I’m writing this in Wheeling, Illinois, two-thirds of the way through the six-day annual conference of ILEETA, the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association. Despite the brutal hits police budgets have taken in the current economy (see my earlier blog entry on this topic), we have some 800 police instructors from California to Maine, from Washington state to Florida, and Hawaii and Alaska, and several foreign countries in attendance. I talked with several who, faced with their department’s inability to send them, paid out of their own pockets to come. It’s that important to them. They understand what it means when your department names you the one who will train your officers to survive, who will train them for the moments when they risk their lives for the citizens they have sworn an oath to protect.

People write to forums and blogs (sometimes this one, in fact) to call cops jack-booted thugs and insist that they all want to disarm law-abiding citizens. I wish some of those folks could have been here. They wouldn’t have found a JBT in sight. Only hundreds and hundreds of men and women who have sworn that oath to risk their lives for the public safety, and who take with the deepest seriousness their assignment to train others to do likewise.

I’ve heard of one police chiefs’ seminar where the gun-banning Brady organization was welcomed for a demonstration booth, but the National Rifle Association was denied one. That may happen with some politically driven police chiefs, who serve at the whim of the city fathers who appoint them, and feel a need to hew to their benefactors’ political line and dance on the end of their puppet strings. It does not happen in THIS venue, founded and directed by famed supercop Ed Nowicki. Ed was in six gunfights in the course of a career that began as a Chicago copper, and eventually took him solely into training the next generations, at various times serving as a chief of police and even as a judge. At ILEETA, the Brady types were noticeably absent, but the packed vendor hall included booths for the NRA and also for USPSA, the United States Practical Shooting Association.

Thursday afternoon, I chaired the panel of experts discussion on deadly force issues. I had been able to assemble ten superstars of police training. Dr. Alexis Artwohl, former police psychologist for Portland, Oregon and one of our leading experts on the psychological and emotional dynamics of facing violent criminals in mortal combat. Attorney and police chief Jeff Chudwin, who had the day before received the coveted Police Trainer of the Year award. Attorney Adam Kasanof, a retired NYPD lieutenant whose career included a fatal gunfight. John and Vicki Farnam, top private sector instructors in armed survival. Brian McKenna, a retired Missouri cop who has spent most of his career analyzing police shootouts. Greg Morrison, Ph.D, currently a college professor and formerly senior instructor at Jeff Cooper’s famous school, Gunsite. DEA instructor Chuck Soltys, who on the first day of the conference had won the coveted ILEETA Cup in a high-speed shooting match. Vince O’Neill, of the Oklahoma state law enforcement academy. Dr. James Williams, police surgeon and leading authority on “tactical anatomy” and treatment of gunshot injury.

One of the topics that inevitably cropped up was response to mass murders in schools and other public places. Among us was Ron Borsch, instructor at the Southeast Area Law Enforcement Academy in Ohio, who has been an advocate of “sole response” entry into such situations by the first responding officer. Though controversial in law enforcement, his theory was validated recently by the courageous 25-year-old cop who entered a mass murder scene only a few weeks ago at an old folks home, and stopped the killing with a single bullet from his Glock .40 service pistol coolly and expertly delivered to the gunman’s chest.

Borsch’s impromptu discussion revealed the fact that some 25% of mass murder shooting sprees he has researched were ended by armed private citizens. This led in turn to a discussion of the Israeli Model, in place since the Maalot massacre of schoolchildren decades ago, in which teachers and other school personnel were trained and discreetly armed with handguns, which has proven famously successful ever since in Israel. Across the ten-member panel AND the dozens of police instructors attending the discussion, not a single voice was raised against that concept, and many spoke enthusiastically in favor of it.

Don’t listen to the politically motivated figureheads. Talk to the REAL cops. They’re the ones who best understand the dynamics of violence, and of protection of the innocent from evil.

As always, this week at ILEETA has recharged my batteries, reminding me of the pride I take in the badge I’ve worn for 35 years…and reminding me, also, that these law enforcement veterans overwhelmingly respect the responsibly armed American citizen.

Ed Nowicki, the supercop who founded ILEETA
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Ron Borsch, the retired SWAT cop whose research showed 25% of mass murders were ended by armed citizens.
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Honor guard at opening ceremony.
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Mas, left, congratulates DEA agent Chuck Soltys, winner of the ILEETA Cup. Because DEA agents may be assigned undercover at any time, Chuck’s facial features are obscured here.
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The NRA law enforcement booth at ILEETA vendor expo.
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ILEETA commemorative knife. Law enforcement is an armed subculture.
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1 COMMENT

  1. Mas, I appreciate that there are many loyal true law enforcement officers out there today. As for JBTs, I know that there are those out there as well and when the good guys don’t call out the JBTs (see Lima, Ohio SWAT murder), everyone loses credibility. The police fraternity is bigger than some people’s sense of justice.

    It is not right to call all badge wearing officials JBTs, nor is it proper to consider them all good guys. The police are continuing to militarize and an active military on our soil (though it’s coming to pass) is something that the Founders believed would ruin the nation.

    If the good guys were not silent or silenced when the JBTs won, the public could have more confidence in their safety (when the SCOTUS says the police have no duty to protect private citizens).

  2. Mas, you’re seeing and meeting with the cops who still believe in the “old fashioned” mantra of being officers of the peace, who use their discretion and judgement in their duties. Those who are convinced of the JBT view of police officers are probably people who live in jurisdictions where the majority of police officers are of the “law enforcement” model. I’ve seen both in Washington state and have lived in four counties. Generally, the rural sheriffs are mostly of the “peace officer” mold and are pleasant to deal with. The city and town police officers are mostly in the “law enforcement” camp and tend to the most inflexible authoritarian interactions with the public. They generally look like body builders and their mannerisms all give an aura of tenseness. They also tend to undertake the “revenue collection ie, tickets” part of the job with glee.

  3. Hey! Welcome to northern Illinois! (waving from Waukegan)

    I lived in Wheeling for a year; had to move back to Lake County because Cook County voted to make some of the guns I own illegal.

  4. I actually made that mistake once, complaining to a friend about how the sheriff was anti-gun because he required me to have all my guns shipped in to New York when I moved from Rhode Island and processed by a dealer, essentially requiring me to be NICS checked for guns I already own, in addition to having been just fingerprinted and checked by the FBI in order to get the permit to own the guns in the first place. I knew it wasn’t state law – just someone adding more hoops to his own little fief.

    Turns out this friend had known the sheriff for 20 years and set me straight – the anti-gun (or at least anti-ccw) judge in the county seat directed the sheriff to enact that policy. The sheriff was just doing what the designated pistol licensing officer instructed him to do, which is his job. To hear my friend tell it, he’d basically do away with the whole affair, including the ballistic databank. See, they waste about $4 million a year on that, and he’d rather it get divided up amongst the counties so he could hire another deputy or pay for more training ammo or whatnot.

  5. I really enjoyed this article, but what scares me is that maybe they will try to take our guns. I have served two tours in VN and am a door gunner and Crew Chief on Helicopter Gun Ships. I will not let them take my 2nd Amendment Right away from me. I won’t even discuss this. Thank you for your time and articles, I really like reading them, I send a lot on to people who seem to have their heads in the sand, hoping they will wake up.
    Terry

  6. thank you for your service and fealty to the Constitution–and a great magazine too, have to resubscribe

  7. Mas, I drive a truck for a living, aren’t police officers suppose to be my enemy? I’ve never had a ticket I shouldn’t have got, probably haven’t got a few I should have.

    Police officers have my respect and they don’t have to earn it either, growing up in NH back in the 60’s my Dad was a Volunteer Officer in Portsmouth. My Mom made him quit after one night when they had a riot and things got pretty freaky.

    It’s a job I couldn’t do, I’ve seen lots of ‘accidents’ on the highways over the years…. too many. Giving out tickets is the easy part, cleaning up the messes is a different story.

    Teach them well, let God watch over each one of them

  8. Especially good to hear that the INSTRUCTORS are on the side of the average, law-abiding folks….

    Thanks for an excellent writeup!

  9. Mas, always apleasure to read your articles. These good officers that believe in one right to protect , help a cop if needed and is something we appreciate. My respect to all officers, even the ones that dont agree on what we all here stand for. They still get my respect. Their job is not easy and no matter what they are still our law inforcement officers. They just need maybe a bit of education on the reality of what you have been saying and teaching all along Mas.

  10. I really enjoy hearing that some officers are still training well and trying to pass on that training to others but having been a Deputy for a short period of time many years ago I am very disappointed in what I see today. The example of Peace Officer and “Law Enforcer” type is very true but what is also true is that I see even though it seems pre-req’s for officer canidates have increased it often seems that the quality of the officer has dropped. These city departments that the Enforcer/JBT type is so common in , often have the toughest requirements to get in and also seem to often have the most troubles with officers ranging from assaults, kidnapping, chronic speeding to the most recent manslaughter (112mph in a patrol car, no call, no lights, no siren on a city street) .

    Politics need to stay out of Law Enforcement, Training needs to increase and the selection process is failing, something needs to be done to increase the quality of the recruits and weed out those who give the badge a bad name.

  11. An addition to what you mentioned about the Israelis and teachers. One way they secure the school buses is that some of the teenagers on the bus carry Uzis or M16s. They drop them off in the office during school, and keep them at home overnight

  12. nice artical Mas.
    i strongly agree with magister.
    having lived in nyc for most of my life I’d say they are “very” law and order.
    I’m living in a more rural community these days and I’m continually blown away by the professionalism & courtesy of our local law enforcement (plug for Pocono mountain regional PD) 🙂
    however…..
    I’ve developed a real fear of federal law enforcement.
    I’ve watched their heavy handed tactics for the last 30 years and let’s face it they have become judge, jury & executioner on ALOT of different occasions. with mixed results.
    it’s no longer safe to disagree with the policies of the federal government. you’ll be branded a racist, a right-wing extremist or a person capable of a man made disaster (we used to call them terrorists)
    the federal government is no longer looking outward for it’s enemies it’s looking inward.

  13. Wisconsin, four days ago the state attorney general sent out a memo to LEO that , after an exhaustive review, open carry was legal. Gov. Doyle, who two years ago said he preferred open carry to concealed, was spittin’ sputterin’ and backpeddling. Milwaukee pd chief Flynn wants his “troops” ( when did they become military? ) to stop everyone to check them out. Cudahy det. Milosavljvic said “It’s going to be like the wild west where they have the holster strapped down to their leg.” Ex LEO state rep. Young will draft legislation (probably un constitutional) to prevent this. Their greatest concern is for the thugs. But, suprise! Milwaukee DA Chisholm said he has faith in the people to use sound judgment. Let cooler heads prevail. I’d rather see a good guy with a gun than a thug who’s hiding one. As Mas knows but maybe not all, Wi. is without ccw.

  14. I think that LEO’s like any other group are diverse. I think to a large degree they reflect the feelings of the region when it comes to gun rights. I have only been hassled by a cop over (legally) carrying once and it was just a ten minute inconvenience. Unfortunately Katrina showed that some cops can and will use force to unlawfully disarm citizens and leave them defenseless.

  15. Central Ohio here Mas. The sheriff departments around here are all professional and the officers are dressed in hats, ties and dress attire. The police are usually dressed in swat costumes and have gotcha attitudes. Don’t care much for them.

  16. Just wanted to thank you for the your blog. I am new at handgun ownership, and am hungry for good information.

  17. Thanks for dropping Dr. Alexis Artwohl’s name, I’ve started reading her work on cognitive interviews, which could be useful regarding incidents with my detention staff.

  18. Mas, thanks for your article! I was certainly aware of the stance of a lot of “pro-Brady” politico chiefs out there. The problem I have is that there is no “counter voice”.

    It would be real “neat” if there was a separate organization, made up of law enforcement and civilians that view the “power and responsibility” of gun ownership that you espouse so that 1) there was a counter voice out there to the politically correct, uninformed; 2) so that the “partnership” between law enforcement and civilians could be strengthened and enhanced; 3) so that the “power and responsibility” of gun ownership that you espouse could become mainstream (even though I’m pro 2nd amendment, I’ve seen too many irresponsibile gun owners who are liable to accidently blow off their own feet if not someone elses (or worse) and need a little “boy scouting” . . . )

    I don’t suggest anything that I wouldn’t be willing to step up and help build, so let me know what we can do to both increase responsibility and visibility (check out your posting in LinkedIn for contact info) . . .

  20. Mas, you raise an interesting point and may be in a good position to answer a hypothetical quandary I have had for a while now. What would local and state law enforcement officers do if ordered to begin gun confiscations? Should some way be found for the banners to win and have national gun bans like they did in Australia and Great Britain, would our local officers go round up the registered guns that weren’t turned in voluntarily? Do they fear for their safety in doing so given the “cold dead fingers” mentality of so many of us gun owners? As I said, a hypothetical, but it would be good to know where our law enforcement stand on this issue.

  21. Dan, I’ll refer you to my blog entry here (will need some scrolling down) of 11/7/08 titled “If Confiscation Was Ordered.” There was lots of interesting commentary there. For what it’s worth, I still stand by what I said in the entry and subsequent commentary.

    best,
    Mas

  23. As a former city reserve officer, I recall that one of my major concerns was the JBT’s on my department, and the hypocrisy I would sometimes observe. I recall riding with two other reserve officers with an FTO, and watched in stunned disbelief as our FTO, the head of the Traffic Division, engaged in a 95 mph drag race with a state trooper (both in marked units) just for fun. I also learned very quickly that on our department, police officers never say “thank you” or “I’m sorry”. There was a small percentage of us who tried very hard to offset some of the damage these officers were doing to our public image, but it was a constant uphill battle. I am personally very grateful to every one of you who aren’t bullies with badges, but who instead make a serious effort to always behave in a professional, respectful manner towards the public. You are treasures in your communities.

    I am also appreciative of the pro-citizen stance of this article. When I lived in Ohio, I was involved in the effort to get CCW in that state several years ago. I knew from my own experiences that street officers strongly supported citizen CCW, and found it frustrating when high ranking state police officers made public statements against citizens being able to defend themselves. A posting I saw recently on Fox News pretty much says it all: “Remember, when seconds count, the police are only minutes away”.