Baby Killer

Ok, I'm down with the idea that Pena began the whole series of events that led to his poor little daughter, and himself, being killed by the Los Angeles police. It was his fault, and that's the name o' that tune.

It's also sort of ironic that the woman who called the cops on her loco old man, is now the most vocal wacko calling for the cops' heads. Better she should have picked a stable, clean, sober working-type guy with whom to have babies. Meanwhile, ambulance-chasers are circling this woman like sharks, in hopes of getting in on a big settlement from the spineless blood suckers at the city of Los Angeles.

Alcalde Vinaigrette has been using the opportunity to get big face time in front of LA tv news cameras every day since this tragedy occurred. Has anyone other than your not-so-humble pontificateur noticed that if you squint and look at the Alcalde's forehead in just the right light, the lines seem to spell out MEChA?

Mark my words: it's time for the return of Zorro.

But, I digress.

The full reason for this entry is to ax a question. First, a couple of observations to lead up to it.

As reported by the local news, 'twas the LAPD SWAT that were called in on this disturbance, because, I guess, they got a clue that this one really was serious.

LAPD SWAT is a highly disciplined group of elite officers who include high-priced negotiators and really accomplished sharpshooters.

So. Why, when this wack-job started shooting, and a single round happened to hit an unlucky police officer, did all of these highly disciplined, elite officers start spraying bullets all around the area the shots were coming from?

My admittedly naive scenario, which is chuck full of Monday morning quarterbacking, sprinkled liberally with near-perfect hindsight, tickles a few errant synapses, telling me something's not right.

At the moment the nut, Pena, started shooting, everyone should've gotten to cover.

Sharpshooters sight in on the area where Pena is located.

First sharpshooter to get a clean shot, Bang! one bullet through the cranium. Crisis over.

Instead, several of these supposedly discipined officers started hosing down the area with bullets, and unsurprisingly, the little girl was killed, too.

I'm not much of a SWAT fan. Teams of elite ubercops tend to militarize the police and separate them from we, the people. The police aren't supposed to be a military force. They're supposed to be ordinary civilians who take on the job of patrolling the city and solving crimes. Most police officers I've known don't feel comfortable associating with "civilians," because any "civilian" might become the enemy. The insane and counterproductive "War on Drugs," aka, "War on the Bill of Rights," only adds to the citizen animosity toward police.

Bad attitude. Their job is to help people vis a vis crime and other injury. Every citizen is innocent until the jury calls him Guilty. That's innocent, not "not guilty."

As I said in the beginning, this was a Pena-driven event. No police officer, according to what I've heard, has done anything actionable.

I just think some training and, more important, a restructuring of police attitudes toward the public is in order. Maybe fewer squad cars and more beat cops would help.

Meanwhile, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California