Blog #2: DUH!!!! Just shoot the knife out of his hand and voila!

“The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves”
                                                            -Logan Pearsall Smith

My neighbor told me the other day after a ‘contreversal’ police shooting of a drunk knife-wielding Guatemalan immigrant, “Of course you can shoot the knife out of a suspect’s hand, silly! Haven’t you seen that one movie?  You know, when that dude tries to rob a liqour store with a knife?”  I have no idea what movie he was referring to, but my mind drifted into a daydream....

Opening Scene:

The bad guy, sweaty and nervous, hunkers down behind the liqour store counter, knife in hand.  The store is in disarray, presumably from a struggle of a robbery gone sour.  Why has it gone sour, you ask?  Because Deputy Big Shot has arrived on scene.  Deputy Big Shot has a big badge........and a big gun.

Numerous police cars are parked in a chaotic fashion just outside the front door, red and blue lights spinning.  Every lawman is taking a knee behind their two-toned cars, revolvers at the ready.  An occasional cop runs from one police car to the next police car, mainly for dramatic effect.  It’s a tense scene.  Everybody is crouching and hiding behind whatever cover they can find.  Everybody that is...except for Deputy Big Shot.


Camera pans to a muscular silhouette, slowly moving up from sole to Smokey. 
Deputy Big Shot stands out in the open and centered between all the chaos directly in front of the liqour store.    One hand on each side of his duty belt.  He’s the only one with his gun still in it’s holster.  He stands as tall as Christ the Redeemer . Fearless.  He charismatically twirls a toothpick in his mouth. It’s the only movement giving life to this   statuesque man of law standing behind those mirrored sunglasses.  


Suddenly the robber sprints out of the store in a hysterical panic, knife in hand, straight for Deputy Big Shot.  Every lawman gets startled, except of course, Deputy Big Shot.  In one fluid motion he draws his weapon & fires a shot towards the robber.  A spark from the bullet impacting the knife gives way to a now unarmed robber.  He looks at his hand for a bullet wound.  Nothing.  Then slowly looks at Deputy Big Shot in amazement.  A slew of lawmen tackle the stunned robber as Deputy Big Shot is already half way back to his patrol car.  All in a days work for a man with a big badge...and a big gun.

If we could all be as perfect as Deputy Big Shot, criminals would think twice about attacking police officers or citizens with knives.  I practice my marksmanship skills once a month.  And my Sharpshooter medal gleams proudly on my uniform chest.  However it is not the highest accolade an officer in my department can bear for their marksmanship.  Many police officers have achieved the challenging “D-X” medal (Distinguished Expert).  This medal requires scoring an average of 385 points out of 400 for six consecutive months!  While earning these achievements is something to be proud of, keep in mind that these shooting courses are stationary targets made of paper.  There is not a drug induced criminal running at you at full speed flailing a Rambo knife around.  There is not a school filled with children in the background to worry about.  There are no professional cameras, special affects or directors yelling “cut!”, cueing a stunt man to stand in your place.

The grim reality of the criminal element out to hurt you with a knife is a sad and vicious one.  The blade of a knife, no matter the size, can disfigure your face in under a second.  While on probation I witnessed the aftermath of a jealous lover (partnered up with a two-inch Swiss Army knife) who made sure his pretty girlfriend was never appreciated for her beauty again.  I stood guard at the crime scene to make sure nobody accidentally stepped on her nose, left ear, both lips and a partial eyelid.  They looked like movie props on the kitchen floor.    I have seen a grown man on Normandie Ave and 7th St. holding his own intestines as they hung from an eight-inch long, horizontal, dark red gash just below his belly button. He looked up at me with glazed eyes, mouth ajar, face in shock.  Some areas of the body are purposely aimed at to ensure exsanguination within two to three minutes.  Sadly not enough time for a rescue ambulance to arrive and stop the bleeding.

The logistics of shooting on a police range in a controlled environment attempting to reach a certain score certainly help an officer’s ability in the field to utilize a firearm efficiently.  After all we are trained professionals.  However, The chances of hitting a tiny moving target (target being the knife), without hurting the criminal who is trying to kill you, and somehow controlling that bullet to fall on the ground instead of continuing it’s sizzle at 1,100 feet per second towards innocent victims in the background seems...well...what do YOU think?  Possible? Impossible?  If you sincerely believe you can make that shot, then take it!  If you miss, you will be responsible for the consequences.  If you miss, you will be stabbed by a big knife.  If you miss, that bullet will continue on a death path into that school yard filled with children.  These potential consequences are the things officers have to balance while making that split second decision to shoot or don’t shoot.  But who cares, right?  As long as we don’t injure the nice person trying to kill you.  As long as we don’t hurt the feelings of the quick-to-judge Monday morning quarterbacks yelling “murder!”

(Side Note: I don’t mean to be condescending or rude with the last three sentences. Your opinions are valid and important to me.  I once had the opinion that law enforcement in my community was heavy handed.  I used to believe law enforcement took action now and asked questions later.  But as a fellow survivor of Da Hood, it would be a disservice to you if I omit the fact that living life on the other side of violence and being exposed to death and mayhem while wearing a police uniform has dramatically altered my attitude for protecting the innocent, which is the emotion I spill onto this blog with fervent words.  Please do not misconstrue these words as judgmental to your personal opinion.  My adjectival narration merely represents my passion for protecting the innocent DESPITE the risk of officer’s losing their jobs or their lives.)

For those of you that know me, I love having big family and friend events.  I enjoy putting in the time and effort in preparing family picnics, cousin Thanksgivings and my infamous annual b-day shindigs.  Seeing my nephews, nieces, cousins, brothers, parents, aunts, uncles and friends all in one place is a reward in itself.  That effort fulfills my life.  Think about your own family.  Your husband or wife.  Your parents.  Your siblings.  Your children.  Would you risk your children being raised without you in order to be fair to a murderer out to kill you?  If you merely tried to shoot the knife out of the assailant’s hands, is that fair to your children?  Is that fair to you?  How many more innocent people would suffer if that mentality governed police work?  I don’t have children yet, but I wanna see my momma.  I wanna eat her homemade cooking.  I want to enjoy the beach...Fridays...Happy Hours...Family Guy re-runs...laughter...music....I want to travel...I want to live!

 The “shoot the knife out of his hands” theory is a concept that I wish my family, my friends and my community could understand is merely fantasy in everyday police work.  The ugly truth is, I have witnessed people who were stabbed and shot then continued running or fighting officers.  The combination of a criminal on drugs, adrenaline & fearlessness is an unnerving thought.  We shoot to stop a persons actions.  Shooting a knife out of an assailant’s hands is next to impossible.  Police work is hardly rainbows and giggles.  As a servant to my community, I want YOU to determine the fairness of judging a police officer who is put in this grim situation.  A situation in which we have half a second to make a decision.  Put yourself in my shoes.  Actually I’ll give you more than half a second to decide.  Heck, I’ll even give you a few days.  

In the meanwhile, I’ll keep striving to be like Deputy Big Shot.  Until my next blog, dawg.....

PIECE LOVE & WHISKEY

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2011 Law Enforcement Line-of-Duty Deaths Thus Far: 58 Souls

Fallen Officers for April 2011:

Sergeant James Timothy (Tim) Chapin

Chattanooga Police Department, TN
End of Watch: Saturday, April 2, 2011

Age: 51

Tour of Duty: 27 years
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Survived by: wife and two children

Deputy Sheriff Eric Stein
Keokuk County Sheriff’s Office, IA
End of Watch: Monday, April 4, 2011 

Age: 38 

Tour of Duty: 11 years
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Survived by: 9-year-old daughter, sister, and father

Trooper Jeffrey Werda

Michigan State Police, MI
End of Watch: Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Age: 43
Tour of Duty: 11 years

Cause of Death: Automobile accident responding to a pursuit
Survived by: wife and three children

Patrolman Jonathan Schmidt

Trumann Police Department, AR
End of Watch: Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Age: 30

Tour of Duty: 4 years
Cause of Death: Gunfire

Survived by: wife and three children