Bayou Renaissance Man

If you’re one of those who says that you’ll rely on the police to protect you, rather than take steps to be able to defend yourself and your family if necessary, consider this.

Michael Lewis is the Sheriff in Wicomico County, and was also a Sergeant with the Maryland State Police. He joined Ed Norris and Steve Davis on Thursday to talk about the alleged controversial orders the police were given during the riots.
. . .
“They said we could have handled this, we were very capable of handling this, but we were told to stand down, repeatedly told to stand down,” he said. “I had never heard that order come from anyone — we went right out to our posts as soon as we got there, so I never heard the mayor say that.

But repeatedly these guys, and there were many high-ranking officials from the Baltimore City Police Department … and these guys told me they were essentially neutered from the start. They were spayed from the start.

They were told to stand down, you will not take any action, let them destroy property. I couldn’t believe it, I’m a 31-year veteran of law enforcement. … I had never heard anything like this before in my life and these guys obviously aren’t gonna speak out and the more I thought about this, … I had to say a few things. I apologize if I’ve upset people, but I believe in saying it like it is.”
Lewis said though he didn’t hear the order to stand down come from the mayor, he did hear it from police officials.
“I heard it myself over the Baltimore City police radio that I had tethered to my body-armor vest, I heard it repeatedly. ‘Stand down, stand down, stand down! Back up, back up, retreat, retreat!’ I couldn’t believe those words.

Those are words I’ve never heard in my law enforcement vocabulary,” he said. “Baltimore City police, all law enforcement agencies are very capable of handling that city. They’re trained to handle that city. These guys were hearing words that had never been echoed in their lives, in their careers.”

There’s more at the link.
What happens if you rely on the cops to protect you, but the politicians in charge of those cops think it’s more important for their image, or their re-electability, or for whatever politically correct reasons, to stop the cops from doing their job?
It matters not whether it’s a riot situation such as Sheriff Lewis is describing, or a problem with community relations that stops police from carrying out their normal duties.  Where does that leave you?
I’ll tell you where it leaves you.  Up the creek without a paddle.
I only hope that all my readers have the sense to read Sheriff Lewis’ words and draw the appropriate conclusions from them.  Your safety is first and foremost in yourhands – no-one else’s.  Train and prepare accordingly.
Peter