What Happens When You Don’t Have Police Protection?

The breakdown of law and order should not be a surprise. Family say husband, 33, was paralyzed by stray bullet because cops have fled the area in Brooklyn and now only patrol nearby Prospect Park – as 25-year-old woman is killed by another stray bullet amid soaring NYC gun violence.

And the powers that be in New York City have decreed no police shall do anything that is in the least bit offensive to the criminals. The regular law-abiding citizens can pound sand. Mayor de Blasio is trying to make points with Anitfa and BLM.

• Sam Metcalfe, 33, was left paralyzed by a stray bullet in Brooklyn Wednesday
• His family claims the cops have abandoned the area and ‘aren’t doing anything’ to stop violence
• They accused NYPD of only patrolling nearby Prospect Park and questioned why they were not seen immediately responding in video of the shooting
• At least four people have been hit by a stray bullet in NYC since Metcalfe
• Two were shot fatally, including a 25-year-old mother of three in the Bronx

So what do you want to the police to do? Show up and make arrests? Patrol areas in the hope of reducing crime? That can happen, but it has been made clear that the powers that be don’t want that to happen. And when someone is arrested, what then? Hold them in jail? Long prison terms? What?

Law and order is not something that happens on its own, and the Democrats in NY, in the legislature, in the courts, wherever, have been working hard to dismantle it for the past year or more.

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“The most virulent anti-gun mayor in Chicago history”

Second City Cop tells us how he really feels about Chicago Mayor Lori “Groot” Lightfoot. What a Fucking Bitch.

So while the Magnificent Mile, and a bunch of other neighborhoods in Chicago are looted to death, there is a “heavy police presence” on Mayor Groot’s block to protect her home and her family.

I have a right to make sure that my home is secure,” Lightfoot said. [source: Chicago Tribune]

Back to SCC.

This from the most virulent anti-gun mayor in Chicago history. A mayor known by insiders to carry a small derringer-type weapon in her ill-fitting suits (her keeping a hand in her pocket all the time is a well known street “tell.”) Guess what Groot? Everyone has that Right, they just don’t have a taxpayer funded army to exercise it. [My Emphasis. Z-Deb]

Remember when certain neighborhoods stood up for themselves and warned interlopers threatening to wreak havoc in their peaceful parts of town that it might be a bad idea? Groot said that residents shouldn’t be taking the law into their own hands…

There is a lot more, including how Groot has been silent on the doxing of officers, and the threats made against their families. There is a link at SCC to a Chicago Sun Times article where Groot goes on at length about the threats she has received, and why they are unacceptable. Apparently she thinks threats made against the young daughters of cops are OK; one Antifa scumbag threatened rape. She is certainly the worst mayor I can remember for Chicago. And I want to go on record as saying I disagree with the people who think she looks like Beetlejuice.

Groot is taking a bunch of fire from the Right side of the internet for this:

• Instapundit
• Ace of Spades
• Breitbart

Instapundit, has a short comment, but Ace of Spades lays into her at length.

My previous post on this subject was planned much earlier in the day yesterday, but Second City Cop is always worth mentioning, because he is a Chicago Cop, and he has to deal with the insanity that the politicians spew. A good deal of the comments on his site are from cops as well.

Bulletproof Vests: The Hot New Fashion Item in NYC

Because people aren’t safe on the streets of NYC. Bulletproof vest sales soar amid surge in NYC shootings.

Midtown dealer Brad Pedell — who runs 221B Tactical — claims sales of body armor are up 80 percent this year compared with 2019 due to the “unrest” in the city and nationwide. [SNIP]

A Manhattan woman who bought a vest declined to discuss her decision, texting, “I am a private citizen and I keep a low profile.”

People are especially concerned in Bronx and and Brooklyn, or if they, or their relatives, work there. Shootings have “skyrocketed.” Click thru for more, including an interview with “The Amazing Kreskin.”

People in New York are waking up to the fact that the policies and politicians that they voted for are not really working. The Liberals, de Blazio and Cuomo in particular, with help from the legislature in Albany, are doing everything they can to destroy safety in NYC. The real question is will they remember that when it comes time to vote? I’m not optimistic.

Gun Free Zone = Defenseless Victim Zone

Because it is all about FEELINGS. Don’t make me think or reason! Defunding School Police: Feeling Safe From Reality.

So the Oakland School District will remove the police entirely in the name of social justice. The need for anti-racism is so great the safety of students and teachers no longer matters. Actually, for these people, it never did. And if experience elsewhere is any indication of future failure, it won’t.

They don’t care about education. They care about indoctrination.

Because education requires order. Order requires discipline. Chaos engenders none of that.

“It was like no one was in charge.”

Even in Canada, you are on your own. “An epic failure”: The first duty of police is to preserve life; through the Nova Scotia massacre, the RCMP saved no one.

The RCMP has claimed it did its best in trying to deal with the Nova Scotia mass killer on the weekend of April 18 and 19, but a reconstruction of events by the Halifax Examiner strongly suggests that the police force made no attempt to save lives by confronting the gunman or stopping his spree at any point.

I think they let the spree continue because stopping it might have been dangerous. To the cops, that is. But mostly it sounds like they were incompetent.

Lack of coordination. Lack of communication. People from outside the area who did not know the geography, the way around or much of anything.

Sources within the RCMP say a major problem was that communications between various RCMP units was never co-ordinated. “Everyone was on their own channels,” the source said. “Nothing was synchronized. They could have gone to a single channel and brought in the municipal cops as well, but for some reason they didn’t. It was like no one was in charge.”

There is much in the way of ass-covering. But then what do you expect?

Another Texas School to Add Armed Staff

I think maybe I should move to Texas… Mount Pleasant board approves plan to allow employees to carry guns.

A spokeswoman for the school said the board approved using the Guardian Plan, which is a state-approved plan which solely provides hand-picked armed employees the ability to defend themselves in the event of an active shooter.

Don’t mess with Texas. (Hat tip to Keep and Bear Arms.)

Life in a Cop-free Zone

It’s not all rainbows an Unicorns. 1 Dead and 1 Injured After Gunfire in Seattle’s ‘Autonomous Zone’.

The shootings unfolded at a protester-run region known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or the Capitol Hill Organized Protest area. It has been celebrated as a “no cop” zone, and the Seattle Police Department wrote in a statement that detectives were investigating the shooting “despite the challenges presented by the circumstances.”

But I thought without police, everyone in CHOP would be safe. That’s what they said, the cops were the problem. Not in this case.

And in the most stupid part of the story…

Some protesters objected to the arrival of officers in riot gear.

Because CHOP has been so nice to the police.

Cops are working the case, but there will probably be no witness, no cooperation, and in the end no Justice, social or otherwise.

New York’s Recipe For More Crime

The video is infuriating. Elderly victim shoved by brute ‘fearful to walk the streets alone’.

A 31-year-old creep punches a 91-year-old lady in the head for no reason. Violent criminals don’t need a reason to be violent criminals.

Geraldine hit her head on a fire hydrant and started bleeding, she said. A passerby saw the assault, called 911 and an ambulance rushed her to nearby Beth Israel Hospital, she said.

The former teacher said her physical wounds were relatively minor and have since healed — but the mental toll has been much more severe.

As for the guy in question.

Brimmage was busted by cops Tuesday and charged with assault after investigators recognized him from video footage of the attack, authorities said.

The frequent offender has now been arrested 103 times since 2005 for petty crimes and sex offenses, sources said.

The creep was convicted of sexual misconduct in 2012, then arrested for two sex offenses in 2014, police sources said.

And with all of that he is walking down the street free to punch an old lady in the head. Click thru and see the video. I’m sure he thought he was a bad-ass striking a blow for some worthy cause. Click thru and watch video; it is only a few seconds. If she hit her head just a bit harder on the fire hydrant, he might be facing murder charges. As it is, his punishment won’t be enough.

Hat tip to The Other McCain who notes, We Found Another Joe Biden Voter.

“The System” Has NO Duty to Protect You

The Supreme Court has ruled on more than one occasion that, even if you have a restraining order, cops are not bound to protect you. Lauren McCluskey’s parents file second lawsuit against state, Univ. of Utah.

People, mostly on the Left, don’t like to believe that. “It is the cops’ job to protect you.” Except of course it isn’t.

Track athlete Lauren McCluskey, 21, had contacted university police more than 20 times to report harassment by her ex-boyfriend, Melvin Rowland, 37, before he fatally shot her outside her dorm. She had broken up with him after finding out he lied about his background and status as a sex offender.

I have no idea what the law in Utah is, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that guns are prohibited items on campus. She was 21 years old; that is old enough to own a handgun. But handguns are bad. We are supposed to rely on the police to protect us. How did that work out? How will that work after the Left “defunds” the police?

I get that these parents are hurting; that they want to hold someone accountable, but the guy who killed their daughter was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. There cannot be more justice than that.

Now Melvin Rowland lied to Lauren McCluskey. I’m shocked to discover that people are not always truthful! So maybe teaching a bit of skepticism would be good, though people call me cynical.

So the parents want the University to admit that they should have protected their daughter. Sorry, but that isn’t how the law works, as far as I understand it.

A gun may not have saved Lauren McCluskey, there are no guarantees in this life, but relying on The System to keep you safe is a losing proposition.

Restraining Orders Don’t Restrain Anything

Not in the US. Not in the UK. From The Evening Standard: ‘Obsessive and controlling’ husband jailed for life for stabbing estranged wife and baby in anger when she refused to take him back.

Oh, and being convicted of assault is apparently not worth being incarcerated in the United Kingdom.

Khan was convicted of assaulting Ms Khan and ordered to stay away from her in May 2018, but ignored the restraining order and carried out the attack on mother and baby on June 4, 2018.

The attack is horrific. I won’t inflict those nightmares on you. He was mad she wouldn’t take him back, because that meant he would be subject to deportation back to Pakistan.

A violent husband who tried to kill his estranged wife and her infant son when she refused to give their marriage another chance has been jailed for life.

Now this is the UK, so life doesn’t mean life without parole. He will be eligible for parole in 16 years. (It isn’t clear if that includes time-served or not.) But at least he won’t be deported.

He was convicted of assault, threatening to throw the baby out a 4th floor window, and he got a restraining order. Which didn’t do much restraining. And in the UK where defending yourself is forbidden (it is the cops’ job to protect you!) what chance did this woman have?

The details of the crime can be found at this Daily Mail story from 2 years ago. Hunt for Pakistani father who ‘stabbed his estranged wife and their 11-month-old baby’ as friends say he was facing deportation from Britain after she reported him for trying to strangle her.

Pandemic Hits Chicago, Only Solution Is More Government

Because what other solution could there be in the mind of a dedicated Leftist? How the coronavirus and Chicago’s gun violence are related.

There is so much wrong with this opinion piece, including the glowing review of how criminal gangs in various failed states are stepping in to organize pandemic relief because the states have, well, disappeared. I was tempted to use that as a reason to write it off as another bit of Leftist insanity. There is, however, a bit that exposes the true insanity of the Left.

What is needed on Chicago’s South and West Sides, however, is not more organized gangs; it is a more legitimate and benevolent state. The desperate conditions in these communities that are driving both the gun violence and coronavirus crises have been caused by decades of private sector abandonment and a public sector that has largely abdicated its role in ensuring people’s welfare in favor of policing and incarcerating.

The public response should not be to lock these youth up in death traps like Cook County Jail, but to invest in the South and West Sides to give these youth essential resources, hope, and a reason to live.

How is the city, or the state of Illinois, going to give you a reason to live? Will that come with your stimulus check? Or is it fancier than that? Perhaps it will something that is suitable to hang on the wall.

As for the subject of “private sector abandonment,” the City, under Mayor Daley, the Younger, worked for years to keep the EEEEVIL Walmart out Chicago. Because reasons. And if the author to the piece is opposed to law-and-order, which it is clear they are, (somehow cops are not seen as the agents of that “benevolent state”) how do you expect to get stores to open? When stores on The Magnificent Mile are having serious trouble because Mayor Lightfoot (affectionately known as Groot) and State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (affectionately known as Crimeshea in those same circles) have decided that shoplifting is not serious enough to arrest or prosecute. How do you think anyone in the private sector will stay in business where the revenue streams will be marginal, if paying for anything is optional? I know, Math is Hard!

Conspicuous by its absence, is any talk of family and religion. I’m old enough to remember when there were discussions of whether the 1960s Great Society would destroy families. I guess that’s not a discussion anymore. As for religion, the only one that these authors have is faith in the all-powerful benevolent state. Minus the cops as agents of that state, they’re still working out how that all fits. Or something. (For my take on the “benevolent state” see this post on the enforcement of law.)

I’ve said in the past that I don’t know how to fix the problems in places like Chicago or Baltimore, but I am sure that doing more of the same is not the answer. Making society completely dependent on the government hasn’t worked in Chicago, or Baltimore, or anywhere. And the state, whether that is Illinois or Michigan or elsewhere, has proven that it isn’t so benevolent. Not that the Left will notice.

A Gunfight on a Chicago Transit Authority Train

You mean the “no guns allowed” signs are not working? But then what genius thought that they would? Men Pull Guns, Fire At Each Other On Red Line At 79th Street.

Two men fired guns at each other on a CTA Red Line train at 79th Street Tuesday afternoon.

The train stopped and both ran off. No one was hurt.

Hat tip to Second City Cop, who notes:

Those “No Gun” signs on the CTA are working wonders…along with the few hundred officers assigned to the trains and tunnnels.

Guns in a Gun Free Zone. How is this possible?

Bail Reform Marches On. Or Maybe Not

Fist up, Fox News. NYC subway thief thanks Democrats after his 139th arrest, release: ‘Bail reform, it’s lit!’.

Charles Barry, 56, has been arrested six times since the start of this year. He’s been released each time without having to post bail under New York’s new bail reform law since his alleged offenses were nonviolent, the New York Daily News reported. In the past, Barry’s served several stints in state prison and has a lengthy record, including six felonies, 87 misdemeanors and 21 missed court hearings, the newspaper reported, citing court records.

Then there is the New York Times, who thinks that quoting statistics is racist. Give the New Bail Reform Law Time to Work.

If prosecutors, the police or others believe that the law is causing public harm, it is their job to make a reasoned case.

Of course The NY Times doesn’t think that has happened. The increase in crime is purely coincidence. And “cherry picking” the cases.

The Post seems to think it is fairly clear. NYC has spike in shootings, other major crimes to start year. And as they point out in another article that means more victims.

Gunfire In Gun Free UK

How is this possible? They should pass a law outlawing guns, or something. Oh, wait… Boy playing on Xbox was forced to duck when bullets sprayed above his head as gunman blasted home.

A family ‘feared for their lives’ as a gunman blasted shots at their home on two occasions in the same day in Wigan.

Dad-of-two, Jamie Bailey, was ‘lucky not to have killed anyone’ during the shootings in Beech Hill in May 2018, a judge told the court.

The guy responsible was sentenced today to 7 years and change. He will be out of prison in no time.

So they outlawed guns and still there is gun crime. Then they outlawed knives and still there is knife crime. Now they are asking the public to report people buying hammers. I suppose that means there is hammer crime. So when will they admit that it isn’t the fault of the object but the fault of the actor? I’m not holding my breath.

Gun Control Does Not Make You Safe

But then it is about control, not safety. Woman whose husband was killed in gun-free zone fights red-flag laws.

A stalker shot and killed her husband in a so-called gun-free zone. Now Nikki Goeser is worried that another gun control measure widely gaining popularity will result in other firearms owners being victimized.

She obeyed the law, and didn’t carry in a restaurant. The bad-guy-stalker ignored the law, and shot and killed her husband.

And Red Flag laws are even worse. (Hat tip to Crime Prevention Research Center.)

Campus Rape That Was Ignored By Everyone

Almost everyone. Chicago: Violence Against Women.

Given how often feminists have expressed concern about “violence against women,” and considering how loudly feminists insist that sexual assault on university campuses is a problem deserving national attention, you might suppose that feminists would have mentioned this crime. And yet they remain strangely silent about it, for some reason.

That reason? The narrative. Actually several narratives. Crime statistics, and police action statistics. Campus crime. Not to mention self-defense.

Defenseless Victim Zones

Doing the same thing, and expecting a different outcome, is one sign of insanity. A Pensacola Postscript | Power Line

President Trump has instructed military base commanders to rethink policies about allowing military personnel on bases to be armed. Like so many reforms of the Trump era, it is long overdue.

How many attacks on military bases have to be endured before “We’ve always done it that way” changes?

The Media Admits That a Court Order Isn’t a Magic Spell

They still miss a lot. Restraining orders ‘just a piece of paper’ without a plan, advocates say. Still, they told the truth, even if it was by accident.

A sad story of a woman and her children killed by her estranged husband after she spent a day getting a restraining order.

The day before she was murdered, Rosario spent hours at a San Diego courthouse getting a restraining order against her spouse, Jose Valdivia. She’d threatened to get one before, Rosario wrote in court documents, but Valdivia told her it wouldn’t do her any good.

And it didn’t.

The article quotes people in the victim-support-industry about the need for plans.

Advocates say plans are tailor-made for each individual, but some common components include: putting together a list of emergency contacts, making copies of important documents and giving them to someone you trust, creating new habits — like shopping at a different grocery store — that aren’t familiar to an abuser, changing wireless and cellphone passwords and limiting location sharing on social media.

Self-defense? Pepper spray? A firearm? Anything? Of course not. The victim-support-industry is not interested in getting abused spouses to refuse to be victims. They have shelters to fill, and lawyers to pay. Giving important documents to a friend or relative will not keep you safe. Having a list of contacts will not keep you safe, unless you write it on the inside of a bullet-proof vest. And then you wear the vest.

As for “shopping in a different grocery store” that misses the biggest issues. To and from work. Picking up and dropping off kids at school and daycare. Attending religious services. All of these activities involve being in a known location on a set schedule, and all of those places are “gun free zones” so the potential victim is disarmed. For whose safety? “You don’t need a gun in church!” is a statement I have heard made by folks on the Left. They don’t have a violent stalker. And they aren’t religious anyway…

Then again, this was California, so she couldn’t purchase a weapon if she tried. Or she could, but she would have been dead before the waiting period was up.

A gun may not have saved this woman. “There are no guarantees in this life save for death and next winter’s snow.” But the system did nothing for her, and even if it worked perfectly, was probably never going to save her from this guy. That isn’t what cops do. They are not your personal bodyguards, unless you are an elected representative of the people. Cops show up after bad things have happened and try to figure who did what. In the few seconds to minutes when bad things are happening, or about to happen, you are on your own. You should plan accordingly.

A Restraining Order Is Just a Piece of Paper – UK Edition

But in the UK she has no chance of defending herself. Thug Denver Harris who beat girlfriend black and blue on the run after ‘cutting police tag off’.

He beat her. He kept her locked up in her in her own house for 2 days. He violated a restraining order. He was sent to jail but he was out on “license” (that’s British for “parole” I’m guessing). He was given an ankle monitor, which he cut off. Cops have been looking for him for over a month.

When he first went on the run at the end of September, a spokesman for the MoJ said: “We are working closely with West Midlands Police to find Harris who faces going back to prison once caught.”

It said his victim, Leanne Barrett, had been notified and officers are working with her to keep her safe.

I would say the best thing they could do would be to give her a 9mm, a case of FMJs, 2 boxes of hollow-points, some instruction and all the range time she wants, but that will never happen in the UK, where they are too “civilized” (read that as domesticated) to allow self-defense, and certainly not armed self-defense. Maybe they can put up a sign that reads, “No domestic violence allowed on these premises.” That is sure to work, at least as well as can be expected.

And if he kills her this time? Well, the powers-that-be in the UK will just wring their hands and say they did all they could do. Aside from empowering her to defend herself, that is.

Truly a defenseless victim, in a defenseless-victim zone.

A Defenseless Victim in a Defenseless Victim Zone

She is disarmed for her own protection. Domestic violence victim begs police to do more to help her as she releases terrifying footage of her violent ex head-butting her friends’ car window in an angry confrontation.

The cops in the UK have plenty of time to investigate hate crimes, and verbal slights, but actual violence? Well, they’re disarmed too, for the most part.

Ms Carter claims Smith has repeatedly breached a restraining order but says police advised her to move house, change her car and park it down the driveway

Sounds like that restraining order is really useful. About as useful as the cops.

Ms Carter said: ‘After that he received a community order and a restraining order that banned him from coming from within 50 metres of me. For a few months that worked, until he started just completely ignoring it.

It’s just a piece of paper after all.

So she can’t defend herself. That’s completely illegal in the UK. And the cops won’t do anything useful.