Ok folks, here's a question.
We used to have a special detail in our downtown area we called, "Fat Rat."
Don't ask me where the name came up, it's not what I would have chosen to call it, but it was a hell of a lot better than "**** Patrol."
Anyway, this detail was put into effect in order to discourage some of the more unsavory people from establishing themselves in our fair city on the weekends.
We work with a minimum of three officers on the road and one sitting dispatch and what was happening is there were these very tough customers coming to our local bars, (We have six centrally located in a city of about 12 thousand people and that's not counting the 4 or 5 private clubs/lodges like the Moose, VFW etc.)
The three officers on midnights could not safely respond to the number of fights and so forth and we had a couple of citizens who were seriously injured when they were attacked.
We were also seeing known felons, drug dealers and gang members from the bigger cities north of us and they were coming down here and causing all sorts of mischief.
It was pretty bad.
When the chief told us we could start this detail, what we did was get all gussied up in our most intimidating BDU's, tactical vests and so forth. I also implemented a cover officer protocol.
We would have one officer that drove an unmarked minivan, three to four arresting or contact officers and a cover officer armed with an AR15.
The cover officer was there to look as mean as possible and to watch the backs of the arresting officers.
Now this may sound funny, but we would arrest people for littering, DOC and public urination (Hence **** Patrol.) and we were really effective.
The second night we did this is when we got a call about this turd in one of the bigger bars who had a gun fall out of his pants onto the dance floor. As it turns out, it was a six pound .357 magnum revolver so we were all a little shocked and any of my guys that felt somewhat uncomfortable about my cover officer idea were suddenly on the same page.
It's like I explained, I had very little interest in people littering and ****ing downtown unless they happened to have drugs, warrants or guns. We ran into some really bad people from simple misdemeanor arrests. None of them ever gave us a problem. I think that was because of our cover officer.
Anyway, we did this detail about a dozen times or so until the Chief got wind that we were dressed up like commandos and were toting an AR15. He felt it was excessive.
I disagree.
Let me try to sell you on the idea.
The whole idea behind this was to intimidate those who would intimidate others. That simple.
These particular individuals understand no language but that of the gun. They respect no power or authority but that of the gun. Firepower is simply an unspoken dialogue stating clearly to these people that "We will not take any crap from you. Your Kung-Fu is no good here."
Also, when we worked this detail, we worked in large open killing areas more commonly known as parking lots. If we are on the opposite end of a parking lot dealing with an arrest and a gunfight breaks out at the other end, we have a large area to cover before we can safely and effectively engage with a handgun.
An AR15 will be very handy in that situation. In fact, you really can't do without one then.
Needless to say, we were very effective. One of the worst bars we had ended up having to close but since we stopped, things are looking bad again.
Our chief didn't like the way we did things and argued that no other department was doing anything like this.
No offense folks, but I couldn't care less what other departments do. What he calls excessive, I call cutting edge. Personally I see things going this way. Things always get worse before they get better.
Do you agree with me or the chief?
Let me know what you think.
Because I have been wrong before and maybe I'm wrong now.
Thanks for the input!
Rev
We used to have a special detail in our downtown area we called, "Fat Rat."
Don't ask me where the name came up, it's not what I would have chosen to call it, but it was a hell of a lot better than "**** Patrol."
Anyway, this detail was put into effect in order to discourage some of the more unsavory people from establishing themselves in our fair city on the weekends.
We work with a minimum of three officers on the road and one sitting dispatch and what was happening is there were these very tough customers coming to our local bars, (We have six centrally located in a city of about 12 thousand people and that's not counting the 4 or 5 private clubs/lodges like the Moose, VFW etc.)
The three officers on midnights could not safely respond to the number of fights and so forth and we had a couple of citizens who were seriously injured when they were attacked.
We were also seeing known felons, drug dealers and gang members from the bigger cities north of us and they were coming down here and causing all sorts of mischief.
It was pretty bad.
When the chief told us we could start this detail, what we did was get all gussied up in our most intimidating BDU's, tactical vests and so forth. I also implemented a cover officer protocol.
We would have one officer that drove an unmarked minivan, three to four arresting or contact officers and a cover officer armed with an AR15.
The cover officer was there to look as mean as possible and to watch the backs of the arresting officers.
Now this may sound funny, but we would arrest people for littering, DOC and public urination (Hence **** Patrol.) and we were really effective.
The second night we did this is when we got a call about this turd in one of the bigger bars who had a gun fall out of his pants onto the dance floor. As it turns out, it was a six pound .357 magnum revolver so we were all a little shocked and any of my guys that felt somewhat uncomfortable about my cover officer idea were suddenly on the same page.
It's like I explained, I had very little interest in people littering and ****ing downtown unless they happened to have drugs, warrants or guns. We ran into some really bad people from simple misdemeanor arrests. None of them ever gave us a problem. I think that was because of our cover officer.
Anyway, we did this detail about a dozen times or so until the Chief got wind that we were dressed up like commandos and were toting an AR15. He felt it was excessive.
I disagree.
Let me try to sell you on the idea.
The whole idea behind this was to intimidate those who would intimidate others. That simple.
These particular individuals understand no language but that of the gun. They respect no power or authority but that of the gun. Firepower is simply an unspoken dialogue stating clearly to these people that "We will not take any crap from you. Your Kung-Fu is no good here."
Also, when we worked this detail, we worked in large open killing areas more commonly known as parking lots. If we are on the opposite end of a parking lot dealing with an arrest and a gunfight breaks out at the other end, we have a large area to cover before we can safely and effectively engage with a handgun.
An AR15 will be very handy in that situation. In fact, you really can't do without one then.
Needless to say, we were very effective. One of the worst bars we had ended up having to close but since we stopped, things are looking bad again.
Our chief didn't like the way we did things and argued that no other department was doing anything like this.
No offense folks, but I couldn't care less what other departments do. What he calls excessive, I call cutting edge. Personally I see things going this way. Things always get worse before they get better.
Do you agree with me or the chief?
Let me know what you think.
Because I have been wrong before and maybe I'm wrong now.
Thanks for the input!
Rev
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