Who Should The United States Exclude From Immigration

When we think about who to exclude from immigrating to the US, the focus should not be on the victims of terrorism but the perpetrators. A look at the national origins of the actual fighters in Syria should give us a better idea as to who to actually exclude from immigrating to the US.

Nationality of Foreign Fighters in Syria:

From Middle East Countries

Tunisia

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Morocco 

Lebanon

Libya

Turkey

Egypt

Iraq

Algeria

Palestine

Sudan

Kuwait

Qatar

United Arab Emirates

Bahrain

Mauritania

Oman

----

From Other Countries

Russia

France

United Kingdom

Belgium

Germany

Netherlands

Kosovo

Denmark

Spain

Sweden

United States

Austria

Indonesia

Italy

Norway

Finland

Ireland

Canada

Switzerland 

Kyrgyzstan

Luxembourg 

Singapore

If we adhere to a focus on the fighters we should be concerned about, instead of the victims who we have no reason to fear, we might actually be safer. So, with this list in hand, it looks like we have a lot of excluding to do.

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10-8

My very first call out of roll call, a double 34S in the Saint Thomas projects. As we screamed Code 3 my FTO advised me that although we had our lights and sirens on, we still had to watch out for traffic. And sure enough, as we slowed at Jackson and Simon Bolivar, a car rolled right in front of us! Wow, I thought, this guy knows what he is talking about. The scene was bloody and hectic. But this was just what I had signed up for. It was the district I grew up in and wanted to be the police in. Fitting for a first real day on the job. 

But many roll calls have passed and alas, now it is time to hang up the duty rig for the last time. And in doing so I would like to express my gratitude.

Thanks to my classmates and instructors, who shared that unique experience that was LSP. I think we came along at the right time and our instructors gave their earnest efforts to ensure we were not only properly trained, but ingrained with the proper standards that would define how we went about our work. We were surely enriched by that process. 

Thanks to my FTO's who helped put the pieces together for me to grow and become a Sixth District police officer. A unique tradition of excellence I always was proud to be associated with. (Yeah, I had to go there.) 

Thanks to my supervisors who helped to guide my career. I learned a great deal about myself and about maintaining a that high standard for doing the work, from their examples.

A very special thanks to all my partners. I am most fortunate to say I had the privilege to ALWAYS ride with those in whom I could depend on to do the right things and not do the stupid stuff that tends to easily beset some. I ALWAYS had that confidence that they indeed had my back in ANY situation. We got the job done and had loads of laughs and fun in the process.

In closing, I pay respect to our brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our citizens and our profession. Although we love them all, I am certain the absence of those we each personally knew stings us often.

So I bid farewell to you all. Stay safe and take care of each other out there.

10-7

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The Ferguson Forum: Practice, Practice, Practice

Considering the lack of injury to Officer Wilson in the Ferguson incident, it makes me wonder just how afraid of Michael Brown he really needed to be. I am not sure how new officers are being trained these days, but perhaps there is too much emphasis being placed on using the equipment, particularly the firearm. Oftentimes, officers fail to augment their skills with additional training in the techniques of unarmed combatives. It is naive to think the retraining, some of which is only annual, a department offers is enough to ingrain those skills into one's self so they are readily available when needed. Such training takes personal initiative and a high level of professional commitment to becoming proficient in the crafts of our trade. Knowing that all an officer does is scrutinized, analyzed and magnified it would behoove every officer to ensure they are up to speed on the most recent and prudent methods beforehand.

Officers must realize that the engagement starts in the mind. It begins with the mental preparation of running scenarios in your head to work out the reactions to the 'what ifs' before they happen. It unfolds with the approach and leads to a fluid encounter. The officer must not lose sight that the objective is control gained through a graduated application of force. The officer must remain mindful that this application is itself fluid and must be adjusted as the flow of the encounter changes. This control starts inside the officer's mind. 

It is imperative to control one's justified fears and emotions in order to think clearly and make good decisions. Irrational fear and runaway emotions do not allow for such clear thinking and often leads to mistakes being made. In this case, fear and fury ruled the day. Michael Brown brought a fist fight to a gun fight. And the results are tragic! I believe these misplaced fears and emotions are the reasons that in the encounters between citizens and police officers that resulted in the death of the citizen, between 2012 and 2014, the citizen was unarmed.

Police work is a noble and honorable profession. The sworn officer is a trained professional and not some brute with a badge. We are not like the criminals we chase neither in heart or in mind. 

Officers swear an oath to protect and defend the constitution and enforce the law. The rules, policies, procedures and practices of each department should support that end and neither supplant or circumvent it. The sworn officer carries huge responsibility and power on their shoulders: the power over freedom, life and death. This responsibility and power is given by the citizens and should not be taken lightly or exercised without due diligence and caution. This responsibility and power is accompanied and balanced by the weight of the accountability police have to the citizens. In this public office, the officer serves the citizens. 

Rest assured, hard questions will be asked of Officer Wilson at his civil trial. I suspect his municipality, himself and his family will pay dearly as a result of Officer Wilson's critical decision making and the death of Michael Brown. 

This incident and others should be the catalyst for specific and focused police training in every jurisdiction. But I am afraid it will not be and we will be doing this once again before the end of next year.

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The Ferguson Forum: Questions

Whether you consider the Michael Brown shooting as two engagements or one prolonged engagement, some questions must be asked of the officer, from an officer's perspective. We must endeavor to look at this through a clear, reasonable and objective lens and not just through the lens of a 'blue bias' because it is the reasonable standard we will be judged by. Neither should we allow our 'blue code' to cause a 'blue haze' in our thinking that will keep us from having a frank and open dialogue, even among ourselves:

1. Officer Wilson, have you received training from your police department in making tactical approaches to suspicious subjects?

2. Officer Wilson, as you positioned your police car to block the street, did you use it to create a barrier between yourself and Michael Brown?

3. Officer Wilson, how did Michael Brown get to the driver's side door of your police car before you were able to get out of your police car?

4. Officer Wilson, was Michael Brown armed while he was at the driver's side of your vehicle?

5. Officer Wilson, as you fought Michael Brown at your police car, were you ever in fear for your life? Why?

6. Officer Wilson, did Michael Brown go for your weapon while it was holstered or after it was drawn?

7. Officer Wilson, did Michael Brown disengage from having a fist fight with you and run away? Why?

8. Officer Wilson, have you received training from your police department on the force continuum?

9. Officer Wilson, have you received training from your police department in the application of open hand and closed hand control techniques?

10. Officer Wilson, have you received training from your police department in effecting take-downs on combative subjects?

11. Officer Wilson, have you received training from your police department in non-lethal force options and applications?

12. Officer Wilson, when Michael Brown was running away from you, was he armed?

13. Officer Wilson, when Michael Brown turned toward you, was he armed?

14. Officer Wilson, after Michael Brown turned toward you, did you issue any verbal commands for him to stop?

15. Officer Wilson, at the point when Michael Brown turned and advanced toward you, what was the threat to your life at that moment?

16. Officer Wilson, can you fight?

17. Officer Wilson, did you have non-lethal instruments on your person at the time of your engagement/s with Michael Brown

18. Officer Wilson, did you employ any non-lethal techniques in order to subdue and control Michael Brown?

19. Officer Wilson, how many times did you shoot Michael Brown?

20. Officer Wilson, how many volleys of fire did you discharge against Michael Brown?

21. Officer Wilson, in between those two volleys of fire, had Michael Brown armed himself?

22. Officer Wilson, seeing that Michael Brown was never armed, why did you continue to employ and then utilize lethal force against someone who was never armed?

23. Officer Wilson, why did you shoot Michael Brown the first time at your police car?

24. Officer Wilson, how close to you was Michael Brown the first time you shot him at your police car?

25. Officer Wilson, why did you shoot Michael Brown the second time after chasing him more than 100 feet from your police car.

26. Officer Wilson, how close to you was Michael Brown the second time you shot him after chasing him more than 100 feet from your police car.

27. Officer Wilson, why did you shoot Michael Brown the third time after chasing him more than 100 feet from your police car.

28. Officer Wilson, how close to you was Michael Brown the third time you shot him after chasing him more than 100 feet from your police car.

29. Officer Wilson, were you simply too unskilled in unarmed combatives, and too afraid of Michael Brown to have a fist fight with him?

If I, not being a lawyer, can come up with 29 questions to ask the officer I am certain the prosecutor at his civil trial will have a field day with him.

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Overtime

On November 3, 2013, at about 1 PM I was on my way to watch the Saints game. I would never make it. Instead, I ended up in the ER and then emergency quadruple heart bypass surgery. What should have been the end of the game for me had become overtime.

From that moment, each moment since then has become borrowed time in the game of life. The value of time is something I have become acutely aware of. But then, we all already know that. 

The challenge becomes guiding ourselves or allowing ourselves to be guided to situations in our lives that give us true meaning. True meaning is a measure of value and that value is the measure of our contribution to others. 

So as I reflect on winning this game in OT, I am going to rally my team to gain a victory by making the score beneficial to the service of another.

Here's the snap.......

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Violations

Three inches would be considered thick for a Bible, that contains instructions for every aspect in life. God sees and knows all that we do, at any given moment. When we violate the laws policies and procedures of the Bible one is accountable to one person, who happens to be perfect. This fact affords one some consolation that the penalty being rendered for any violation is in fact just.

The regulations which govern a New Orleans Police Officer, when bound, are nearly five inches thick and pertain only to a small segment of that officer's life. The activities of today's officer are watched, monitored and recorded live nearly every moment they are at work. When he or she violates the laws policies and procedures of the police department the officer is at the mercy of the subjective interpretation of a group of imperfect people who, more than likely, are out of touch with the realities faced by that officer on a daily basis.

These imperfect people replay, review and question the violation of these officers and shall render judgements that affect a person's livelihood and that of their family. Oftentimes, these judgments come without the benefit of truly understanding the officer's perspective. Nor do these judgements always appreciate and avail themselves to the value of retraining to focus the officer's attention to their error. An error which, more than likely, was done due to the myriad of things one has to remember and be accountable for from that five inch thick publication they are governed by.

Regulations, policies and procedures are a necessary safeguard to proper operation and also serve to standardize the services provided to the public. But those who are charged to administer those services should see them as a guide that will assist them in doing their jobs and not just as a punitive tool whose main purpose is to chastise them, punish them and beat them down.

Violations are opportunities to do things over and get it right. When taken full advantage of, the violation becomes that 'teachable moment' that benefits everyone. No mature person minds correction that benefits them. It takes good leadership to seize these opportunities and treat them in a way that makes a better officer and ultimately a better organization.

I am reminded of what my FTO told me about traffic enforcement: "The goal of the traffic encounter is to make a better driver."

Enough said.


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Heart Trouble

It has been said of some people that they died from a 'broken heart'. I don't think it is either a stretch of science or the imagination to see there is a link between the mind, soul and body. Spiritual and emotional issues, unresolved, do manifest themselves in the physical body. The scriptures even attest to this fact: 1 Corinthians 11:28-30.

As for me, I have had a physical heart problem for a number of years. It has bewildered me as to why, because I maintained a reasonably healthy lifestyle. But as I think of the spiritual and emotional aspects, I can see why my heart has become so afflicted.

No one has wanted the love I have to offer, no one wants to give me the love I truly need. I don't ask for much and I don't think that's too much to ask for. But it has turned out to be way too much and way too scary for anyone to give. It is very much disheartening. I am disappointed. I am disenchanted. I am tired. I quit.

My heart aches from the damage of being stepped on and abused. This emotional condition has now manifested itself physically, once again.

How can a body survive when its soul is starving? Is there life in a body with a dying spirit? Can one truly exist without love?

Just once in this life I would like to be truly loved. I would like for someone to love me as much as I love them.

Is that really too much to ask for?

True love is the most positive healing force in the universe! Does anyone have that kind of love for me?


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