The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: 10/12/2003 - 10/19/2003

Saturday, October 18, 2003

Re: The SFGate editorial by Harley Sorenson

Mr. Sorenson,

I recently read your editorial, "Lessons From A Liberal Cop"...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2003/10/13/hsorensen.DTL


I sincerely hope that none of the nations police officers follow the lesson plan of this "Sheriff". In your editorial you make a statement "..training that in essence teaches cops to shoot first and ask questions later", nothing could be further from the truth. How do I know ? I am a 23 year veteran police officer and have been a police trainer/instructor since 1987. Police Officers are trained to use deadly force only when deadly force is necessary. They are trained that they cannot use deadly force unless they or the public are in danger of being killed or seriously injured by a suspect.

In your editorial you say "you could not bring yourself to shoot a 97 pound woman armed with only a knife, as some cops have been known to do". How do you know that, have you ever been in that situation ? I guess sitting behind the safety of your desk it is easy to play Monday morning quarterback. I for one, through 23 years of experience can tell you of an instance where it took 10 police officers to wrestle a 98 pound 14 year old girl, who was strung out on PCP, to the ground. No she didn't have a knife thank god, because if she did, someone probably would have been seriously injured and maybe even killed.

Many police officers have been seriously injured and yes even KILLED by a person "armed only with a knife". I can send you the reports if you'd like.

As a police instructor I have for many years been telling my representatives that we are essentially training our cops to DIE. We have pounded into their heads the liability and law suit issues so much that I'm surprised anyone stays on this job. Most officers that I know avoid at all cost, even removing their weapon from its holster even when the situation would call for it.

I have never met a police officer in all my 23 years who has said, "I can't wait to shoot someone". It is the one aspect of police work that officers dread the most, the possibility that you may have to take a life, not to mention all the media attention and second guessing that will be going on by people who have absolutely no idea what it's like to be in that situation.

Now, I don't know this "sheriff"and I'm not trying to down him, but police training is much more complex and intense than it has ever been. Certainly markedly different than the training officers received some 30 years ago or more, "Here's a gun and a badge, go out there and protect the public" in many cases that was all the training officers received back then.

On another issue, how can you justify your statement, " Most cops see a lot of life, and learn a great deal about people, but the conservative ones tend to use that knowledge to turn mean, or to justify the meanness they always had". I am a conservative cop and most of the cops I know are conservative, and we are fair and honest in our approach to our duties, I know liberals cops too, and they are also fair and honest in their dealings with people. Don't label me or other conservative cops !

Yes there are some bad police officers out there, but they are heavily outweighed by the good ones, please don't judge us by the bad deeds of a few, and even worse, don't judge us because of one "sheriff's" opinion.

I intend to send this editorial out to every police station and website that I can, and I also will comment on this on my talk show. You sir owe police officers in this nation an apology for bad mouthing them without knowing the facts, without having been in their shoes, without having had to tell the wife, husband, or children of a police officer that he will not be coming home.



JR
Listen to Talk Show America Live Mon - Fri 4 -6 PM EST and 24/7(Recorded)
http://www.talkshowamerica.com
Political Conservative Talk Show

Just a thought...You can email me your comments at: jr@talkshowamerica.com

Thanks, I'm "J.R." and that's MY TAKE !

A NEW Interactive Political website is here!...Check out: http://www.politicalnewsandviews.com