by Jack
Why were the police told not to stop the looting?
The verdict was read, but in the minds of many it was meaningless. They had an agenda and it was about to be fulfilled, they only need the cover of large numbers of people to carry it out.
As mobs go, they were spread very thin and dispersed over a wide area. On the other side police had up to a 1000 riot equipped officers with heavy armor ready to do battle, backed up the National Guard. And then there were the fire trucks, all at the ready. But, when the rioting began, when the fire bombs were tossed, when the buildings were burning, the only people who responded were unarmed news crews from Fox and CNN.
The fire department didn’t respond to arson fires
Ferguson public safety personnel were held back for weak, liberal politics that said, go easy, don’t do anything that might upset them even more and for God sake don’t make any arrests unless you absolutely have too! The police were ready, they saw the looting mere blocks away, the fire department could see the building burning from their trucks and they were held back. Don’t go, we have shots fired in the area, it’s too dangerous.
And they obeyed their orders and the looters looted and buildings burned. They couldn’t even get permission to put out the flames on a burning police car just yards from the police line. And yet, only a few dozen angry protesters roamed the area, some using bull horns to taunt the police.
Despite months of preparation, when push finally came to shove, timid bureaucrats and weak kneed public safety administrators choose to under-respond than to due their duty. Store owners were abandoned to defend their property, those that did had no trouble, those who didn’t were looted. These three on the right protected their store…the cops didn’t.
Looting took on a carnival type atmosphere
If you fault Officer Darren Wilson for using excessive force, then you ought to equally fault the police for not using force when it was absolutely prudent and necessary to protect property and the public. Protecting life and property is fundamental to being a sworn officer and they were forced instead to watch criminal acts right before their eyes as they stood in a police line. They were under orders to retreat if the meager, but angry, crowds advanced on 
them. And they did retreat and the crowds were so few in number! This unfolded right on TV before my very eyes and I was so disgusted that after 20 minutes of watching the professional agitators inciting others to riot, the looting, vandalism, thefts and the arsons it was just too much for this old retired cop, I was ashamed of what I saw and I turn off the television.
Where was the national guard?
President Obama set the stage for this on both sides and his inciting and lack of leadership filtered down through the ranks until police were afraid to do anything – eve
n when it mean watching the looting from a safe distance. This was absolutely unbelievable and I am so disgusted and fed up.
Officer Darren Wilson, in my opinion, acted in a foolish manner and contributed to a bad outcome, even if it was deemed legal. Not everything that is legal is smart or even moral. Yes, I might have fired that shot inside the police car in a struggle to recover my weapon, but everything else that happened after that was a choice that I feel showed bad judgment.
Cops in riot gear stood around with nothing to do while stores were looted and burned
People may have a right to be angry at Wilson, but why take it out on a liquor store? You don’t burn down an auto parts store to advance race relations! Looting has nothing to do with civil rights or free speech. These are heinous crimes that shouldn’t have happened and couldn’t have happened if politicians and race-baiters were kept out of it.
The same kind of bad judgment that caused Michael Brown to commit a strong arm robbery was used by the lawless rioters. Brown was no hero, he had just committed a strong arm robbery in a grocery store before he was spotted by Officer Wilson. Brown threw the first punch and attacked the officer. He made a grab for Wilson’s pistol and was wounded in the struggle. Brown was not a good guy here. He was not the innocent person people 
in the black community portray him. Did he deserve to be shot when he turned back onto the officer pursuing him – yes, at that point Wilson had every right to defend himself, even with deadly force.
Should Wilson have pursued him alone with his backup just seconds away? Hindsight says probably not, but it was a judgment call made in the heat of the moment. In my opinion if he knew he could not handle Brown, he should have waited for backup.
Wilson could have watched where Brown was running and still made the arrest without resorting to deadly force. Of course this is all hindsight. But, at that moment, with all that had just happened, he was determined to arrest Brown and the momentum of that moment in time took over. The officer had been attacked and he was hurt and angry. I can see why he did what he did, but he made a bad choice based in anger and adrenalin. What followed speaks for itself.
There’s lots of blame to go around in Ferguson, perhaps too much for me to comprehend this morning, so I’m going to end here, but it’s not over….there’s more to say. Your turn.
Jack the local authorities were in the position of da*ned if they do, da*ned if they don’t.
I can understand your position that they should do their duty but I’m not sure the outcome would have been any different and it might have resulted in greater damage and injury.
I’ve had it with the entitlement attitude that justifies destruction and revenge as a pathway to “civil rights.”
The legal analyst at CNN continues down the tired old path that everyone except the black community needs to do something to fix this:
Why haven’t those cases caught the attention of the agitators? Why hasn’t the media widely reported these cases. Because there is more drama in pushing the art of racism and it’s too hard to fix what’s at the bottom of all of this…a broken and dependent black underclass.
Mark O’Mara again at CNN:
Gotta go…Let’s hope that s the dust settles that conversation the administration has had six years to start actually begins to happen ’cause this is insane.
There is plenty of blame to go around AFTER the fact but who incited the horrific conditions?
I too am thoroughly disgusted.
Good question. Where was the National Guard last night?
Missouri Lt. Gov.: Did The White House Stop The National Guard From Intervening Last Night? [VIDEO]:
“Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder questioned why the National Guard did not intervene Monday night to subdue the rioters and looters following the announcement that officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the death of Michael Brown.
Last week, Dem. Gov. Jay Nixon activated the National Guard in preparation for the grand jury announcement, but did not end up utilizing them last night, when cars were smashed and destroyed and nearby businesses were looted and burned down.
“The vast majority of Missourians are asking this morning … where were they last night?” Kinder, a Republican, asked Tuesday morning on “Happening Now.” “The law-abiding citizens and business owners and taxpayers of Ferguson, the St. Louis region have a right to ask this governor to answer some questions.”
“Why were they not there at the first sign of an overturned police car or a smashed police car window with a show of force that would have stopped this?” Kinder questioned.
“And here’s my question that the governor must answer,” said Kinder. “Is the reason that the National Guard wasn’t in there was because the Obama administration and the Holder Justice Department leaned on you to keep them out?”
“I cannot imagine any other reason why the governor who mobilized the National Guard would not put them in there to stop this, before it started,” Kinder concluded.”
http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/25/missouri-lt-gov-criticizes-absence-of-national-guard-where-were-they-last-night-video/
This whole thing stinks, but I wanted to know why the fire department didn’t hose them down? Being wet in 30 degree weather isn’t any fun.
I agree with Peggy.
We’re talkin here amongst my friends and I got one more thing to say. If the cops don’t respond to protect people they are sending a message to the people to protect yourself because we are not going to. Its a wonder nobody was killed last night because the cops were not allowed to do there jobs..
I see these three young men in the article above that look like they are brothers and they are carrying an assault weapon and a shotgun to defend themselves. Nobody looted there store did they? No I dont think so!
1Greek, There was a death. A man was shot at the site where Brown was killed and then he was set on fire.
Also, there were so many gun shots they diverted air traffic around Ferguson.
With what is happening now because a cop killed Brown I too would think twice before sending in a bunch of cops into a mob. The first thing on my mind would be to prevent another shooting of a another black by another white cop.
Peggy, we’re getting an answer of sorts from Gov. Nixon about he Guard, but I don’t like what he’s saying. He says they were deployed protect about 50 sites around Ferguson. Ironically none of the sites were close to the rioters. That would be 700 Guard troops deployed to weird places that were not under any threat and were far from the action. Why do you think he did that?
Anyone in charge of the Guard would think if my mission is to support the police and protect life and property from rioters “I better deploy them where they are rioting!” This does not take a Gen. Patton to figure this out.
One good way to encourage rioting is to let a police car burn in full view of both the riot police and the rioters. Put out that da$# fire! Tow that vehicle out of there and restore order. Watching the police commanders, you would think we’ve never had a riot before?
I could see grim determination in the face of the Missouri Highway Patrol Commander today. He said, “This will not happen again.” He repeated this slowly and firmly and I believe he meant it. Anyone see this man’s face and hearing his words had to know he was not messing around, he’s serious, the riot game is over. A guy like that should have been placed in charged and he should have been making such declarations long before the grand jury announcement. I firmly believe if the police had been allowed to do their jobs as they were trained, there would have been no looting, no buildings and no cars would have burned to the ground and likely there would have been around 3-400 arrests, not 80! Today the threat would be over. But, Ferguson isn’t that big, there’s not much to destroy, so it might be over anyway. I hope so.
FYI, I’ve seen riots in Watts, Berkeley, San Francisco and Chico. I’ve also collected crowd control information from New Orleans, because they’re experts at handling large crowds. So, this ain’t my first rodeo.
Most of the businesses that burned are black owned.
There is no excuse for the wanton destruction…none.
This has been used as an excuse to be violent and destructive like many other cases have been. The authorities made some arrests but the attitudes that inspired this violence will not be addressed unless the fact that it is unacceptable is made a big issue within the black community.
How do those poor business owners and their employees get their lives and livelihoods back?
Fox News:
Jack, what did you want the powers to do? … mow ’em all down?
The other thing that you might want to remember is that the TV is not the world. If you watched the TV during Loma Prieta, for instance, you’d have thought all of SF was on fire … which was not the case.
It’s distinctly possible that, on the ground, in Ferguson, 80 arrests were all that was necessary.
I actually thought the response was pretty tepid, the work of bad asses and bad apples, and they did quantities of damage, PR-wise.
Unhappily, in the Peet’s this morning, there was a extravagantly impaired young man of color, I mean positively flying … like he had gotten himself so totally wasted, babbling like a manic, that he decides to take himself down to a Peet’s in the financial district … to get arrested? … to get killed?
So, we’re all thinking: “he’s doing his Michael Brown” … and I’m telling ya, the community DOES NOT want that to get to be a commonplace sort of trope.
I don’t think we killed him. I had to get to the office, but I’m sure we didn’t.
Libby mow em all down are your words, not mine. Speaking as a former police officer, I’ve been taught that a forceful, fast acting police presence is a great deterrence to the roaming mobs that I saw of about 25-45 young, mostly male blacks, looking for an opportunity to loot a store or fire bomb a car or store. You position spotters along the route of the demonstrators and they call it in before they can start trashing a place. Then have 4 or 5 police cars swoop in with 10-12 officers, do a snatch and bust and away they go, it’s over before it starts. New Orleans has that tactic down to a fine science.
“There was a death. A man was shot at the site where Brown was killed and then he was set on fire.”
This is bull, Peggy, and you are a disgrace to your race.
Libby, please lets not refer to anyone’s race. At post scripts we’re all one color…black (ink), and of course we are red all over. Lil humor there.
Call me a liar again Libby and I’ll make you eat your words.
Here read this if you can.
Man Shot Dead & Burned Amid Ferguson Riots:
“A teenager was found dead in Ferguson inside a car with a gun shot to his head and his clothes burned on the night when extreme rioting engulfed the town. On November 25, St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch announced that Officer Darren Wilson would face no charges in the shooting dead of unarmed teenager Michael Brown on August 9. As news of that decision filtered through, rioting broke out across Ferguson.
KSDK in St. Louis reports that a man was found dead close to the Canfield Apartments on the morning of November 25. The Canfield building is where Michael Brown was killed by Officer Wilson in August. The man was found at around 9 a.m. with police calling the death “suspicious.”
Fox TV St. Louis reporter John Pertzborn tweeted that the victim in the case has his clothes burned and that he was shot in the head. He added that the car was from East St. Louis, according to the license plate. The victim was black.”
http://heavy.com/news/2014/11/man-shot-dead-michael-brown-death-scene-ferguson-missouri-shooting-night-verdict-riots/
Jack: “Why do you think he did that?”
Your guess is as good as mine. It makes no sense. Isn’t the National Guard under federal control and not state? Wouldn’t it take Obama or other DC administrator or military leader’s authorization to send in troops and where they’re sent? I really don’t know.
The Lt. Governor was really upset and accused the WH of them back.
Missouri Governor’s Deputy Slams Him For Not Deploying More Troops In Ferguson:
“Kinder went on to speculate that pressure from the White House shaped Nixon’s handling of the demonstrations.”
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-kinder-slams-jay-nixon-for-not-sending-more-national-guard-to-ferguson-2014-11#ixzz3K8T4O5Ys
I’m sure if enough people keep asking why they weren’t sent we will eventually find out.
This is bull, Peggy, and you are a disgrace to your race.
What? How do you even know what race she is?
Libster, you are a disgrace to all of humankind.
Everyone…lets play nice okay? Remember, we’re just people talking about the news, we’re not the news and we’re not going to do anything except express our opinions. Y’know…as in free speech, air our thoughts, that’s all. C’mon now…
Jack thanks for sharing a bit about the tactics that could have been used in a situation like this. It’s very helpful to have someone who knows about police work clarify the issue and the rhetoric.
Jack, I would love to play nice and have a civil conversation with those who see things differently than I do, but I will not be called a liar, bullied and treated like I need their permission to be here.
Enough is enough! If they take the first swing I will hit back with everything I have.
I do have a couple of questions about the kid that was shot in the back of the head and burned in a car near where Mike Brown was killed. Where is the media coverage for this black teenager? Where is the liberal outrage over this poor kids senseless death?
Is he connected to the Brown case in some way?
The MSM is controlled by liberals so why aren’t they covering this kids death? Where is their humanity? Are they racist for not speaking out against the unjustness? Isn’t one kids death just as important as another?
Why aren’t liberals on this blog joining me in speaking out FOR this kid? Is it because it doesn’t fit in with their racist agenda? You bet it is. One kids death doesn’t matter unless it can be used to promote their political goals.
Peggy, I hope you know I’m not in any way faulting you for sticking up for yourself when attacked. You have every right to do that when someone gets on your case! I just put out a generic “play nice” request because, well, it’s the holiday season and we all deserve a little extra kindness, right? Sure…. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” Luke 6:27
Jason Riley has it right!
Jason Riley On Ferguson: ‘The Issue Here Is Black Criminality, Not The Behavior Of Cops’ [VIDEO]:
http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/25/jason-riley-on-ferguson-black-on-black-crime-issue-at-hand-its-not-about-the-cops-video/
Another excellent video by Charles R. Patrick.
Will The Real Black Americans Please Stand Up:
http://www.tpnn.com/2014/11/26/video-will-the-real-black-americans-please-stand-up/
A very tight lid is being kept on this murder, possibly by local police to facilitate their investigation in very difficult circumstances. The one story I read didn’t even mention the kid was set on fire…to hide evidence?
Rush is reporting about a black woman who put everything she had into opening a cake business that these criminals destroyed. PJ Media:
America is not a nation filled with racism and hate. We are a nation of tolerance and goodwill. This nation rejects racism by any group. Time for the race hustling resentful crowd to get on board!
Good news!
The bakery that was destroyed owner has received more than $111,000 in donations. She’s a single mom who had been operating the business on her own.
Now, because of the donations and the large number of orders coming in she’s going to hire workers to help her.
She’s very thankful to everyone for helping and is looking forward to a beautiful Thanksgiving.
The interview was just on Fox News.
That is excellent, a small miracle. Good has a lot of catching up to do in this world.
I knew Jack, I was really speaking to the person who feels they have to attack everything I say. I’ll play nice if they do. I like a respectful exchange of ideas, but won’t put up with cheap potshots.