A Wisconsin sheriff is telling the public not to count on 9-1-1 in case of emergencies. This is from a radio ad Sheriff David Clarke is airing in Milwaukee:
With officers laid-off and furloughed, simply calling 9-1-1 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back; but are you prepared? Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We’re partners now. Can I count on you?
Statistics show that armed civilians are more likely to shoot themselves or someone other than a violent criminal, assuming that said criminal doesn’t take the gun and turn it on the homeowner.
By the way, the cutbacks in police officers in Wisconsin is thanks to budget cuts by the Republicans. So maybe it should be those elected officials who are handed the firearms and told to go out there when the 9-1-1 call comes in.
It would serve this a##hat right if he was opposed in his next reelection run – by somebody whopoints out this ad as proof that if you don’t belong to Sheriff Clarke’s NRA chapter / church / ethnic group, he couldn’t be bothered to answer the 911 dispatch.
Nope, the rethugs won’t be bothered. They already have armed security, plus the cops (the folks in the rich areas want to keep their police, they just want to deny public safety to the poor). Of course, a lot of that part of the country subscribes to the theory that the Sheriff is the highest legitimate law enforcement in the country (munipal and state police officers work for “corporate governments” not the public), so the Sher’ff should be able to just deputize everyone in the county, just like they did in the good old days when they were hunting escaped slaves.
An armed public, shooting at moving shadows (and each other) will only increase police calls. Yeah, that’ll work just fine… Is this clown another Joe Arpaio in the making?
Nope. Arpaio likes arresting people. Clarke seems perfectly happy just to pick up dead perps (or Fuller brush salesmen, or Jehovah’s Witnesses, or neighbors’ kids) off people’s doorsteps.
Maybe this guy’s jurisdiction should defund the entire Sheriff’s Department; after all, Clarke obviously isn’t interested in doing the job, and he’s put the onus on the citizenry to do their own policing. “We’re broke,” “entitlements” and “gubmint workers” and all that. Just a thought…
Good gravy! I wouldn’t have thought this would be legal. It makes no sense., and it sounds like a stamp of approval on anarchy & vigilantism.
Of course I wouldn’t have thought police would be cut when crime is a problem too.
I know it’s impolitic to say it, but it just hardens my belief that we have bigger, much bigger, policy problems than gun regulation or lack thereof if this is the kind of scenario that can play out in a major U.S. city.