By RICHARD NEBELLos Alamos
First of all, I agree with Colin Powell’s view of the military. The job of the military is to kill people. If you don’t want a bunch of dead bodies and collateral damage, then you shouldn’t send in the military.
The job of law enforcement is very different. Their job is to protect and serve. What may be acceptable in the military, may not be acceptable in law enforcement.
Have you ever watched the lapel camera videos of police shooting suspects coming out of Abq? It isn’t “bang” with maybe a couple of follow-up shots. It’s “pop pop pop pop pop pop pop…”
These police are carrying 9 mm double stackers with 16 round magazines (yes, I do know the difference between a magazine and a clip). And a lot of times, they are emptying the whole magazine. Well, what happens to all of those bullets that don’t hit the target? In the military, that’s probably OK. If you are law enforcement in an urban environment with people around, it isn’t OK.
Consequently, military hardware and tactics may not be the most appropriate thing for law enforcement. But cast-off military equipment is easy to get and I doubt that the police are looking at anything else.
Finally, Pete Sheehey is a good friend of mine. He used to be my student, and I am a campaign contributor. I can imagine the frustration that he’s going through trying to get an acceptable compromise on this issue and to get it settled permanently. But that’s the problem. It isn’t going to settle it.
Mr. White and Sheriff Lucero clearly think that the Sheriff should run law enforcement in the county. One of the things we’ve learned about Sheriff Lucero is that he’s pushy. He knew what the Sheriff’s job entailed when he ran for Sheriff, but that wasn’t good enough. Behind the scenes he has been lobbying for an end to term limits and requiring all Sheriff’s to be law enforcement certified. This guy is looking for a lifetime meal ticket at our expense. If he gets the patronage he’s looking for, it will be hard to get him out of office. Then we’ll have to deal with all of the problems of patronage politicians that I discussed in my previous letters.
