Dog Brothers Public Forum

Someone should have helped him.  Sometimes people do...

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/ohio-police-officer-thanks-good-samaritan-backup-lady-12410779

I am curious as to how you guys feel about the use of unmanned drones, in police work.  As a naturally suspicious person, I dislike this.  I imagine that armed drones for SWAT actions will come next.  That is a barrel of poisonous snakes.  Remember, In this country, in modern times (I was in high school) the police of a certain city actually bombed a city block.

Alas, all I have is your DVDs.  I will make a camp one day.

Btw, what I learned in your DVDs made all the difference.

I did not want to start a new post for this and this one talks about defense...sooo is the use of the palm/koppo/yawara stick covered in any of the dvds?

Thanks.

(Please move if this is badly placed)

Don't want to fight but don't want to fake my position either.

In fairness, you posted a few links, as well.

These conversations are hard.  I really am trying to talk about this without starting a fight.  I also wanted to express that I have supported the police with the only thing I truly own, which is my body.  But, by the same token, I do want to express the distrust I feel when I am not in uniform.  When I am not in uniform, I make it a point to not mention anything because it changes the encounter and I want to be treated like everyone else.  That sometimes makes me unhappy.  My hope is that some LEOs will see that even someone that is almost totally on their side still has a great deal of heartburn over what they see happening between the police and citizens.  Dunno if I have done a good job, but I have made my feelings known.

**Sure. Just like any group that lives outside the mainstream, they tend to flock together. Just like Nurses, Firefighters, EMS and others tend to do. Can you sit down with a group of people that live normal 9-5 jobs and tell them about the junkie who was flatlining until you hit him with narcan, then he tried to kill you for it? Or tell them about the SIDS call you went to, or the single vehicle rollover with multiple fatals?

Of course not. 

In the US, the public shapes how law enforcement does it's job.

I live in Tx so maybe it is different here.  Many things happen by policy.  Sometimes, the public can get them shot down, if you have some vulnerable politicians.  Sometimes the policies are not widely publicized and until someone with juice is irritated, nothing happens.  Again, I live here so it may be different. (of course the government can negatively affect cops and that is not handled unless there are some vulnerable politicians)

Solution?  That has to come from law enforcement.  I have no power, so in general life, I just avoid as much as possible.  The police have an incredible amount of power.  The police face an incredible amount of danger.  Nothing in my life mirrors that.  I will say that the job is voluntary, though and some of the hostility that comes out during the occasional traffic stop or random encounter goes a long way towards bad relationships.

Additionally, I will say that a good part of my concern with police power is that, in a worst case scenario, 2 problems arise:

1. Police officers are people, just like all of us.
2. They are a group of people that I cannot defend myself against, if I were ever to feel that I needed to.

And believe me, I do my level best to avoid those things.  I don't speed.  Got the necessary stickers, am polite when stopped and avoid parts of town where they might not want to see me.

Sounds fairly close to what I have always thought.  Then, how have we arrived at a place where we often have hostile relationships between the police and citizens?  I can completely understand why it goes poorly when you are being arrested.
Do you think there is an us against them mentality?
What advice would you give to people with clean records that feel like they are being profiled.  Not just a simple traffic stop, but a better dose, complete with cuffs?

My point was in what I said.  To provide some background so anyone that decides to answer does not think I am randomly bashing cops.  I do have questions about how many violent encounters are handled and so I bring them up.

Let me ask you a different question, what do you consider the role of the police to be?  I know what I think, but it is likely different from what you think.  I am not trying to be combative, here.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=8163016

Don't know the law about cell phones so I don't know if the police are allowed to snatch them.  I think they should not be if they are.

http://downeybeat.com/2011/10/for-second-time-this-month-downey-officers-fatally-shoot-suspect-10697/

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-deputy-murrieta-bar-shooting,0,4182153.story

I was making a statement based on how I feel about the subject and based on how I perceive things work, currently.  I did not attribute anything to anyone.

"There is a difference between a rule of law as part of a limited government vs. a invasive nanny-state where minor crimes are used to extract revenue while felons run wild, see California as an example of this."

You are certainly correct but we don't have that and I do not see many examples of conservative leaning persons actually wanting that.  I see a lot of cries for lower taxes (I can relate) and greater freedom for business (more complicated but I can relate).  On the law and order side of things, many people, self identifying as conservative, see absolute submission to the government's agents as necessary.  Many confrontations with the government representatives come, not from a violation, but from being slow to demonstrate complete submission.  Any encounter with a government agent can end in your death.  This disturbs me.  Most likely, it will not because most government reps will not escalate confrontations that far  and most people will lay down and expose their bellies. 

"All those are good, however a gun or two is a serious improvement when facing deadly force threats."

I definitely agree with you here.  I guess I am in the process of trying to sort out how I can find myself in these positions and how to behave if I do.  Since I am not a LEO and I do not live in a rough area, my exposure to deadly force threats has been minimal.  Some of what I read and hear people say seems to be a bit of an overreaction.  Still, we already know that I am very underexposed and probably wrong.  Also, you hear that saying "better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6."  I am TERRIFIED of the criminal justice system and hope that if ever faced with force, my response is appropriate.  BTW, I do have guns and I do shoot them.  I just don't take them places with me.

I am curious about something, and this seems to be the place for it:  In my mind, it seems that it is likely that there have been more incidents of defense with a gun in the home, and more instances of defense with some other kind of weapon out in the world.  Anyone know how that breaks down?

I am in Austin, Texas.  Anyone on the board live and train here.  I woukd certainly like to get involved.
 Thanks, Andre

I want to thank all of you that posted here.  I am in my 40s and have just become interested in what you do.  I am not a long time martial artist or anything like that.  Anyway, I have a stick, I have DBMA dvds and I have a park.  Since I am in Tx, I hope to pop my cherry in a Houston Stickfighting Organization gathering and then come visit all of you.  Again, thanks for this post.