Police Corruption

Though only slightly more than half over, the year 2012 has been a particularly rough for me and thousands of my brothers and sisters in blue.  Not only are more of us being assaulted and/or killed than in years past, it seems that more of us may be crossing over the thin blue line and falling prey to the darker side.

Having never witnessed it myself, I have- until this year vehemently defended against all accusations of police corruption.  Sadly, no longer will I be so naive.

It actually all started in the latter months of 2011 when the FBI, ATF and DEA along with state and other local agencies executed Operation Delta Blues in my home town of Helena-West Helena Arkansas.  Like many former and current residents, I was initially elated to hear that something was finally being done to rid these once glorious towns of the criminality that had all but ruined the quality of life they'd once offered.  Elation soon turned to horror when it was announced that five actively serving police officers were also arrested as part of the sting. For just a few hundred dollars, these officers sold their souls to the devil by providing criminals with confidential information, aid, and protection.

I started with the West Helena Police Department and served side-by-side with two of the arrested officers- Dean Jackson and Marlene Kalb.  Dean has since plead guilty and Marlene is still pending trial at the time of this article.  Although a sergeant when arrested, Marlene was a captain during my stint with that department and was my direct supervisor.  When I left to go to a much larger agency, Marlene gave me a police related coffee mug as a going away gift and I drank my coffee from that mug every morning for the next 17 years.  I was devastated by their fall from grace and the mug now sits on a self in my office and serves as a reminder  to place honor before all else. Never again will I enjoy my morning cup of coffee from it.

The harshest sentence handed down to the officers arrested in Operation Delta Blues was a mere 6 years in prison.

As if Delta Blues did not tarnish our badges enough, in March 2012 three more Arkansas officers were found guilty of robbing an armored car.  For their crimes, one was sentenced to 12 years in state prison, one to 1 1/2 years in prison while the third received only 2 years of probation.  

Adding salt to our wounds, two brothers- both of whom are employed by the Little Rock Police Department were arrested May 24th, 2012 for conspiracy to aid and abet possession with intent to distribute over 1,000 pounds of marijuana; aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute over 1,000 pounds of marijuana; and possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.  It was later learned that one of the brothers conspired to sell drug dealers and other criminals, Social Security numbers he'd obtained as part of his police duties.  They have yet to be sentenced.  

The punishment handed down thus far to these disgraced officers is hardly sufficient. They violated the public's trust and without that trust, we cannot be public servants.  Crime is a constant in America and its associated costs, both financial and social are a greater threat to our nation than terrorism.  Officers who conspire to aid, abet or work with narco-criminals are guilty of no less than treason and once convicted, they should be forced to live-for the rest of their days with the criminals with whom they chose to associate.  There should be no reprieve, nor parole.  To protect our honor, all police unions should lobby for harsher sentencing for officers found guilty of engaging in such acts.  

Although deterrents through harsher sentencing are needed, I can honestly say that the vast majority of the outstanding men and women that I have the pleasure of knowing and working with would never, for any reason violate the public trust.  That trust is what gives our badges their shine- it is a sacred honor that we should never forsake nor take for granted. 

Labor shortage leading to higher produce prices

The Associated Press recently interviewed farmers in Alabama and Georgia and found that many were being forced to reduce their crop production due to a severe lack of field-hand laborers.

Farmers such as Keith Dickie said he and other growers in Alabama had no choice but to reduce acreage for fear of not having enough workers to harvest their crops.

According to the AP article, state agriculture officials blame recently enacted immigration legislation for the labor shortage.  It seems that after the legislation was signed by Gov. Robert Bentley, many illegal immigrants fled the state for fear of being detained and eventually deported.  The problem has become so severe that the Alabama Farmers Federation has warned that the labor shortage will affect produce availability and prices this year.

With unemployment at 7.2 percent and almost 50,000 people receiving welfare, it is difficult to understand how Alabama could have this problem.  However understanding can be gained by listening to local farmers such as John Aplin, who stated during the interview that non-Hispanics "will work a morning and come up at lunch time and say 'I'm done.'"  Apparently the work is to difficult and prospective workers know they can get a bigger paycheck from the government without having to break a sweat.  So why work?

Unfortunately this problem is not unique to Alabama and is happening in all states with stringent immigration laws.  Due to the laziness of the entitlement class of America, we have become far to dependent upon  migrant workers (illegal aliens), who have a better work ethic than our own entitled class.   There needs to be a total overhaul of America's system of entitlements and unless one is drooling and confined to a wheelchair, they should be required to accept any available job before being considered for any type of assistance.   Too many people are feeding from the government teat.

True Americans do not depend on the government for their livelihoods.  They work and will do what ever it takes to not only keep a job, but to prosper in that job.

A confluence of bad behavior

Reprinted from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Yesterday in a confluence of bad behavior, another self-inflicted tragedy befell the black community of Little Rock, Arkansas.  Crime beget crime and the end result was death.

Supposedly, it all began when a pistol- belonging to a 58 year old convicted felon was stolen from a motel room. Seeking ghetto justice, the felon offered to pay two school aged boys to assist him in tracking down the suspect and according to reports, he showed the teenagers the $1,300 in his wallet. Instead of providing the assistance requested, the teens opted for what should have been the easier course of action and stole the mans money.

This resulted in the teens fleeing on their bicycles and the adult felon pursing in a minivan.  The felon of course caught up with one of the teenagers and intentionally ran over him with the vehicle.  That act alone not being sufficient for the felon, he dragged the teen from under the vehicle and began to pummel and stomp on the teen's unresponsive body before two city employees intervened and ended the assault.

Aside from the teen's death there are several other aspects to this situation that are troubling.  First is the fact that a convicted felon would be in possession of a firearm which is in itself a felony.  Our prisons should be so uncomfortable and miserable that once released a person would never consider engaging in any type of activity that could cause their return.  Rather than being viewed as ghetto resorts, prisons should be viewed as hell on earth- a place to be avoided at all costs.

Secondly, this incident occurred during the middle of the day, a time when the teens should have been in school rather than hanging out in a crime ridden area of town.  As it turns out, the thieving and now dead teen had been expelled from his "normal" school and placed into an Alternative School for troublesome students.  Even there, among the very worst students the school district has to offer, he was considered too troublesome and difficult for school officials to handle and in an all but unprecedented step, was transferred to another Alternative School in a neighboring city.  I can only surmise one reason for such drastic measures and that is that the teen was deeply entrenched in gang activity and schooling him in another city would remove him from his base of power and influence.   Even at the new school he performed poorly and according to school officials, "He'd had quite a few absences" and that "he did not attend regularly."  The deceased was hardly an innocent child.

Most troublesome of all would be the teens home life and lack of parental involvement.  By all appearances his family was typical of many ghetto families.  According to news reports, he lived with his mother and father although the couple were not married, which is very typical of ghetto life.  Staying single qualifies the mother for innumerable government benefits.  The deceased is survived by five sisters and six brothers- five of whom did not reside in the household and are presumably half relatives. Of the seven children that did reside in the household, four had different fathers.  This is an entitlement family and these children were born with very little chances for future success. This is the end result of the Great Society created by Lyndon B. Johnson.

As an entitlement family, the idea of personal responsibility is but an abstract concept and obviously not something practiced in this household.  Instead of blaming himself for his son's repeated truancy and other acts of delinquency, he blamed the felon for having gotten involved with his son in the first place. Referring to the felon, the father told a reporter with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, "You should know damn well you shouldn't be getting in a transaction with a kid who should be in school."

Tragic incidences such as this or that of Trayvon Martin will continue to occur until the ghetto portions of   the black community are forced to clean themselves up.  Their reliance upon public entitlements must end and  they must stop having babies they cannot care for.  Additionally, the rest of society must stop blaming the plight of the "poor" on everything under the sun except for the individuals who are too lazy to get off their duffs and do better for themselves and their family's.  Black crime has been allowed to fester for too long and it is coming to a point from which there may be no return. Citizens are feed up with crime and acts of vigilantism are on the rise.  It's getting to the point that even criminals are getting tired of crime.

Trayvon Martin...Victim or National Hero

As a nation, let us mourn the loss of Trayvon Martin but let us not cheapen his death by portraying him as just a victim― his death could mean so much more.  Let us portray him as a national hero, one whose life was sacrificed― justly or not, so that Americans of all races could openly engage in a much needed national dialogue on crime.     To be effective and to add meaning to his death, we must set aside political correctness and be prepared to tell the truth, the whole and nothing but the truth. 

Right now, emotions are raw and as I mention in my book- Good Morning Uncle Sam, where one stands on the subject is likely based on one’s race and other socio-economic factors.  This however does not mean that one is right and one is wrong, it only means that we have differing perspectives.  We’re divided; not only as a nation and as communities, but also as individuals within our own races.  Too many people have personal interests in keeping us divided; doing so provides them with fame and wealth and keeps them in the public spotlight.  They have blamed everyone for the problem except for those who actually created it.

Typically, I prefer to cite statistics to make my point but I will not do so now― they simply are not required.  Unless you’re a cave dweller somewhere in New Mexico, you know that black crime― particularly black-on-black, has been at its boiling point for a number of years.  Until Trayvon’s tragic death, we, as a nation chose to remain silent for fear of being labeled racist’s or Uncle Tom’s but let us no longer be afraid.  Lives are at stake.

As the population majority, whites commit the majority of crimes but blacks commit a disproportionately high amount of crimes based upon their percentage of the national population and commit certain crimes such as murder at rates eight times greater than members of other races.  Now, regardless of your race, if that number alone does not raise your suspicion or your level of caution, you are foolish.  But in case it did not, of the 32 persons currently wanted for armed robbery by the Chicago Police Department, 22 are black, 7 are white and 3 are Hispanic.  Sorry, but I had to throw in some stats. 

There is no denying black crime.  However, all of us must realize that it’s only a very small percentage of the black population that’s engaged in criminal activity.   Sadly though, their actions impact us all, particularly decent, hard-working and successful blacks who are probably more enraged by this bad behavior than anyone else.  To add insult to injury, unless they have reached the upper levels of society, society’s fear of black crime is often projected towards them.  Given human nature, how do we prevent this from occurring?

Of the more than 2900 species of snakes in the world, only 725 are venomous and only 250 of those can kill a person with one bite.  That’s only 9 percent which is a very small portion of the snake community. Why then are we so deathly afraid of snakes if only 25 percent are venomous and only 9 percent can kill with one bite?  Because unless you know what to look for, it’s not always easy to tell the good from the bad.  In the human world that’s called profiling― looking for danger based upon certain characteristics.

We associate certain characteristics with certain behaviors and we respond accordingly.  This is done intra-racially as well as interracially. Whites are very good at separating white trash from low-income whites― we’ve been doing it for generations.   In turn, blacks are very good at distinguishing between blacks who are ghetto and those who aren’t.  Rarely though, are we good at accurately making these distinctions outside of our own race.  

  

Once the characteristics that we associate with criminality blend with pop culture, it becomes all but impossible to distinguish the good from the bad.

The man on the left has a gun pointed at a clerk, so we can be pretty sure that he is a criminal.  But what of the guy on the right?  All we know is that he is a white guy who is wearing a hoodie, much like the one the robber is wearing.  You can almost bet that if the clerk from the photo on the left survived, he or she would be suspicious and perhaps scared of the person on the right should he come into their store.  It does not matter that he’s white or that he happens to be a very famous rapper, it only matters that he looks like a thug. 

Appearances do matter and when someone makes themselves appear counter to societal norms, they must be willing to accept coming under suspicion or being ostracized, regardless of  their race.

What we know about the men in either of these groups is based simply upon their appearances.  Now ask yourself which of these groups do you fear the most?  I’m white but if I came across members of either group in a darkened alley, I would gravitate to the blacks for my own safety.  The way that we perceive people and situations is a survival instinct and I would perceive a much greater threat from the white guys, and none from the black guys.

From these same groups of people, who would you be more likely to let into your house?  Or if you are an employer looking for a sales representative for anything other than biker gear or motorcycle parts, who would you hire?  Is this discrimination?  You’re darn right it is and your 100 percent justified in doing so!

Just as whites have done, blacks must also draw a line of separation between the good and bad portions of their race.  Blacks have every right to be mad about black crime but they should ONLY be mad at the portion of the black community that’s committing the crimes.  Besides criminals, nothing or no one can be blamed for society’s current perception and fears related to black crime― not slavery or poverty and certainly not the white community.  

Although many attempt to claim that Zimmerman's motives were racially based, the simple fact is that if black crime were not such a problem, there would not have been a neighborhood watch and the paths of Martin and Zimmerman would not have crossed.   I am not placing blame on Martin, he was more than likely doing no harm.  I am however placing it where it belongs, squarely on the shoulders of black thugs. 

The death of Trayvon Martin is a national tragedy but let his death unite the good from all races so that we may be an Army of one― prepared to defend all that is good.  Stop wearing hoodies in protest, stop listening to race-baiters and start the national dialogue that could finally led us to the Promised Land.

Samuel Wurzelbacher... A leader for the rest of us!

Recently I’ve begun to follow Ohio’s race for its 9^th Congressional District due to Samuel Wurzelbacher’s victory over Steve Kraus to become the Republican nominee.  Although I have no personal interest in Ohio’s politics, I think we should all be interested in the fact that it may very well be an everyday, average American worker representing other working Americans.

As I make clear in my book Good Morning Uncle Sam, we can no longer trust career politicians to take the actions necessary to right our nation.  They are too far out of touch and do not understand what it takes to survive as a working or middle class American.

By all accounts, Mr. Wurzelbacher is a no-nonsense straight shooter who will stand up for other average Americans.  He’s walked in our boots, (heck he’s actually unclogged our toilets) and knows first hand the struggles of the 99 percent.       

Washington needs a man with common sense, who knows how to balance a check book and what it means to serve in the military rather than serving beer at a frat party.  Thank you sir for stepping up to the plate and I can only hope that more of us follow your lead.

Good Morning Uncle Sam

I am pleased to announce that Good Morning Uncle Sam is 

now available at Amazon.com.  I really look forward to 

the discussions it may invoke. Below is a brief narrative from 

the  publisher describing the book.  

In the most trying financial period our nation has seen since the 

Great Depression, the federal government’s entitlement programs 

are weighing very heavily on an already overburdened economy. 

Analysts and scholars talk about the issues on a systemic level 

every day on news programs across the country, and viewers are 

inundated with first-person accounts of the terrible price many 

Americans are paying. What has thus far been missing, however, 

is a grassroots examination of the societal effects from a criminal 

justice perspective. That wait is now over.

Offering a street-level view of the problems created by an out-of-control government 

and an exaggeratedly liberal judiciary, Andrew Miles’ analysis is a patriotic call 

to arms to forego the free—and often counterproductive—ride too often offered in 

many sectors. A police officer for the past seventeen years, his blunt, factual view is

 based on thousands of hours working on America’s streets. Focusing on the 

human impact as well as the fiscal, Miles tackles the difficult subjects of incarceration 

versus rehabilitation and welfare versus meaningful contribution to explain the 

fundamental need in our country for reform. Right now our prison system resembles 

overcrowded housing, offering very little, if any, job or life skills training to help 

prisoners re-enter the outside world as contributing members of society. Much like 

the bailouts of corporate giants, this merely creates a system of handouts wherein 

the cycle repeats and the burden is placed squarely on those who form the backbone 

of America: the middle class.

A healthy dose of reality and hope, Miles’ no-nonsense polemic is a cold shock to an 

American system desperately in need of it. An empowering exploration that is sure to 

change the way you look at our country, Good Morning Uncle Sam is a clarion call 

for a return to the greatness upon which America was founded.

Congressman Ron Paul. A man of true character!

Recently, I mailed certain member of congress and other politicians copies of my book Good Morning Uncle Sam.  It is still too soon to gauge the response but I was very impressed by the fact that one of the busiest members was the first to acknowledge receipt- Congressman Ron Paul.  

His was mailed to his Texas office about two weeks ago and today we received a letter which had been mailed from Washington DC.  This may mean that a staffer read the book and thought it worthy of the congressman's attention and forwarded it to him.  

Congressman Paul thanked me for the book and said that he "looks forward to reading it" and that we can all rest assured that he will continue the fight to restore limited government under the Constitution of the United States.  

The letter itself as well as certain portions within it really say a lot about his character.  First, that he would even take the time to acknowledge an unknown author implies that he is truly connected to average citizens and cares about us individually.  As nice as his response was, it's the way that he vowed to continue the fight to restore limited government under the Constitution of the United States that I found most impressive.  I think most people would have simply said the constitution or perhaps- the Constitution.  But for Congressman Paul, nothing less than the Constitution of the United States would suffice.