One thing is for sure. Vigilante Justice is alive and well in the United States today. It’s actually worse today than it was in the 50s, 60s and 70s when the KKK was running rampant over the Southern states.
I remember these incidents described in this write-up quite well. And the only way the members of the KKK were caught was by infiltrating their organization. They were “caught from within” as we used to say.
I remember back in the very early 70s when I was a police officer in South Carolina, we started a program with the community m. It was called “Citizens On Patrol”. In short, “C.O.P.” We had a patrol vehicle for them to use, with a police radio where they could radio in to dispatch and the shift patrol supervisor. There were no weapons allowed to be carried by the C.O.P. Officers. They also had to attend 80 hours of training by our department training officer, and pass the course with at least 95% on every exam, including the final. It was a very rigorous course, for that time, involving patrolling, laws, surveillance, radio etiquette, etc., but no firearms training was given.
All in all we had a good turnout, which we ended up with over a dozen or so volunteer COPs.
What this program did was have the COPs do building checks in the city, and patrol neighborhoods looking for anything out of the ordinary. In the city it involved checking businesses, shaking doors, etc. The COPs were not allowed to enter any unlocked buildings at any time, for any reason. They were to immediately notify headquarters and the shift patrol supervisor. Officers were never over a minute or two at the most away from any of them, so our response times were great getting to them.
Having this program did several things:
A. It increased citizen awareness of the actual duties of police officers in the community.
B. It helped with police/community relations.
C. It cut down on crime in the city, both business district and in the neighborhoods because of the presence of the extra patrol vehicles circling about.
D. It raised awareness to the citizens what police officers confront on a daily basis.
And lost of all,
E. Crime in the city as well as community dropped drastically. Because of this one program, in the first year we were able to cut burglaries of our businesses almost 95%, with numerous burglars being caught in the act, and arrested. Honestly, you can’t get much better than catching the perp in the act!
Now, on to vigilante acts of today.
We need to take a hard look at the states that have changed laws , such as Abortion Rights, gun laws, voting laws, etc. These are all GOP regulated states. And, I believe if you look at the pattern you will find that the states are all following suit to one or two states, Florida and Texas. What they do, the others follow, just like the sheep they all are.
This tells me something else really important. We DO NOT need the likes of Greg Abbott, nor Ron DeSantis running this country. If you think TFG was bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet! If one of these characters gets elected to the presidency, we are literally screwed! Both Florida and Texas, right now are governed totally by the GOP. Both states aren’t worth the powder it would take to blow them off the map.
I vacated Florida 5 years ago because I saw the handwriting on the wall. In 2016 I tried every way I could think of to let people know that voting for Trump was the worst mistake they could make. I was told I was crazy, by my own family no less. They all still love the crooked idiot!
Vigilantism is going to get worse before it gets better, unless we get people in the local, state, and federal political picture elected to do the job intended, “For the People”! A case in point just the other day. Wisconsin. Elected a decent Supreme Court Justice, but turned around and elected a GOP legislator. What kind of sense is that?
We have a lot of work to do, so I hope everyone gets their thinking caps on and a good pair of walking shoes. I’m getting my Jazzy repaired so I can hit the community. I can’t walk, but I can wheelchair, call, and write. I have lots of time on my hands to do all I can. I just hope others are as willing. We need to replace all these GOP politicians with good Democratic ones that are willingly to work.
Excellent article. Just a quick edit: Ahmaud Arbury was shot by Travis McMichael, the son of Gregory. Roddie Bryant was recording the video, helped to chase down poor Ahmaud, and then released the video weeks later hoping to exonerate his buddies.
It’s only a matter of time before Red States start sending out bounty hunters to Blue States to kidnap women who get abortions and/or the doctors who perform them so that they can “face justice”, IMHO.
One thing is for sure. Vigilante Justice is alive and well in the United States today. It’s actually worse today than it was in the 50s, 60s and 70s when the KKK was running rampant over the Southern states.
I remember these incidents described in this write-up quite well. And the only way the members of the KKK were caught was by infiltrating their organization. They were “caught from within” as we used to say.
I remember back in the very early 70s when I was a police officer in South Carolina, we started a program with the community m. It was called “Citizens On Patrol”. In short, “C.O.P.” We had a patrol vehicle for them to use, with a police radio where they could radio in to dispatch and the shift patrol supervisor. There were no weapons allowed to be carried by the C.O.P. Officers. They also had to attend 80 hours of training by our department training officer, and pass the course with at least 95% on every exam, including the final. It was a very rigorous course, for that time, involving patrolling, laws, surveillance, radio etiquette, etc., but no firearms training was given.
All in all we had a good turnout, which we ended up with over a dozen or so volunteer COPs.
What this program did was have the COPs do building checks in the city, and patrol neighborhoods looking for anything out of the ordinary. In the city it involved checking businesses, shaking doors, etc. The COPs were not allowed to enter any unlocked buildings at any time, for any reason. They were to immediately notify headquarters and the shift patrol supervisor. Officers were never over a minute or two at the most away from any of them, so our response times were great getting to them.
Having this program did several things:
A. It increased citizen awareness of the actual duties of police officers in the community.
B. It helped with police/community relations.
C. It cut down on crime in the city, both business district and in the neighborhoods because of the presence of the extra patrol vehicles circling about.
D. It raised awareness to the citizens what police officers confront on a daily basis.
And lost of all,
E. Crime in the city as well as community dropped drastically. Because of this one program, in the first year we were able to cut burglaries of our businesses almost 95%, with numerous burglars being caught in the act, and arrested. Honestly, you can’t get much better than catching the perp in the act!
Now, on to vigilante acts of today.
We need to take a hard look at the states that have changed laws , such as Abortion Rights, gun laws, voting laws, etc. These are all GOP regulated states. And, I believe if you look at the pattern you will find that the states are all following suit to one or two states, Florida and Texas. What they do, the others follow, just like the sheep they all are.
This tells me something else really important. We DO NOT need the likes of Greg Abbott, nor Ron DeSantis running this country. If you think TFG was bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet! If one of these characters gets elected to the presidency, we are literally screwed! Both Florida and Texas, right now are governed totally by the GOP. Both states aren’t worth the powder it would take to blow them off the map.
I vacated Florida 5 years ago because I saw the handwriting on the wall. In 2016 I tried every way I could think of to let people know that voting for Trump was the worst mistake they could make. I was told I was crazy, by my own family no less. They all still love the crooked idiot!
Vigilantism is going to get worse before it gets better, unless we get people in the local, state, and federal political picture elected to do the job intended, “For the People”! A case in point just the other day. Wisconsin. Elected a decent Supreme Court Justice, but turned around and elected a GOP legislator. What kind of sense is that?
We have a lot of work to do, so I hope everyone gets their thinking caps on and a good pair of walking shoes. I’m getting my Jazzy repaired so I can hit the community. I can’t walk, but I can wheelchair, call, and write. I have lots of time on my hands to do all I can. I just hope others are as willing. We need to replace all these GOP politicians with good Democratic ones that are willingly to work.
Thank you for this thoughtful and detailed comment. Much to think on and consider.
Throughout history men have used violence to control those who cannot effectively fight back. They need to be voted out of office.
Excellent article. Just a quick edit: Ahmaud Arbury was shot by Travis McMichael, the son of Gregory. Roddie Bryant was recording the video, helped to chase down poor Ahmaud, and then released the video weeks later hoping to exonerate his buddies.
It’s only a matter of time before Red States start sending out bounty hunters to Blue States to kidnap women who get abortions and/or the doctors who perform them so that they can “face justice”, IMHO.
Jay, it was Travis McMichael who shot and killed in the Georgia case.