill that Friday morning. Even then it wouldn’t have been a big deal if he hadn’t decided to have a simulated CBR (chemical/biological/radiological) attack, which required activating the ship’s water washdown system. Basically high volume sprinklers all over the outside of the ship. They got turned on, the ship was surrounded by spray… and it was sucked into the fire room vent and sprayed all over the centerline passageway.
When I came out of the IC Switchboard Room (my battle station) right after the GQ drill, there were cursing twidgets with mops everywhere. The passageway had about an inch and a half of water in it. The Chief told me, “The skipper wants that door re-hung by close of business today.” I said, “Not gonna happen, Chief.” He said, “What part of ‘The skipper wants this done’ did you fail to understand, Orton?” I said, “The part where according to the maintenance card I can’t have it done before Sunday morning. Hang on a second Chief, I’ll be right back.”
I ducked into the Computer Room and grabbed the PMS (Planned Maintenance System) book. Unbeknownst to me, the Chief of DC was walking by the base of the ladder one deck below, heard us talking and stopped to listen.
I flipped to the relevant card. “Here we are, Chief. I have the second coat of paint on it drying right now. It’ll be dry late tonight. Then I put the gasket in, it has to shrink in for 24 hours before I can trim it to fit, that brings us to early Sunday morning. And then, and only then, am I allowed to re-hang it. Keep in mind Chief, that’s the vent trunk door for the Fire Room. If it fails, the vent trunk fails. If the vent trunk fails, the Fire Room fails. The Fire Room is the largest space on the ship, if it fails, the entire ship fails INSURV.”
And because there are some temptations that an enlisted man shouldn’t be subjected to and expect to resist, I followed with, “If the skipper wants me to gundeck my PMS (do the maintenance other than by the book), tell him to give me that order in writing.”
About that time, the DC Chief came up the ladder and said, “He’s got you, Chief.”
Sunday morning that door was re-hung. Monday morning I walked down the brow to go on leave just as the INSURV inspectors were coming aboard.
Two weeks later I came back. The Chief called me into his office. When I went in, he said, “Orton, I’ve got two things: One, the ship got no DC hits in OE Division, a first in the 27 year history of the ship. Congratulations. Two, the skipper wants to see you. He’s in his stateroom.”
I walked up to the Captain’s stateroom, knocked on the door and was told to enter. I went in and stood at attention.
The skipper stood up, walked over to me and said, “I’m told you’re the arrogant fuck who decided my orders didn’t mean anything, who decided he was going to do things his way, and if I wanted it different I should give him orders in writing.”
“I’m also told that it was only because of that that the ship passed INSURV, and that your Division got no DC hits for the first time ever. So I wanted to thank you for that personally, Petty Officer Orton. It’s nice to know I have some guys working for me with the balls to do what needs to be done when the chips are down. I don’t have enough of them.” And then he shook my hand.
***
Yeah, it takes balls. It also takes confidence that you’re in the right. It also takes the integrity to decide that yes, you’ll “die on that hill” if needed. I was lucky in a way, I was “painted into a corner” so to speak. I knew damn good and well that if the ship failed INSURV because of a door that I was responsible for, my ass would be fried, so I didn’t have any real choice but to stand up and say no.
But regardless, that’s what it takes.