ABC news

Police face recruiting shortage due to war on cops

By Edmund DeMarche
September 7, 2015


California Highway Patrol Officer J. Nelson stands outside the office of Gov. Jerry Brown as protestors shouting "black lives matter" block the hallway, demanding passage of an anti-racial profiling, bill on Sept. 2.
Photo: AP
Police departments face a recruiting shortage amid a growing anti-cop mood that some fear has taken the pride out of peacekeeping and put targets on the backs of the men and women in blue.
Open calls for the killing of police have been followed by assassinations, including last week’s murder in Texas of a Harris County sheriff’s deputy. Instead of dialing back the incendiary rhetoric, groups including “Black Lives Matter” have instead doubled down at demonstrations with chants of “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon.” Public safety officials fear the net effect has been to demonize police, and diminish the job.
“It’s a lot harder to sell now,” Jeff Roorda, business manager of the St. Louis Police Officers Association and former state representative, told FoxNews.com. “This is a very real phenomenon.”

Roorda’s colleagues witnessed the fierce, anti-police rioting that followed the police shooting last year of Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson, Missouri. Even though a grand jury and a federal Justice Department inquiry did not fault Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, debunked claims that the cop killed Brown as he held his hands up and begged for his life have animated the Black Lives Matter movement as it spread around the nation.
Roorda, who spoke in defense of police in the aftermath of the Ferguson shooting, said protesters took to Twitter to promote a #KillRoorda hashtag.
“You no longer just have to worry about your life while in uniform,” he said. “Now you have to be worried about the well-being of your family,” he said.
Roorda said the new academy class continues to be delayed and the police force loses about double the amount of officers per year than in the past.
Knowing police face public scorn or career-ending legal battles even if they acted properly has convinced many prospective cops to abandon their dreams of patrolling America’s streets.
“I saw all this anti-cop propaganda and I was like, ‘Who needs this?’” said Antonio, a New Yorker who asked that only his first name be used. The 32-year-old had applied and been accepted into the NYPD academy, but withdrew his candidacy amid the cop-bashing climate sweeping the country.

“Black Lives Matter” protesters march in Los Angeles on Aug. 11.
Photo: Reuters
Even top police brass understand why the shield has lost its shine.
“Right now, policing is not the most attractive occupation that they could probably get into,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told CBS.
Recruitment nationally is “way down,” said Jonathan Thompson, executive director of the National Sheriff’s Association. He said some sheriffs around the country say the number of applications has fallen by as much as 50 percent.
While blatant calls for killing cops are unusual, the job has always been dangerous. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which monitors the number of police officers killed in the line of duty, tabulated 48 police officers around the nation were killed by gunfire in 2014. So far this year, 26 law enforcement officers have been shot to death on duty, putting the nation on track for a 19 percent decrease. But these numbers do not identify police officers intentionally targeted for the mere fact that they wear a badge.
Police in Texas believe that may have been the sole motivation for the murder Friday night of Harris County Sheriff’s Officer Darren Goforth at a gas station in a Houston suburb. The suspect in that case, Shannon Jaruay Miles, allegedly came up behind Goforth as he pumped gas and shot the officer 15 times.

Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth
Photo: EPA
In December 2014, New York City Police Officers Wenjian Liu and his partner Rafael Ramos were killed in an ambush while sitting inside their patrol car on a Brooklyn streetcorner.
“No warning, no provocation,” Police Commissioner William Bratton said at the time. “They were quite simply assassinated, targeted for their uniform.”
The gunman reportedly announced online that he was planning to shoot two “pigs” to avenge the death of Eric Garner, a Staten Island man who died after being put in a chokehold by police who were arresting him for selling loose cigarettes.
“I’m putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours, let’s take 2 of theirs,” Ismaaiyl Brinsley wrote on an Instagram account. Brinsley killed himself on a subway platform as police closed in on him.
There is currently a massive manhunt in Fox Lake, Ill., after a police officer was shot and killed while pursuing a group of men. Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, known affectionately as “GI Joe” was giving chase to three men on foot.
In addition to the Brown and Garner cases, the anti-police sentiment has been fueled by the April death in police custody of Freddie Gray in Baltimore and the fatal shooting, also in April, of Walter Scott in South Carolina. Six Baltimore police officers face charges in the death of Gray, who died of injuries suffered while being transported in a police van. North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager has been charged with murder in Scott’s shooting.
Galvanized by the deaths, Black Lives Matter has sought to bring attention to the issue of police brutality with protests around the nation.
“What’s more uncomfortable, shouting, stopping freeways and interrupting speeches — or being murdered by police and having your body left in the street for more than four hours, or turning up dead in a jail cell after a traffic stop?” the group posted on Facebook.

‘WE’RE SITTING DUCKS. WE’RE IN THESE UNIFORMS, BRIGHTLY COLORED CARS AND THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO.’

 - Sgt. Delroy Burton, DC Police Union
Some law enforcement officials believe President Obama has fanned the flames by not denouncing the movement more unequivocally, although he did personally call the widow of Goforth and has condemned violence against police.
“President Obama has breathed life into this ugly movement,” Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke told “Fox & Friends.” “And it is time now for good, law-abiding Americans to rise up. We now have to counter this slime, this filth coming out of these cop haters.”
Sgt. Delroy Burton, chairman of the DC Police Union in Washington, compared the current treatment of police to veterans returning from the Vietnam War.
“We have to fight the bad guys, and the policymakers go unnoticed,” he said.
Burton, who was born in Jamaica and is a former U.S. Marine, said his police force is about 131 officers understaffed and has seen nearly 600 officers resign in the past 19 months — a number he said is unheard of.
“We’re sitting ducks,” he said. “We’re in these uniforms, brightly colored cars and there’s nothing we can do. And the vast majority supports this loud vocal minority.

A Black Lives Matter textbook could be coming to a school near you.

Aimed at white sixth grade through high school students, "Black Lives Matter (Special Reports)" "covers the shootings that touched off passionate protests, the work of activists to bring about a more just legal system and tensions in the U.S. society that these events have brought to light," according to Ardo Publishing.

Authors Duchess Harris and Sue Bradford Edwards say the conversation needs to happen with young students, but critics say it goes too far.

Larry Elder said on "Fox and Friends Weekend" that this book is indoctrinating children to believe that that black people are victims and white people should feel guilty about it. He explained that doesn't get to the root of the problem.

He said if the Black Lives Matter movement is really concerned about saving the lives of African Americans, they should focus on black-on-black crime, which is the number one cause of preventable death among young black males.

Elder questioned why Black Lives Matter activists are writing books like this and interrupting speeches by politicians like Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley.

"Why don't they come down to Compton or South Central, where I grew up, and confront the Bloods and the Crips and MS-13?" Elder said. "Get in their faces and chant 'black lives matter.' Maybe that will have some sort of effect."

http://m.aol.com/article/2015/08/24/new-black-lives-matter-textbook-is-aimed-at-white-middle-schoole/21226649/

Black lives matter is a hate group by definition. As a "group" they sing the praises of killing cops. One instance of a large group doing this is evidence. More than one group doing it is proof.

"fry them like bacon!" You got to be kidding. Their actions are indefensible.

I was meaning the public should be wary...for those exact reasons you have pointed out.
Not all police are whack jobs.

However, this is not science. Statement of "purpose", used as an original source of information means nothing when presented with reel after reel of marcher's singing hate. Kim is correct, as usual.

You realize That arguement can be used for any debate to those that don't agree? I'm right and you're wrong has been the arguement here since I started in 07

omg, you think you can argue like that and just do what you want with police?

even a traffic stop, you are technically under arrest... that goes for black people too, since you seem to forget that...

Case by case scenario...Wariness should not turn into paranoia...

i disagree, still... king shabazz is the leader of the black panthers, and he wants his "peeps" to kill white babies, farrycon is the leader of a "church" and he wants white people dead... thats hate, plain and simple...

Well in general terms the BLM movement is not a 'hate' group until it specifically says do violence to an identifiable group.

If the group 'thinks' cops should die, or says it hopes they do, that simply makes them a$$hole$, but not criminals. When they say go and kill cops just because they are cops, or kill all white people, then yeah, that's incitement and it qualifies as hate.

Of note though if you Google 'raid Black Panthers' the hits you get go back to police raids in 1969 and the early 70's. Google 'raid white supremacists' and you get stories of them being arrested and investigated right into 2015.

So in theory the Black Panthers and the up to date New Black Panther Party have been peaceable citizens for 40 years now, and whites apparently not so much, with the cops kicking in their doors until present day. Ironically the NBPP is actually designated a hate group by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, and surprisingly the Southern Poverty Law Center.

It's most notable 'recent' action was the 2008 election day baton swinging incident in Philly. Two members of the NBPP stood outside a polling station, with one of them waving a police style baton in a menacing manner. They were using racial slurs and saying whomever was entering the building better be voting for Obama. They were never charged with voter intimidation, or civil rights violations because even though the event was captured on video, no actual voter would swear out a complaint saying they were too scared to vote.

Well in general terms the BLM movement is not a 'hate' group until it specifically says do violence to an identifiable group.

If the group 'thinks' cops should die, or says it hopes they do, that simply makes them a$$hole$, but not criminals. When they say go and kill cops just because they are cops, or kill all white people, then yeah, that's incitement and it qualifies as hate.

Of note though if you Google 'raid Black Panthers' the hits you get go back to police raids in 1969 and the early 70's. Google 'raid white supremacists' and you get stories of them being arrested and investigated right into 2015.

So in theory the Black Panthers and the up to date New Black Panther Party have been peaceable citizens for 40 years now, and whites apparently not so much, with the cops kicking in their doors until present day. Ironically the NBPP is actually designated a hate group by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, and surprisingly the Southern Poverty Law Center.

It's most notable 'recent' action was the 2008 election day baton swinging incident in Philly. Two members of the NBPP stood outside a polling station, with one of them waving a police style baton in a menacing manner. They were using racial slurs and saying whomever was entering the building better be voting for Obama. They were never charged with voter intimidation, or civil rights violations because even though the event was captured on video, no actual voter would swear out a complaint saying they were too scared to vote.

They should have fired back, it would have been justified. It's to the point where Law Enforcement Officers are scared to defend themselves unfortunately thanks to Barry who vilifies them and the damn Black Lives Matter hate group.