At first, I blamed the “blue flight” on the poor reputation of the New Orleans Police Department itself. But I realized later that this may not have been the case, nor the only motivating factor. The officers that fled may have needed to safeguard their families in the face of the disorder; remember, their situation wasn’t like that of the people who went to Louisiana to help but had no personal stake in the affected area. The New Orleans officers had their families right there at ground zero. I imagine that, had there been only the physical elements of the disaster to deal with, far fewer may have abandoned their duties.
But Katrina wasn’t the only time there have been problems with police protection in the face of disaster. In any other time of civil unrest, police presence has been scattered and spotty, at least for the opening salvos of trouble. Eventually, public safety forces rallied and/or were joined by other departments or the military in mutual aid to stem the violence that was occurring. We now know that, when public safety departments are prepared well in advance, there is far less carnage and destruction. Note the difference between the first World Trade Center meeting in Seattle, when agencies weren’t ready for anarchists, and any of the subsequent meetings. The worst situations that arise are those we aren’t expecting—hence the saying “forewarned is forearmed.”
The Rodney King post-trial verdict riots in L.A. are a perfect example of the damage that can ensue when public safety organizations aren’t in a state of readiness. As this nation witnessed, the LAPD was clearly unprepared for what happened in the wake of the trial in Simi Valley in which the officers accused of beating King were acquitted. The violent reaction in South Central Los Angeles was beyond the ability of units on routine patrol at the time to handle. Combine that situation with an administration that was initially timid about taking necessary action, and you have a major civil unrest event. Fortunately, the unrest did not spread citywide, but the damage in South Central was massive, and many individual civilians (such as truck driver Reginald Denny, who inadvertently found himself in the middle of the violence, was pulled from his truck, and beaten to the point of brain damage), suffered in the backlash. No one was safe.
Multiple shops and stores were burned and looted during the chaos—except for the stores owned by Koreans. Those folks understood the real meaning behind the Second Amendment—much more so than many of the native-born proprietors. The Korean shop owners stood outside their stores or on their rooftops with rifles and shotguns and, amazingly enough, the crowds left them alone. The looters and rioters knew they would be shot where they stood if they attacked.
During the L.A. riots, not only were there no police available to stop the looting, there were also no police available to stop the looters from being shot! This brings up another point of order. The riots occurred in 1992. Even though it was before the Clinton Assault Weapon Ban of 1994, the AR-15 (and the AK-47 to some extent), held nowhere near the popularity as it does now. Colt’s was still the only game in town then. Most of the photos I saw at the time showed the store owners armed with pump shotguns, lever- and bolt-action rifles, and assorted handguns. One video on YouTube shows a shopkeeper on the rooftop of his business with an over/under shotgun.
As you can see, if you don’t have one of the current crop of high-cap magazine-fed guns available to you for whatever reason, all is not lost. No one in control of their faculties wants to get shot, so that lever-action .22 stoked with 15 rounds of high-velocity Long Rifle ammo may be quite enough to stave off a very large band of people intent on harming you. And while you’re chewing on that, remember that the most important thing to take away from any of the media about the L.A. riots was that the police and National Guard were nowhere to be found.
Nothing has changed since then. You will be on your own.
What Are You Prepared to Do?
In the 1987 movie version of The Untouchables, Sean Connery’s character, Officer Jimmy Malone, asks Kevin Costner’s Elliot Ness, “What are you prepared to do?” Initially, Ness wasn’t prepared to go to the extremes Officer Malone indicated would be needed to take Al Capone (Robert DeNiro) down. Later in the film, after trying the conventional way of obtaining evidence for an arrest, Ness, following some soul searching, agrees to do it Malone’s way and, in the end, after a great deal bloodshed, is able to take Capone down.
When we talk about disaster and disorder preparations at the level we are concerned about, there is also a lot of soul searching to be done. It is one thing to face an attacker armed with a knife or gun or other obviously deadly weapons, but what about a crowd armed with rocks, bricks, or makeshift clubs? What if the crowd is comprised of people of various ages, including women and children? What if they are totally unarmed?
When I conduct training in mob and riot control for law enforcement cadets, I emphasize that dealing with a crowd is the most dangerous activity there is in law enforcement. Crowds can turn from a group of quiet, curious people to mindless, deadly mobs in seconds, especially if you add alcohol. You can be torn literally limb from limb by an unarmed mob before you can finish the thought “What the…?”
Based on this harsh reality, you have to ask yourself what you are prepared to do in the event that disorder suddenly enfolds around you. Compound that question by throwing in the variable of what if some of the mob members are your neighbors and maybe even previous friends. That really complicates things, doesn’t it?
You may be looking at taking actions you never before contemplated, so the time to contemplate your response is now, not when the balloon goes up. Indeed, start thinking before you even read any further. While you are pondering that question of what you would do, try this one as welclass="underline" Are you willing to break what had previously been the law before the calamity began? Now, officially, I am not advocating that you break any laws, especially now or perhaps in the near future when there may be a little semblance of visual law left. I’m just asking the question, because it will be a road that, if not needing to be crossed, will need to be contemplated.
All in the Family
You will be outnumbered in every outbreak of civil disorder. You, the law-abiding, peaceable, doesn’t-bother-anyone-else type of person, will be in the minority. So, too, will be the cops, and anyone else who believes in a moral and orderly society. This dictates that you are going to need “force multipliers” when it comes to defending yourself and your family. Force multipliers can be in the form of superior weapons and the hardening of your home, shelter, or vehicle, and/or the addition of increased number of able bodies, i.e., your family. This means your spouse or significant other, children, siblings, or parents will need to cowboy up and be ready. They need to be able to defend your stronghold, vehicle, themselves, and you. It will be impossible for you on your own to do it all and, if you become incapacitated, do you really want to leave your family to beg for whatever small piece of mercy might exist in that mob? The end result could be expected to be somewhat like our pioneering frontier ancestors experienced when their settlements were overrun by raiding Indians. Not a pleasant thought for anyone.