IN DEFENSE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

IN DEFENSE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Columnist

January 20, 2009

On his long, last day in office, now-former President George W. Bush commuted the sentences of two US Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who were wrongly incarcerated. Their crime: Simply doing their jobs. For all the talk about compassionate conservatism coming into the job in 2001, Bush seemed completely absent and devoid of such when it came to extending official forgiveness. History will not initially be kind to Bush; with this stunt, it will be even less kind. Such actions will only reinforce the media savaging he will almost certainly receive even after he leaves Washington.

These agents were incarcerated simply because of the criminal actions of Johnny Sutton, an ambitious United States Attorney seeking a higher profile. Because Bush granted a commutation instead of a pardon, these men must wait two months before they can be with their families, when they should be home tonight in time for dinner. These men should have been granted a pardon, or better yet, they never should have been criminally charged in the first place. If anything, their conduct merited a five-day RIP (reduction in pay), and nothing more than that. Their lives should not have been destroyed such as they were by an opportunistic boot-licking US Attorney pandering to a constituency of people (illegal aliens) who have no damn business being in the country in the first place. The fact that the illegal alien drug runner (who was shot and, unfortunately, only wounded) has since been charged in another drug case, should only reinforce the fact the agents were justified in using deadly force. It's a crying shame these two agents didn't finish the job right the first time they intercepted this two-legged piece of garbage invading our homeland.

The fact remains that the United States Supreme Court should toss the entire case out on its ear, and completely void out the criminal convictions on these two fine American law enforcement officers. In addition, every possible effort should be made to get these men back to work in a profession that matches their skill set and affords them the standard of living they enjoyed prior to their wrongful conviction and incarceration. With felony convictions, these men, for all intents and purposes, are unemployable. This cannot and must not be allowed to stand.

Before anyone thinks that it's limited to these two cops, guess again. There are numerous police officers and other law enforcement professionals throughout America, who are currently incarcerated, simply for doing their jobs. Just about every single one of these cases revolves around an officer-involved shooting. Most of the time, these matters are along racial lines, such as the recent Transit Officer in California, who was forced to resign and later charged with murder in an officer-involved shooting. The cop was white and the perp was black. If black perps or any other perps don't want to get shot, they should stop committing crimes - and especially stop using guns to commit those crimes.

Cops are a special breed of people; they sacrifice high pay and a cushy corner office to patrol our streets, and otherwise pursue those who steal from, hurt and kill our friends and loved ones. They put their lives on the line every day and night so we can sleep safely in our homes. They leave for work every day and kiss their wives, children, girlfriends and the like goodbye, not knowing if that will be the last time they ever see them.

While it is true that some police officers have been involved in serious crimes - especially in Milwaukee, the American ghetto slum/Detroit wannabe I finally had the good sense to flee earlier this month - the fact remains that most cops are decent, ethical, hard-working protectors of their communities. They deserve our respect, and unless they have priors for brutality or other misconduct, they deserve both every consideration and every benefit of the doubt when they are charged with misconduct.

Because of their hazardous duty situations, cops and firefighters should be afforded special protections under the law, much as some states make the killer of cops and firefighters eligible for the death penalty.

This will be covered more in a future column. ***

A veteran freelance writer, Timothy Rollins brings a wealth of political and military experience dating back more than three decades. He is a freelance writer and policy analyst living in Oklahoma who has been featured on both television and radio. He has appeared both in online publications as well as in print newspapers such as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, USA TODAY, the Deseret News in Salt Lake City and the Daily Herald in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The views expressed here by Mr. Rollins are his own and do not represent the official views of any organization or entity with which he may otherwise be affiliated. As such, Mr. Rollins alone takes full responsibility for them. He can be reached by e-mail at rollins@american-partisan.com. ***

Photo of Timothy Rollins courtesy of staff files
Photo of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean courtesy of Redpills.org
With files from the Costa Mesa/Newport Beach, California Daily Pilot
With files from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online