Back in Time

 

January 28th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

I begin with a disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the following are those of the author, alone, and are not necessarily those of anyone affiliated with the Homeland Security Network, SSI or any of its subsidiaries. –R. Riggs

Not long ago, I wrote about traveling through time with Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman in the Wayback Machine. A few of you thought perhaps that I had finally been separated from what remaining part I maintained of my senses!  I assure you that I am as sane as I have ever been. True, that is perhaps not as reassuring as it first was when I thought of it; but nonetheless, it is the best I have. Some others, have, however, considered the possibility and it is not as far afield as it first sounds!

There have been some discussions regarding the necessity of determining what common characteristics those who have been guilty of acts of terror against the United States in the past have; so as, to identify those who might seek to commit acts of terrorism against the United States in the future. In other words, that are more succinct: if it walks like a duck… This has been given an inappropriately negative valuation under the now politically incorrect moniker of ‘profiling.’ Back in time, it was called ‘good police work.’

As a street police officer through the rather raucous 1970’s and 80’s, I had my share of good collars. Being a good patrol officer meant knowing your beat; whether that beat was a 10 block radius in a downtown or a three square mile population of a small town. If you could not, while sitting having coffee anywhere in town, be able to recite the position of each exterior lock mechanism at a strip mall set of stores to know when the door was locked or unlocked, you probably had not rattled enough doors in your career. You also knew which vehicles, vehicle types, individuals or individual types did not ‘fit’ in a given neighborhood at a given hour of the night. If you couldn’t, then why were you collecting a paycheck?  Good cops knew their beats.
Back in time, good cops could recite an ‘articulable suspicion’ based on factors of what is known about their patrol area.  So, when either someone did not fit in an area or a suspect car was seen that did fit the type known to be voted ‘most likely to be carrying a stolen television or bag of dope’, you made the stop and completed the F.I. card. (For those who never believed in their existence, in this computer generated age some thought they were an urban legend; I assure you that Field Interview cards, which really were 3×5 cards you filled out by hand, really did exist. And yes, we carried a pencil because ink pens didn’t write in the rain, and they would tear a wet card.)

Now there is a new breed of cop out there. He is the PC cop. He is the one always on the lookout for violations of political correctness. The PC cop would be quick to question why you singled out an individual to do an FI card on at 3:40a.m. in the back alley of the upscale leather shop just because the card says he is the member of some newly protected species.

Can you imagine a National Geographic special on these new endangered species? I can almost hear the narrator: “The (fill in any politically correct name of any PC protected species) is known for rapid flight at low altitudes –upon viewing a police officer. This species’ mating habits can be accelerated by introduction of a six pack of Milwaukee’s finest into the nest. The male of this endangered species is known to leave the female as soon as she becomes pregnant, to return at the same time each month, right around the 1st of the month, preceded by a visit to the nest by a local postal worker. He will leave the nest again as soon as another female of the species is visible on the horizon, usually a much younger version of the initial mate. This species has an inherent attraction to things of value owned by opposite species which are endangered only at tax time. The PC protected species will go to great lengths to enter the nest of the opposite species to remove items to which they are attracted and will be found within an hour of their hunt at a local watering hole, meeting other males of their species to exchange the items taken for hallucinogenic, naturally regenerated vegetation, (which is usually dropped by the species when in flight as described above.)” That is a National Geographic special worth watching!

However, our topic here is terrorists, although they too may be on the PC Protected Species list. Already certain terms related to Islamo-terrorism and jihad are facing extinction from U.S. government printed law enforcementtraining material on terrorism. Oh, that’s correct (politically correct), Islamo-terrorism and jihad are on that list also. (See Senator Joe Lieberman’s List of Seven Dirty Terrorism Words You Can’t Use in Literature) CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) and other pro-Al Qaeda groups have pushed for U.S. officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller to direct what is printed in law enforcement counter-terrorism materials to be in line with PC  Standards. (Thankfully, Congresswoman Sue Myrick, R-NC, has pushed back and the brakes may be on…[i])

Back in time, we could identify the enemy combatants against the United States so that every U.S. citizen knew who it was we were fighting, why, and how to help. Let me be clear: The U.S. should not be fighting a ‘war on terror.’ We should be waging an all-out war against terrorists and anyone who gives safe harbor or any type of assistance to a terrorist. In some of my earlier writing, I used the terminology of the day, ‘war on terror’ but it is time for a redaction and correction. If any country or government decides to give aid to our enemy, like a flotilla of ships with civilians to bring aid to someone with whom we are at war (including those who have attacked our allies*); they should also be considered an enemy combatant. Any civilians, who take part in such an operation, should be considered enemy combatants and if they are American citizens they should be arrested and tried for treason.
                                                                                                          
Back in time, people honored their commitments. American people, in general, I believe, still do even if our government doesn’t. We are at war. Just as we were at war on December 8, 1941 and just as we were on September 12, 2001, we are at war today. Terrorists like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have sworn to wipe us and our ally Israel “off of the map.” He runs a pseudo-army called Hezbollah from Lebanon which has individually, collectively and corporately killed American GI’s in Iraq and Afghanistan. He funds HAMAS and stockpiles for them and other Palestinian factions: mortars, rockets and weaponry that are fired at, and have killed, our allies living as peaceful civilians in the sovereign nation of Israel. Whether Ahmadinejad has currently the ability to put a nuclear weapon on the end of a rocket, or not, he has already gained the exclusive right to be blown right to his reward, whatever that might be. The Iranian people, although they should have stopped this madness themselves, deserve to be free from this tyrant who is putting their lives and the lives of their children in dire jeopardy every time he thumbs his nose at Israel and the United States. We are used to small people thumbing their noses at us, that is not the problem. The problem is that same thumb rests against the switch of major military weapons and enough is enough.

And for you, the street cop who is probably a United States military veteran, have patiently read my diatribe hoping that somewhere in here I will get to the point; are one of those that deserves to be the angriest. Your family and even your children’s children will be forced to live with the consequences of the action or inaction of us who now stand guard. The Bible says, “Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) The reckless spending, the non-existent foreign policy, the political correctness that makes it nearly impossible for you to do your job effectively and especially the complete disregard for the Christian principles upon which this nation was founded are all reasons you deserve to carry a righteous anger. I hope you carry it all the way to the voting booths this spring and in November. I hope you carry it as you decide whether to support causes like safeguarding the Second Amendment. I hope you carry it with you and pass it to your children and your co-workers and anyone else who will listen. After over 230 years of American history, will we be the generation that allows our colors to come down from the ramparts of Fort Sumter and hundreds of other proud military bases around the world, a nation lost to the history books; devoid of any good thing? I don’t know about you, but I say, NOT ON MY WATCH!

Back in time, a man’s word stood for something and his Christian faith drove his honor. I hope and pray that we, as Americans, get our values straightened out and our country back – in time!

[Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Director Global Security Consulting – a subsidiary of Security Consulting Investigations, LLC your premier private investigative service internationally] 
________________________________________

(*allies – defined: A country, government or people group with whom we have sworn an allegiance to share mutual protection, an allegiance which cannot be broken by any one administration; old English term as in WWII – not known in the current vernacular, see United States, history of; Revised. See: Israel, history of; Revised)

Are You Believing a Lie?

January 24th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

POLICE BLOTTER - What would it take for you to use your law enforcement authority against a neighbor you knew had never broken a criminal law? “That could never happen!”, you say. That is because you are a good cop, a good citizen of your community, a patriot of your country. But, what if someone changed the definitions on you? What if the definition of what it means to be a good cop, good citizen etc. changed? What if a whole new set of laws came down of which your neighbor is definitely ‘guilty?’ Even if at first, you are not sure you believe the new laws are right, so many people, the majority it seems, believe that they are. That is impossible!

Wrong!   

January 27^th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Set to the anniversary day of the liberation of the Auschwitz Death Camp, the Holocaust Remembrance Day comes in an era when Holocaust deniers are prolific, the nation of Iran is threatening to eliminate Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah cry out for killing of all Jews. The Jerusalem Mufti this past Sunday called for “Jews to be killed wherever they are…”[i] a repetition of the words of Haj Amin Al Husseini, the Mufti’s predecessor, who helped Hitler and Eichmann in their quest to exterminate the Jewish race.

But what does that have to do with me, a cop in 2012 in America? The greatest act of terrorism ever committed against a people began with one man spreading a new definition of ‘good’ and a new list of laws that the people allowed themselves to be told were for their betterment. All of the blame for the bad economy, the crime, the hunger… everything that was wrong could be blamed on one people. All the ‘good’ people had to do was rid the world of these ‘criminals’ of the Jewish faith. One man. Just one. So when it happens here, will you be one of the few who stand up and say “NO! Not on my watch!”? Will you? Really? When they take your family? When your children are starving? Really?

Romani children at Auschwitz January 27, 1945

The only way to prevent such horrific acts of terrorism is to stop it before it can begin. As funny Deputy Barney Fife comically said, “Nip it in the bud!” Well, Don Knotts was a very funny man but this is not funny. Madmen such as Ahmadinejad of Iran must be stopped long before they can wield the power that he already does. The world, and the United States in particular, should have taken care of this issue long before now but as you, the beat cop patrol tonight and the nights leading up to January 27^th, if it is really cold where you are; think about those freezing and frozen Romani kids at Auschwitz when those first American and Allied tanks rolled up to the gates. Maybe someone like you could have stood up for them long before they ended up in a German death camp. Maybe someone wanted to – but didn’t.

If you believe it cannot happen again, are you believing a lie? George Santayana, a Spanish philosopher once wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”[ii]

[Dr. Ross L. Riggs, Director Global Security Consulting a subsidiary of Security Consulting Investigations, LLC your premier private investigations consulting service worldwide www.security-consulting.us]

---

The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland (Dec. 10, 1942)

[i] Jerusalem Post reported by Joel Rosenberg in Flash Traffic Jan 25 2012

[ii] All photos courtesy Wikipedia on-line: holocaust

Too Stupid to Breath ?

 

January 20th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs
 

I am writing this blog from about 32,000 feet, soon to be back in one of the more interesting places on the face of the earth for people like us. Time to think as we cruise along at breakneck speeds, indiscernible because of our altitude and the dark night sky helps me write. (Some guys just use a study and a desk; I have to have a million dollar aircraft!) Recently a YouTube copy of a dash-cam recording of a traffic stop went viral. This was much to the dismay of the police department involved and for me personally. I know the department and the many good men and women who wear its shield. The officer’s diatribe and vicious anger toward someone eventually charged with Carrying a Concealed Weapon (failure to notify law enforcement officer of permit) was disgraceful. By now, I am fairly certain any weapons charges against him will be dropped for a number of reasons unless his Blood Alcohol Content put him under disability. First, it is amazingly apparent in the video that the subject was trying, from the time he was stopped and asked for his license that he was trying to tell the officer he had a permit and showing him the permit itself, but the officer refused to look at it or even acknowledge the driver. He had tunnel vision on the passenger.

Having spent thirteen years on the streets before moving to become a Chief, (I started to write “moving up to Chief” and I don’t necessarily subscribe to the vertical part of that statement), I think I can write intelligently about the issue, unlike many who have filled web pages with misinformation. This post would go on for pages if I were to document all of the mistakes, tactical errors, prejudicial and hate-filled comments of the officer. The same is true of the subject who was driving his car in the worst part of town, giving rides to drug dealing pimps and their prostitutes and taking payment for the ride in trade and carrying a gun, even with a state issued permit!

As the dust settles, the court cases continue and the officer has been fired from the department. I have worked with officers with short fused tempers, a couple of them very sharp, intelligent cops but their anger cost them and their partners, not to mention their departments. My concern, demonstrated so clearly in this case is the extreme tunnel vision that can occur, not just in someone who has anger issues but for any cop too focused on the collar. In this case, while the drug dealing pimp is pulled out, arrested cuffed and stuffed, the senior partner is now focused on the group on the sidewalk, mostly druggies and prostitutes. The junior, though certainly no rookie, was climbing in and out of the backseat of the suspect vehicle looking for the drugs. In and out, the driver: never removed from the car, still sitting behind the steering wheel with car keys in the ignition, and carrying a gun! Again, the senior officer walking around dealing with the persons on the curb, not watching his partner’s back even a little bit.

Then, finally, the second officer gets to the driver and as he has been since the beginning is trying to show them a card indicating he is armed. When the second officer sees it and realizes how close he came to be a “hero” by forgetting tactics completely his adrenalin goes through the roof and the driver is brought out of the car and introduced to the trunk lid. Now Officer Congeniality goes viral! Again the diatribe goes on for some time with the officer telling him that he is too stupid to be taking up oxygen needed by real people and that he should shoot him right now (by this time he is cuffed in the back of the patrol car, but while you watch, you expect to hear a gunshot at any time!)

Colleagues behind the badge, I know you work long hours. I know that court cases eat up sleep time. I know that on certain shifts in certain zones you deal with what seems to be a ‘different’ class of people. I know how dangerous it is and how trying to keep alert, (we used to use the term on ‘Yellow’) all the time ready to go to ‘Red’ can wear you down. But… too much is riding on you doing your job, doing it well, doing it safely and doing it smartly for you to be content with ‘just getting home at the end of your shift.’

Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer that getting home in one piece at the EOS is a priority but if it comes at a cost of doing a good job, it isn’t enough. You might have what we used to term the “I’m caught by a train” mentality. We all know officers that always seem to time their arrival on scene at the same time everything is under control. No matter their location when the call comes out, they never seem to be first through the door, unless it’s the squad room door and someone brought in donuts.

In my article “SARS)))))” published in the Counter Terrorist a couple of years ago, I remarked on the sign that stands at the entrance to the National Fusion Center. “Today is September 12, 2001” We must adopt the mentality that comes with that thinking. We have to be as sharp and alert as we were on September 12, 2001. It is great that there have been no major attacks on U.S. soil since 9-11; but many know that it is not because of the enemy’s lack of trying! It is because of the vigilance of so many and the dedication to duty by officers from all jurisdictions.

George C. Scott in the opening monologue of the classic movie “Patton” says, “I don’t want to hear about anyone of you dying for your country. You live for yours. Let some other dumb “SOB” die for his country!” Our families deserve to have us come home at the end of a shift and we’d like to retire and enjoy the fruit of our labor but everyone who dons a uniform and every family member who watches with pride their cop go off to work also knows that any shift could be their last. Make it count for something. Don’t give up your precious life because you lacked clarity of thought, were careless or you did not ‘watch the hands.’ If you are on top of your game, you are doing everything just right and your number falls, then it is what it is. If you are called upon to pay the ultimate price, make sure you bought something worthwhile with it.

Terrorists continue to threaten our homeland. The stats are overwhelming, particularly through the porous southwestern and northern borders. Follow every lead. Turn over every rock. If you are going to get angry, get a righteous anger. Be angry against those who would try to terrorize your country, your community or your family. But even in your righteous anger, allow it to motivate you to do more and to do it better. Let it motivate you to be sharper mentally and more powerful physically. Let that righteous anger drive you to the gym to work out and stay in shape and let it push you to read more, take more training and be better at communicating with your citizens in the very neighborhoods that seem to hate your presence, know that it is here that people on the street know when something is up.

I believe it is a good thing that this one vociferous, antagonizing, hot-headed out of control cop is done. That department will be better for it. Administrators and chiefs (one is cop the other isn’t – it’s my blog, my opinion not HSN’s) you have no excuse for not keeping your ranks trimmed from officers like this. I used to blame civil service or the actions of previous ‘administrations’ for the officers I knew should not be out there. But even with unions and arbitration and a sensational chasing media; you have the tools if you take the time to use them to get these folks out from behind a badge.

Keep focused. Let’s find the bad guys and put them away. Let us send a message across the globe and in our neighborhoods, “If you intend to try to harm us – we will find you and we will throw the full force of the law at you.”

Stay safe and God bless.

Are You Ready?

 

January 6th, 2012 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs
 

There is no doubt that on the city streets of America those with connections to Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and the Mexican drug cartels and America’s law enforcement officers can come face to face with them at any time. Are you ready?

John Dillinger Public Enemy #1

In a recent movie for television, the story of John Dillinger, “Public Enemies” according to then Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover was on the run from the law. FBI Agent Melvin Purvis told Hoover that the men he had were not ready to take on such a violent bunch as the Dillinger gang and if he did not receive men with appropriate training, he would be leading the agents into a “slaughter.”

As I stood this evening at the stall of a firing range and I could see the physical changes in my own skill with my long-standing friend, a Colt 45 ACP, I could not help but wonder of how ready I am to respond now compared to how ready I was thirty years ago when I first worked a beat. Am I still ready to take on the challenge? Any officer who does not ask that of him or herself is not prepared for the reality of an al Qaeda operative exiting a vehicle, firearm drawn when stopped for a traffic violation.

According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, “The growing nexus between Hezbollah and Mexican drug cartels allows the Iran-backed extremist group to make use of drug cartel transit routes to gain entry into the United States through its porous border with Mexico. Hezbollah, in turn, offers Mexican syndicates expertise on smuggling and explosives as well as access to its drug trafficking networks in the Middle East and South Asia.” The IPT goes on to report that, “Although there have been no confirmed cases of Hezbollah moving terrorists across the Mexico border to carry out attacks in the United States, Hezbollah members and supporters have entered the country this way.”

Aayman Joumaa's Drug Trafficking Organization

The man accused of plotting to kill the Saudi Arabia ambassador in Washington D.C. was a Texas used car salesman. Recently in Virginia a Lebanese man was charged with smuggling 100 tons, of Colombian cocaine in connection with the Las Zetas cartel from Mexico. That same man has direct ties to Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy army in Lebanon.
Do you believe that a non-American who can smuggle 200,000 lbs. of Colombian cocaine for the Mexican cartels, the nation of Iran and Hezbollah would have any hesitation at all in shooting a street cop in America? Are you ready?

FBI National Academy Associates magazine Oct 2011

There are many things you can do. Be prepared physically. Only you can do that. Be prepared mentally. Think through the tactics, rehearse the response. Be prepared spiritually. Use your head to know the threat. Use the resources that are available to you. The Homeland Security Network,  the Investigative Project on Terrorism or Law Enforcement Today are all excellent resources.

I have determined to be ready. It may not be some international terrorist. It may be some young kid hopped up on angel dust or drunk out of his mind just out to boost a car who gets scared and decides to go out in some dramatic scene. It may be one of those who has spent prison time because of an arrest I made or someone with a grudge that challenges me. I resolve to stay ready. I trust you will too.