Just Following Orders May Cost Cops Public Support

Cops enjoy strong public support in this country and rightly so. They do important and often dangerous work. But I fear that support will begin to slide, perhaps steeply, unless police, their departments and their unions begin opposing the constitutionally-dubious COVID19 edicts of power-drunk state and local officials.

Americans have seen a lot of disturbing things during this crisis: things most of us never imagined we would see in a free country. But cringe-inducing photos and videos of local or state police cuffing soccer moms on playgrounds and evicting senior citizens from beach chairs have for me been the most jarring images of all. I know from social media surfing and discussions with friends that I’m not alone. Our “first responders” are in danger of losing the support of millions of Americans if they’re first to respond when it comes to trampling our civil liberties.

We’ve seen the bizarre spectacle of California cops chasing down paddle boarders and joggers at the beach, and enforcing the only-one-person-in-the-pool-rule. We read with disbelief about police "sting operations" against “illegal” manicurists and pedicurists. Police in Ohio busting Amish barn parties; Brighton, Colorado, cops cuffing a dad playing t-ball with his kids; it goes on and on, one ugly scene after another.

America is assuming the look and feel of a police state. But you can’t have a police state without willing police. Unless the police themselves take the lead in turning that around, by getting back on the side of the citizens and the Bill of Rights, the reservoir of goodwill they enjoy will start draining away. If the words “to serve and protect" come to mean "to persecute and punish," Americans who typically welcome a police presence may come to view them as arbitrary power personified.

I have to believe – I have to hope – that most of the officers involved in these incidents also find them abhorrent. I have to believe they question the legality and propriety of the orders they’re following.  But what if most cops don't harbor such doubts? What if a majority of them and their supervisors actually enjoy being part of this unprecedented power trip? The implications of that are ominous to contemplate.

“Just following orders” isn't an acceptable excuse. The 20th century’s greatest tyrannies and atrocities were enabled by a just-following-orders mentality. Our law enforcers are sworn to uphold The Constitution, not to robotically do the bidding of whomever signs their paychecks. Just as it look Nixon the anti-communist to "go the China," it must be the police who lead us away from the emerging police state, not just for our good but for their own.

Admittedly, it’s hard for the lone cop to take a stand against these edicts. That’s a tough thing to do in organizations that put a premium on hierarchy, discipline and following orders. Disobedience or dissent could derail their careers. Individual cops can't be expected to study the legality of every law they’re asked to enforce.

This is where police unions and associations need to be flexing more muscle, advocating for the cops within their ranks who won't be party to out-of-control politicos shredding the Bill of Rights. Unions and associations are in the good position to push back, and to give voice to those within their ranks who object to what they’re being asked to do. These unions are good at negotiating pay hikes and generous pensions. But they must be good for more than just that. They need to understand that it will cost them and their members public trust and support if they become complicit in the destruction of the laws they are sworn to uphold.

If the police and police unions don’t recognize this as an urgent potential problem, and if they don’t take the lead in arresting the creation of an emerging police state, by leading power-drunk elected officials in a more sober direction, America’s perception of those who "protect and serve" might never be the same again. 

Has the 'Tip of the Spear' Lost its Edge?

What would Chester Nimitz do?

What would "Bull" Halsey say?

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, and I of course applaud anyone who has or does serve in uniform, and yes I'm just a civilian who never served so I should probably just zip my lip, but am I wrong to see this USS Theodore Roosevelt fiasco as a sign that the U.S. military has gone soft or something?

Aircraft carrier crews in 1944 were fending off kamikaze attacks and washing smashed airplanes and bodies off the flight deck. Many of the planes and pilots they sent aloft didn't return. I know, I know, that was during a time of war. Putting lives at risk during peacetime is a different matter. But isn't it US doctrine that we train for war and operate for war even in times of peace, in order to maintain a credible deterrence? And why is a 10% infection rate (with one death, according to the latest reports I've seen) and the removal of one captain causing such a crisis aboard this ship?

This isn't just any ship; this is the tip of the proverbial spear, the way we project power in the world. If this challenging but manageable situation can idle an aircraft carrier battle group, what happens if we ever face REAL military adversity on the high seas? I saw a report a few days ago that the USS Nimitz also now has COVID19 cases aboard. Are we going to put THAT carrier out of commission as well?

What would the ship's namesake, the Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt, say?  Remember: This was the TR who put his own butt on the line riding up San Juan Hill. This was the Teddy who took an assassin's bullet and continued his convention speech. An estimated 5,609 souls perished while building the American phase of the Panama Canal, on Teddy's orders. His administration made heroic efforts to lessen the casualty rate -- it wasn't like Teddy threw those workers to the wolves. But he understood that such an undertaking risked lives.

I don't think Roosevelt -- whom Captain Brett Crozier was compared to in one laughably lame piece I read -- would bring his ship back to port due to an infection that 98% (or more?) of the crew would likely survive, despite what one great-grandson says. Crozier (who wasn't technically fired but was reassigned, with no loss of rank) naturally became an instant liberal folk hero, given that the incident came on Trump's watch. Some contrarians questioned the Captain's handling of the case, but most just gushed about what a compassionate and caring leader he was, as if THAT's the only standard by which he could or should be judged.

My dad was one of those "World War II guys." He served on a small ship in the Pacific theater and occasionally reminisced about the experience, which needless to say was life-changing and redefining for a coal miner's kid from Pennsylvania. He's gone now, like most of that generation, and I hate to put words in his mouth. But I'm almost certain -- in fact, I can almost hear what he would be saying  in my head, expletives and all -- that he would judge Crozier harshly and interpret the incident as another sign of national softness, decadence and decline.

All unnecessary suffering and death is to be avoided, in peacetime as well as wartime. Obviously. But contemporary America seems to have lost the capacity for rationally weighing risks, or even to  understand that such trade-offs must sometimes be made -- something that no one questioned the need for in the past, especially in times of war. Our most effective military leaders, although none would count as monsters, were rarely known for their hand-wringing compassion. Think Sherman. Think Grant. Think Patton and MacArthur. Think about that Revolutionary War hard ass, General George Washington. They all cared for their troops, probably very deeply. But they couldn't allow human compassion to so cloud their judgement that the mission would fail. The mission came first. And success almost invariably meant sacrifice. Sacrifice, tragedy and heartache.       

There's nothing low risk about joining the military, even in times of relative peace. Sadly, even training for war brings casualties. My dad had some tense moments during the war but came closest to losing his life not at Okinawa, or Iwo Jima, but on the beach at San Luis Obispo, California, when he came close to drowning in the surf during a training exercise.

Suck it up. Tough it out. Make it work. Be resourceful. Overcome adversity. Get the mission done. Aren't these the things we expect our soldiers and sailors to do when confronting challenging circumstances? If COVID19 can bring our military to a standstill, as well as our economy, this country is in dire, dire straits.

It makes the U.S. look like the proverbial paper tiger. And the real tigers of the world must be taking notice.