Wednesday, September 9, 2009

"You Can't Do This to People": Robin McDermott's Resistance




Battle-weary but resolute, American freedom fighter Robin McDermott stands in front of the Springfield, Missouri City Hall, the redoubt of a criminal clique she has been fighting for roughly a dozen years.








It is incredible how soon as a people becomes subject, it promptly falls into such complete forgetfulness of its freedom that it can hardly be roused to the point of regaining it, obeying so easily and so willingly that one is led to say ... that this people has not so much lost its liberty as won its enslavement. --

Etienne de la Boetie, The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude



As a 45-year-old single mother of two who cared for a crippled brother, Robin McDermott was well-acquainted with adversity. When Robin's brother woke her up early in the morning on January 23, 1998 to tell her that her older son, Morgan Smith, was being arrested on a DUI charge, she knew things were about to get just a touch worse.


The resident of Springfield, Missouri most likely did not anticipate being needlessly attacked by a police dog, hauled off to jail, and spending the next decade in a lengthy legal struggle with a corrupt and abusive municipal government -- simply because she failed to demonstrate the cringing, reflexive submission expected from those of us who don't wear government-issued costumes.


Bleary-eyed from lack of rest, clad in slippers and a nightshirt, Robin turned on the porch light and stepped outside to learn what was going on. She asked the officer who had conducted a field sobriety test if Morgan could briefly speak with her inside the house; she wanted to satisfy herself that her son had indeed been driving while intoxicated.


"He said, `Well, it's a little late for that. He's going to jail,'" Robin recalled in an interview with the Springfield News-Leader, mimicking Officer Tom Royal's smug, officious tone.


Understandably offended by the dismissive tax-feeder (or, to use her preferred description, "donut-burner") in her driveway, Robin found her mood worsening as the police deployed a drug-sniffing dog named Caesar to search Morgan's vehicle. She went into her house, put on some jeans, made a 911 call to protest the officers' behavior, and then went back out to her porch to confront them again.


As a student of constitutional law who was well acquainted with police tactics, Robin was justifiably suspicious that the officers -- five in all -- were looking for a pretext to forfeit the pickup truck and anything else on which they could put their hands. Her suspicion was sharpened when the police allowed the dog off its leash to roam freely around the property -- a violation of the city's "dog at large" ordinance.


Knowing that it was possible to tow the pickup truck to another location to continue the search, Robin ordered the police off her property. The officers refused, despite the fact -- confirmed in subsequent legal proceedings -- that they had already summoned a tow truck and had thus had no reason at all to conduct the search in the driveway.


By this time, Robin's fuses were thoroughly blown, a fact reflected in the increasingly salty language she used to demand explanations from the police -- particularly regarding the large, potentially violent dog that they were permitting to run loose in her front yard.


Robin never budged from her front porch -- meaning that she was more than thirty feet away from the scene of the search. As a federal court would observe later: "At no point did she offer any force or violence, or threat thereof, nor did she seek to close the distance between herself and police."


Nonetheless, Robin was thrown face-down on the ground by Officer Royal, handcuffed, and arrested under a city ordinance forbidding citizens to "resist or obstruct a city officer making an arrest or serving any legal writ, warrant or process or attempting to execute any other duty imposed on him by law."


No, not
that Springfield -- although Springfield, Missouri's municipal, while just as inept as the one depicted in The Simpsons, is much more corrupt.




Robin's "resistance" or "obstruction" consisted of heckling a knot of self-important armed bureaucrats who were acting as petty tyrants by seeking a pretext to expand their DUI-related search.


Her "crime" was to display insufficient docility in the face of armed aggression by agents of the state. As she commented in a telephone interview with Pro Libertate, "I wasn't cordial enough for their tastes when they invaded my property."


"You would beat up an old grandma?" Robin protested as Royal rudely cuffed her wrists.


"If you're a grandma, why don't you act like one?" Royal reportedly replied.


While Royal assaulted and taunted her, Robin endured an even greater violation of her person: Caesar, who had been permitted to run free, vaulted onto the porch and bit Robin several times in the thigh and buttocks, leaving her with severe puncture wounds. She was shuttled to a local hospital and then to jail in a police wagon the interior of which was drenched in urine; this helps explain why the wounds inflicted by Caesar (and, indirectly, by his criminally negligent handler) would become infected and fester for weeks.


Released from jail the following morning, Robin's inchoate anger had been catalyzed into resolve.


"I went to bed that night thinking I was at least secure in my own bedroom, my own property," she recalled to Pro Libertate. "The next thing I know there are police -- armed men -- strutting across my property and arrogantly dismissing my rights. They just can't treat people that way."


As is the case with all ordinances of its kind, Springfield's edict against "resisting and obstructing" a police officer was designed to give cops a bludgeon to harass, intimidate, and punish people who annoy them without committing an actual crime.


Representing herself, with a public defender in an advisory role, Robin requested a jury trial -- which was heard in a county court, rather than by a Springfield municipal judge. She won acquittal on the charge of obstructing an officer and a second charge of third-degree assault (arising from an uncorroborated allegation that she bit one of the arresting officers while in the hospital, which, if true, would have required that Robin receive treatment for rabies).


Exonerated of any "criminal" behavior, Robin proceeded to give the city of Springfield unshirted hell.


With the benefit of a smattering of legal education and a full, foamy head of righteous rage, Robin filed a civil rights lawsuit against Springfield, Police Chief Lynn Rowe, several officers, and the assistant city prosecutor. This began a legal war of attrition that would last nine years, cost Springfield an estimated $11,587.16, exhaust the services of six city attorneys, and -- more importantly -- claim countless hours of Robin's life that she could have put to much better use had she not been needlessly assaulted on her own front porch that chilly January morning.




A wonderful creature perverted into a weapon of terror and repression:
Police abuse of dogs both at home (left) and abroad (below, right).


On two occasions, Robin's suit was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Dean Whipple, who ruled that she had been properly arrested.



Referring to Judge Whipple, Robin commented to Pro Libertate: "He's the onriest, most willful old cuss -- he's just as stubborn as I am. In spite of everything, I just adore him, because he was fair. He understood that I'm not an attorney, and he was willing to help me understand many of the difficult legal issues, but he didn't give me any latitude; he forced me to make my case. I think it would be fun to play a round of golf with him, or maybe spend some time shooting pool."


After each dismissal, Robin -- displaying the tenacity of a Pitbull -- filed another appeal. On her third attempt she succeeded in getting a jury trial. In an odd turn of events, the same Judge Whipple who had twice dismissed Robin's case ruled that the Springfield anti-obstruction statute -- Ordinance 26-17 -- improperly allowed the police to criminalize constitutionally protected speech. This resulted in a judicial order that Springfield pay Robin $25,000 as punishment for violating her rights.


Displaying a dishonest child's gift for depraved creativity and a pathological indifference to truth, the Springfield municipal government had restructured its ordinance code; by the time Judge Whipple ruled against Springfield, the measure in question was not listed as Ordinance 26-17, but rather 78-32(1). This supposedly meant that the ruling didn't apply to the current law.


(The city government had earlier played a similar trick with the municipal "dog at large" ordinance, quietly revising it subsequent to Robin's arrest to provide an exception for the police.)


Not only did Judge Whipple not buy that argument, he was offended that Springfield was trying to sell it: On August 13 he issued an order barring enforcement of the ordinance, by whatever designation the city chose for it.


And yet, Springfield continues in its dilatory tactics.


"They haven't paid a cent," Robin reported to Pro Libertate. "They're trying to get me to sign a settlement document that would hold them `harmless,' and refusing to release the money to me until I do. They've gone so far as to send me a scanned copy of the check for $25,000 and said that all I have to do is get it is to sign a document dismissing any further claims against the city `with prejudice.'"


Robin is smart enough to understand that the officials making that offer are not negotiating from a position of strength, where the legal issues are concerned.


"I've filed a motion for civil contempt," she explains. "I'm requesting that the court impose a continuing penalty of $1,000 a day until they pay me what they owe me." Regrettably, those costs will be passed along to the productive residents of Springfield, rather than being extracted from the representatives of the parasite class responsible for the violation of Robin McDermott's rights -- but she isn't responsible for that fact.


Robin's long-sought and hard-won triumph shouldn't engender unrealistic hopes that we can beat the statist system by using that system; her happy outcome is a blessed anomaly. Had the same incident occurred in 2008, rather than 1998, it's entirely possible that some overgrown adolescent in uniform would have shot or tasered Robin to death.


During the decade that Robin battled for her rights in court, overkill has become institutionalized -- a fact of which she is painfully aware. "Our local Sheriff just applied for a grant to buy a grenade launcher with drug forfeiture funds," she complained to me. "Just what on earth does the Sheriff need with a grenade launcher?"


Robin McDermott, a small woman with burdens that would have daunted Atlas, is a "real American" -- an individual who, in the words of former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper, is willing to meet the police "at the threshold at home and [say], `no, you can't come in. Show me your warrant.'"


In this age of collectivist conformity, real Americans are tragically thin on the ground. One of them lives in Springfield, Missouri.


Video Extra

The Praetorian Presumption in full, malignant flower: "We're not on the same level. I'm up here, you're down there":




A note of thanks --

It is impossible for me to give adequate expression to the gratitude I feel, on behalf of my family, to all of you who have offered prayers, kind words, and many very generous gifts to us during our recent month from hell. I earnestly hope that I will be able to express thanks in a more personalized way.


My health is improving (I'm at about 80 percent right now -- not ready for a cage fight, certainly, but at least I'm no longer bleeding to death) and we've found a suitable new home at literally the last minute. With those concerns taken care of, our other problems will become tractable. Thank you, once again, for helping us in our time of dire need. -- Will


Be sure to listen to Pro Libertate Radio on the Liberty News Radio Network.











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Dum spiro, pugno!










19 comments:

Josh Parris said...

Very glad to see you back Mr. Grigg. You were missed and have been in my thoughts.

"Our local Sheriff just applied for a grant to buy a grenade launcher with drug forfeiture funds."


Funny, the Dallas County Constables Office has requested tens of thousands of dollars for "suppressors" for their para-miltary gangs' weapons.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/sblow/stories/DN-blow_20met.ART.Central.Edition1.4baafd8.html

"Constable Roma Skinner startled Dallas County commissioners earlier this year with a budget request for silencers for his SWAT team.

Commissioners wondered why law-enforcement officers need weapon silencers.

A better question is why a constable needs a SWAT team – or Special Response Team, as Skinner calls his commandos.

In a photo on Skinner's Web site (www.dallascounty constable.com), the Special Response Team looks like a band of masked storm troopers.

We have police for police work. Let's get constables back to paperwork.

I want constables who remind me of Andy Taylor, not Darth Vader."

Tangalor said...

Glad to see you back Will!

As to that video: EPIC FAIL on that cop at the end. Those kinds of guys sure as hell should get better at hiding, and in a hurry..

'Undercover' indeed..

Anonymous said...

Good to see you back in fighting form (almost) again Will. Your voice is one that needs to be heard and heard often!

"Robin's long-sought and hard-won triumph shouldn't engender unrealistic hopes that we can beat the statist system by using that system". This is reality that I came to long ago - the system is a rigged game and the individual is on the losing end.

Nothing cemented my absolute contempt for the legal system like my own experience in the kangaroo family kourts.

As such my predisposition is parasite-class (judges, cops, attorneys, et. al.) and coyotes - No Season, No bag limit ought to be the order of the day (and I'd give coyotes a break). I don't care who is accused of taking out one of these parasites - no matter how depraved their crime(s) - they get a pass from me on eliminating a parasite.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

Anonymous said...

These cops all think they're so tough. Their arrogance will be their downfall. They have no idea what they're in for when someone finally gets sick enough of their abusiveness to decide to lock and load on them.

Really, they're asking for it. And that's by design--our paramilitary oppressors are being trained to be as obviously, flagrantly repressive as possible, in order to make them into a sort of honey pot; when someone finally goes ahead and ambushes a SWAT team, it will be used as a pretext to clamp down on the entire liberty movement with extreme prejudice.

Anonymous said...

Will's back. Thank goodness he and his family pulled through.

To echo Sic Semper, our culture has changed. A disaffected remnant still values constitutional rights. But most do not. Otherwise they wouldn't put up with the corrupt outrage of the Wars on Drugs and Terrorism.

It took 13 years to overturn the mistake of alcohol prohibition. But Nixon's drug war is approaching its 40th anniversary. Democratic accountability has atrophied. The statist system can pursue its own priorities, unobstructed by public revulsion.

The ultimate check on this putrified, illegitimate system will be its own bankruptcy. The U.S. fedgov is liquid but insolvent, meaning it has negative net worth. As long as it can peddle T-bills every Monday, it can soldier on for another week. The day the Treasury auction fails, or interest rates shoot into double digits, it will be over in a hurry.

Our government has no money. It sports an imposing marble facade. But inside is nothing but empty, looted, cobwebbed squalor. The emperors have no clothes, comrades.

TJP said...

Mr. Grigg,

Relieved that you are pulling through and coping with your hardship. I have no doubt you will persevere; you are independent and strong, and lesser men would have succumbed to illness waiting for a bogus miracle of the State.

I do have a few comments to add, mostly in response to the comments here. Now is not the appropriate time in which to point this out to Ms. McDermott, but the State certainly can (and will) do that to people. It consumes the production of nearly half of the labor of the people, and reserves the unrestrained right to arms for itself. The only remaining option is escape. To illustrate the futility of this tactic, I ask the reader to name a portion of Antarctica that has not yet been claimed by a government.

I respectfully disagree that there is a change in our culture; all of recorded human history--except for a few years at the end of the 18th Century--is a record of the people worshiping at the Altar of the State, willingly or otherwise. The people of this country have simply reverted back to typical behavior.

It is also no concern that the State's currency has little value beyond the cost to print it; the people's labor is a resource that will never be exhausted--unless the people so desire. The previous paragraph, however, illustrates why this will never happen.

liberranter said...

These cops all think they're so tough. Their arrogance will be their downfall. They have no idea what they're in for when someone finally gets sick enough of their abusiveness to decide to lock and load on them.

That day is coming soon than anyone cares to imagine. While it goes without saying that most of us are averse to violence and that even the most dedicated liberty lovers among us tend to grow squeamish at the thought of open civil disobedience, we need to remember that the judicious exercise of such in response to UNPROVOKED AGRESSION is not a crime. Rather, it is the exercise of one's God-given right of self-defense, extra-legal fiat to the contrary notwithstanding.

Really, they're asking for it. And that's by design--our paramilitary oppressors are being trained to be as obviously, flagrantly repressive as possible, in order to make them into a sort of honey pot; when someone finally goes ahead and ambushes a SWAT team, it will be used as a pretext to clamp down on the entire liberty movement with extreme prejudice.

Obviously true. On the bright side, however, the "liberty movement" is not one, large, monolithic, omnipresent, omnipotent entity, but a disparate collection of individuals, families, communities, friendships, and small groups acting in their own mutual best interests. As such it does not present a clear target for the imperial forces, but an amorphous "threat" without clear definition, location, strength, or phyiscal presence. Given the fact that Leviathan has never been able to fight, much less win a fourth generation war (and that's exactly what the coming struggle to regain liberty will be), there is no reason to think that they will have any permanent or long-term success at doing so in the future, even if their own continued existence is threatened. This can only be good news for a new and freer future.

ØßĦŶΏ said...

W.N.G. I just read an article about a fire chief in tiny Arkansas town getting shot with a sidearm in a courtroom by a sherriff during a hearing over a speeding ticket. Of course no charges are being brought against anyone. A systemic corruption pandemic or are they just following the example set in D.C.

Lemuel Gulliver said...

ØßĦŶΏ - You serious??? Could you please give us more information on that - what town, a link to the article, etc?
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Fire Chief shooting, Arkansas

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/03/national/a124454D13.DTL

http://www.firefightingnews.com/article.cfm?articleID=70261

Ex-JBS said...

Lemuel,

You can find the hyperlink to the story about the cops shooting the fire chief on this post by Karen DeCoster on Lew Rockwell's blog September 7th -

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/35292.html

Lemuel Gulliver said...

Thank you all for the links. I read the story - amazing. Seven armed men (the entire police force for a community of only 174 people - 174!!) against one unarmed man and they shoot him in the back. And one wonders, too, why the entire police force had to show up in the courtroom? The judge too has apparently resigned.

Yul Brynner should have made a movie about this - set it in a Mexican village of 174 lost souls and call it The Malignant Seven.

I think this country is beyond hope - it is swiftly turning into Zimbabwe On The Potomac or The Amerikistan Soviet Socialist Republic. Thank God I never gave up my Brit passport when I became a US citizen - it's a warm feeling to know I can always escape, to any of 26 nations in Europe. Over there, they have bitter and recent memories of the consequences of this type of fascist oppression, and are very wary of letting it rear its nasty head again.

But the American sheeple never suffered this kind of evil, and are meekly letting it take root and grow (not the readers of this blog, but the general public.) Eventually, Americans will become a wiser and sadder people, but I don't need or want to stick around to experience their education in the meaning of barbarism.

Grenade launchers and silenced machine guns indeed. We know they already have APCs, which they used against women and children in the LDS compound in Texas. Next they will want Apache helicopters with antipersonnel missiles, tanks with 155 mm cannon, flechette munitions and phosphorous bombs, like the Israelis use against Palestinian women and children. Which our own storm troopers will plan to use against American women and children.

Robin McDermott is lucky not to have been shot. Yet. If you talk to her, Will, tell her to wear a bulletproof vest next time she is in court - backwards, since they like to shoot their victims in the back when they aren't looking.

Fellow freedom lovers, make plans now while you still have options, before it is too late and you find the gates shut. Take a cue from Will, and have your contingency plans ready.

Lemuel Gulliver.

liberranter said...

But the American sheeple never suffered this kind of evil, and are meekly letting it take root and grow (not the readers of this blog, but the general public.) Eventually, Americans will become a wiser and sadder people, but I don't need or want to stick around to experience their education in the meaning of barbarism.

I've long since concluded that the only way Amoricons will ever get over their love of militaristic violence will be when the majority of them suffer on the receiving end of it, either from their own countrymen or some foreign enemy (most likely from the former). As sick as it makes me feel to say it, I simply don't see any other way of curing the infection of jingoistic militarist exceptionalism from which Amoricons suffer other than through a dose of the medicine that their beloved imperial government has so eagerly administered to unfortunate foreigners who have stood in its way.

As for expatriating, while that is certainly a temptation (and while I dearly miss my youthful years of living abroad), the patriot within me tells me that running away isn't an option. Futile (and lethal) as it will probably ultimately be, I intend to stay right where I am and fight to restore sanity and liberty. To keep running away from a problem that is sure to follow you wherever you go will ultimately mean running out of places to hide.

Anonymous said...

One thing I've observed while traveling in countries which formerly were under martial law governments -- in the aftermath, citizens no longer retain the naive faith in the essential goodness of their leaders that Americans possess. Like the immunity won by recovering from an infectious disease, their cultivated doubt about politicians' good intentions serves as a safeguard against fascism taking root again.

Americans have no such immunity. What I call healthy skepticism, they call corrosive cynicism.

Federalism is dead -- the stars 'n stripes wave from every telephone pole, while school kids probably don't even know what their state flag looks like.

Corruption is rife -- witness the multi-trillion dollar Bush/Obama corporate looting spree -- but wage slaves solidier on working for peanuts.

These true believers in 'good government' will be easy victims for the butchers and jackals who have taken charge now. Foreign wars are training grounds for domestic law enforcement. How soon before failing to stop at a seatbelt checkpoint earns you a lethal fusillade of Homeland Security machine-gun fire through the windshield?

We're all Afghans now. Your papers, please.

Anonymous said...

http://www.inquisitr.com/35971/upset-police-shoot-complaining-fire-chief-in-arkansas-courtroom/

Anonymous said...

Great articles! If Mr. Grigg were able to publish a weekly column at the major newspapers, the people would rise up in revolution against these criminal institutions.
Wishful thinking.

dixiedog said...

Glad you're doin' OK, Will. As long as we trust in His strength and are willin' to abide by His will for our life, we'll do fine by His measuring stick anyway. Yes, it's hard for me to say that, given what I've observed others in their trials and tribulations, as well as myself and my own, go through; nevertheless, I say what I mean and believe to be true. I reckon we should also keep Job in mind as well ;).

I would have to agree with your sentiments about this woman, but I hate to be a harbinger of negativity. Nevertheless, does she understand her fellow local commoners' roll in HOW and WHY this "criminal clique" is comfortably ensconced and presiding over the affairs of the folk in Springfield, MO. in the first place?

I read Ilana Mercer's interview with Paul Gottfried and, lo' and behold, I definitely share Mr. Gottfried's "anti-populist" mentality in general and even in most of the details except that, unlike Mr. Gottfried, I believe elitists DO play a large roll as well as the masses unwittingly sowing the seeds of their own enslavement.

I see this association as somewhat of a perverse symbiotic relationship b/w the elitists and the hapless, ignorant commoners. The two are seeking different ends through similar means (the perverse symbiosis) - the masses are seeking ease, comfort, and pleasure by government fiat, while the elitists are seeking ever more power and control likewise by government fiat - and the one desire actually benefits the other desire. This kind of symbiosis, as usual, will inevitably end badly for ALL concerned, but the masses naturally will experience the destruction first and firsthand.

Anyway, a very good interview. The core problem with America is that its once relatively stalwart moral foundation has gradually over the past century been studiously chipped away and we're now truly beginning to reap the harsh harvest of that reality in terms of corrupt government, bigger government, corrupt corporations, bigger (more global-centric) corporations, collapsing economy and unemployment, crud-crusted Laodiceian churches, lousy schools, sex-crazed teachers, an increasingly effeminate national character, and on the list goes.

All of it courtesy of we the people!

Speaking of Buchanan's "Is America coming apart" column, it would actually be apropos if we're indeed being torn asunder. And if we are, which should be anticipated and expected given our insane diversity of perversity devotion among other craptastic things, then this country deserves to become irrelevant on the world scene.

Bleh...it's about time if you ask me. "Death to that Amerika!"

Lastly, hope you stay well, Will, and keep us updated.

Keir said...

Living in China, I get so demoralised seeing how everyone back home seems to be appeasing this oppressive, fascist regime. Then I spend 45 minutes looking at your site and it seems there's little distinction between us and them. Except that here people would rather stock up on fake DVDs and get rich quick rather than concern themselves with such things as state torture and corruption. China needs its citizens to be like you, Sir, but then Blogger and countless other sites are blocked by the regime so it's hard to see how it can start.

Michael D. Small said...

e-Mail to:
Shreveport, Louisiana
Mayor Cedric Glover,

Your recitation about the powers of the Shreveport Police Department seriously disturb me and many in this country. I am sure you are hearing from all corners of the United States today and will for some time to come. It appears you do not know your own rights under the US Constitution so I have to ask how you can protect the citizens of Shreveport?

The incident where an individual was standing outside his vehicle and facing a police officer in a manner that apparently there was no evidence of any type of risk to the police officer, the person being confronted or the general public tells me that the police officer and the policies being taught are in direct violation of more than the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of these United States and greatly exceed the authority of government.

I would hope you would consider the things you said that people of this country are hearing and think about your own rights. If you are not aware, this country is failing badly because of the lack of proper leadership of elected officials and many of the citizens are not at all satisfied with the fact our freedoms are being systematically removed. I must remind you sir, that this country was founded on a government of the people, by the people and for the people and not as we see today; of the Government, for the Government and by the Government.

Your police officers have no right to ascertain if a person has a gun or not; if a gun might be inside a vehicle or inside someones home, if there is no reason to ask such a question based on the lack of any kind of perceived or real threat to ask such questions. In this case, it seems there was no reason what so ever to ask such a question.

I never carry a weapon and I do not hunt any more. That being said, I could and do have the freedom to either based upon the 2nd Amendment and since it seems this person was asked simply because of the stickers on his vehicle that represent his stance on the 2nd Amendment, and his rights as a Citizen of the United States, I will ask all my friends and acquaintances to place NRA and other stickers on their vehicles. Perhaps, we will get enough feed back across the United States to start removing the leadership that seems not to understand the purpose of the United States Constitution.

Yes, I am forwarding the clip to many people all over this country and around the world so they can hear what you have said to this gentleman. As you probably are aware by now many people are doing just this very thing.

One more thing, I do understand the threat toward police officers because of certain elements within society. I have been in the position of supervisor over security forces within communities, and I never overstepped my authority when it came to the rights of citizens. Yet, I also understand the fact that many police officers and others in law enforcement have been involved in practices that are illegal and justified only for commercial value; "the almighty dollar!" That sir is a matter of record. I will add that I was not trained in the field of law enforcement, but I had a duty to fulfill for communities I lived in because there was no law enforcement. Common Sense is what one must go by and an understanding of human rights and the rights granted under the United States Constitution.

This bring up one more point. Our Police Cars all over the United States use to say, "To Serve and Protect" but today they say "Law Enforcement!" Is this not a statement of governmental force over a people who pay the salaries of people like you and the men and women serving in uniform? What has happened to my country?

I ask that you reconsider the training standards of the police serving the city of Shreveport, Louisiana. This is still the United States of America and the United States Constitution is still in effect even though many policy makers do not think so.

Respectfully,


Michael D. Small
US Army (Retired), Vietnam Veteran