Everyone knows by now that a friendly neighborhood "ex"-con here in Oakland shot and killed three veteran police officers today.
The swat team did apparently track down and kill the responsible party -- a positive development, but too little too late for our city. I will not list the dead cretin's name, but suffice it to say that he will not be missed.
On behalf of the reasonable citizens of Oakland, let me extend thanks, condolences and outrage to our dead officers: Sgts. Erv Romans, Dan Sakai and Mark Dunakin. Let it be known that there are ordinary Oaklanders who will mourn these officers and would like to clean up the streets if only we had the leadership and direction to do so.
In a place like Oakland, there is no way to discuss this story without reference to the young man killed by a Bart police officer at the beginning of the year. No one will soon forget the public outrage and rioting which followed that slaying, which ironically saw the same actors playing opposite parts -- an ex-con killed by a cop.
Neither will we soon forget that the first response to today's incident by the residents of the eastern part of our fair city was to heckle the officers who arrived to investigate the murder of two of their bretheren.
And never mind the fact that the two shot officers had to wait for someone to call 911 and for an ambulance to come transport them to the hospital. What, do east Oaklanders not own cars? Is not a single one of them capable of scooping up a shot cop and racing to the hospital?
No, I suppose all we can expect from denizens of these neighborhoods is a phone call, if we're lucky, and then the predictable middle finger from the squalid street-corner dwellers whose only defining characteristic seems to be their contempt for society.
Honestly, I'm amazed at the decorum of the police department following this act of evil. It would be only natural, in my opinion, to strap on the jack-boots and start knocking down doors in the wake of this atrocity.
Were I an officer, I'd have brutality on my mind. I'd want to transform my holding cells into a mini Abu Ghraib.
But no one will act on such an impulse -- that much you can count on. Our public servants may be overpaid, in this blogger's opinion, but they are a professional bunch, and I know they will handle this situation with the decorum befitting their position.
The same cannot be said for our citizenry -- pock-marked as it is with robbers, theives, pimps and murderers. There will be no candlelight vigils for these fine policemen. John Burris will not lift even one of his bejewelled fingers to help right the wrong that has been committed here. No car windows will be broken, no tear-gas will be deployed.
Oakland will fail to mourn this tragedy, because this is exactly what our citizens expect. We expect our police officers to die. We construct rules and regulations which are nearly impossible to follow, and when an officer fails in his duty, we dust off our signboards and slogans and take to the streets.
So there you have it. This is our Oakland, a lawless Terrordome whose residents would rather pursue ridiculous Leftist ideology than save lives.
What should we do instead?
For a start, how about mourning these fine men in proper fashion. How about a focus on enforcement, not this ridiculous notion of "community" policing.
Our city should adopt a new policing slogan: "Not in my city." Policing, and the police department, should be expanded with a sole focus on eliminating troublemakers through rigorous enforcement of all the laws on the book. We need either to lock these people up or run them out of our city.
But most of all, we need not to stop this pointless activism aimed at proving the police are "brutal." If anything, this incident proves that they are not brutal enough.
When criminals in your city feel they can pull out a gun and murder three cops, you have a serious problem requiring serious action.
Something needs to change. Enough is enough.
As horrible as this is... it should not be much if any of a surprise. Oakland wallows in conspicuous lawlessness. Its twisted nincompoop of a mayor began his reign by announcing (with his protege Babs Lee) item #1 of his agenda: more condoms for incarcerated villains. After being thumped by reality... and the liklihood that his lapse from retirement will be short lived, Dellums will now be even more shrill in his calls for "outreach" and "feel good" nonsense. And even more enemies of society will step out of the shaddows... knowing that they can operate with impunity in the light of day.
ReplyDeletei knew Romans. He was a right guy. If you think that there isn't some payback in the works for those turds that were hassling the investigators, you are wrong. From what i can see down here below 580, it has already begun. Cry "havoc!" & let slip, as they say...
ReplyDeleteBravo EBC,
ReplyDeletei could not have said it better myself.
Will a leader emerge from this? Were I contemplating a run for Mayor I would be leading a vigil for the slain officers.
With the Oakland Police Department as corrupt and completely worthless as it is I'm just suprised the police are being killed off weekly. I mean here's a clip from a recent news article:
ReplyDelete"California Attorney General Jerry Brown — Oakland's previous mayor — is probing the police investigation into the death of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey, who was shot in 2007 while walking to work.
Ron Dellums, the charismatic 1960s activist who served 13 terms in Congress before becoming mayor two years ago, sought the outside review after news reports suggested the lead detective on the case ignored important evidence, which the department has denied.
Meanwhile, a dozen officers face disciplinary action for allegedly lying to obtain search warrants in drug cases. And a commander is on paid leave in connection with his handling of an alleged police beating in 2000, which led to a $10 million lawsuit.
Then on New Year's Day, a white Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man in front of horrified passengers at a rail station. Cell phone video of the shooting circulated widely on the Internet and led to huge street protests.
Weeks later, Police Chief Wayne Tucker resigned shortly before several city council members were to give him a public vote of no confidence."
I'm not condoning violence or suggesting these men deserved to die, but the police department in Oakland needs a serious over hual and the people are getting fed up with them. Would you call an ambulance for or drive someone you consider your enemy to the hospital, someone who you felt was out to kill and/or frame the people you love and care about? I wouldn't...
I would.
ReplyDelete