The NYPD has sent its minions contribution to help the NOPD.
"Ron Hernandez, a New York officer who usually works in Manhattan, said he had been taken aback when he arrived in Harahan to see so many civilians with guns casually strapped to their hips."
I hope he suffered a severe case of the vapors.
"The officers' radio frequencies were incompatible. Their jargon was different, their cultures apart and the landscape foreign."
NYC is a foreign culture compared to that of, say pre-Katrina New Orleans, just as L.A. is a different culture than Charlotte, NC. Perhaps not so different to be completely alien, but different enough to be foreign.
I have heard (though the particulars escape me - any help would be appreciated) that NYC did a limited confiscation some time ago (early 1980's?). To carry this out they had some folks from a different law enforcement agency help them with organizing & conducting the confiscations. The different law enforcement agency was from China (again if I recall correctly). Now I have no idea what the numbers were or the reasoning behind it, but foreigners usually have less qualms about doing things to the people than a native would. I sincerely hope that at least some NOPD officers felt badly about going door to door & confiscating people's arms at gunpoint. But I do not think that a NYPD officer would have the same difficulty.
Look at his statement to understand why. Now in all fairness to Hernadez it could have been a pleasant kind of "taken aback", but I think it's more probable that it was not an approving attitude. If I am correct then I'd conclude that it's easier for Hernadez to follow through with forced civilian disarmament than it would be for a local NOPD cop. The NOPD cop might be used to it & even approve of civilians possessing firearms. The NYPD cop is not used to it, probably feels threatened by it & might feel relieved if civilians were disarmed.
Still, while I toy with it I can't care too much about the why. What I have been thinking long & hard about is the how, to the end that I can be effective at countering it.
Oh, besides NYC, Illinois & California sent cops to New Orleans. All that's missing are a few cops from D.C., Massachusetts, New Jersey & Hawaii. If that happened then they'd have advisors from all the severe gun control statesright there in New Orleans. Maybe while they're there they'll be able to come up with the best way to import forced civilian disarmament back home. & I have not seen any stories, but does anyone want to place odds on some ATFU wanna-be ninjas joining in the fun in New Orleans?
Posted by Publicola at September 11, 2005 03:58 AM | TrackBackI had an opportunity to call the police for their stenographic prowess after I interrupted an attempted theft of my truck in Los Angeles. They arrived in about twenty minutes (so fast only because I mentioned that the would be car thief displayed a weapon to make good his escape).
As the officers were expertly writing down my statement and description of the bad guy I noticed that one of the cops was a foriegner. He was about twenty-five and from Italy. I thought this was bad news, someone raised in a less free society would have fewer qualms about violating citizens rights.
The cops said that they had quite a few new recruits from other countries. I fear that it doesn't bode well for liberty.
Posted by: Marc at September 11, 2005 01:19 PM