I have written about optics before and am going to take another trip down this trail.
The prison escape in New York has my interest. I am sort of rooting for the bad guys. But not for the wrong reasons. The reason I am rooting for the bad guys is that I believe that folks need to understand that they need to be prepared to take care of themselves in emergency situations, rather than relying on “professionals”. In the end I want the murderers caught, of course, but in the meantime, we have some delicious drama brewing.
As I wrote back when the Boston police and others make a Keystone Cops type showing trying to chase down the Tsarnaev brothers, these are some pretty poor optics for the police, but they are doing everything they can to make it look better. I see the same old nonsense on TV – a line of cops saluting and marching down the street, all to make a show to the locals and/or folks watching on TV that they have overwhelming force and are going to catch the bad guys. This was done in Boston and also in Baltimore. Who put this in the official police manual to handle a crisis? I wonder if the manual looks like this:
Step one. We have a crisis. Everyone line up, salute and march down the street.
Step two. ??
Step three. Crisis solved. Praise all and treat everyone like a hero.
This is one of the most ridiculous things I have seen so far from a few days ago:
What on earth is going on here? Is the sniper actually looking to fire at something? Why aren’t the other guys at all concerned? Why is he laying on top of a van?
I keep hearing that the man hunt is “intensifying”. How much more intense can it get? They have all sorts of Hummers, choppers, sniper gear, and cops from who knows how many districts all looking for a couple of guys who are either laughing their asses off somewhere in Mexico, or very much hurting by now somewhere in the woods. Somewhere in the woods that all of these forces gathered have missed several times now.
I am sure it is super pleasant to be living in these towns right now.
What on earth was Cuomo touring the escape site supposed to prove? He will have zero involvement in the investigation or manhunt.
I know a thing or two about mechanicals, tools and steam pipes – we are not hearing half of what these guys did do get out of the prison – much of what the media has reported doesn’t make sense at all. I understand that the media is on the cops’ tether at this point, but I will be very interested to someday read just exactly what these guys did to escape. I imagine it took them years of planning.
If they get caught, we will hear some Seargeant or whoever claim how heroic everyone was, just like always.
I hope the public gets the sense that just like when the Tsarnaev brothers were keeping thousands of “professionals” at bay, just like these escapees are that they need to prepare to be on their own just a bit. But I won’t get my hopes up. So far, I would say that the cops have some pretty bad optics going as of now.
The police could begin by arresting the insider(s) on the prison staff who helped in the escape. Maybe they even advised the prisoners where to go to lie low.
In the photo: The odds are that the scout/sniper on the roof of the van is actual ‘just looking’ through his scope. The rifle scopes are usually 3X9 or 3×12, which means you can magnify up to 9 or 12 times, respectively. You don’t take the scope off the rifle, because that ruins aim alignment with the rifle. You do it on the bipod because the image jiggles quite a bit. He’s on the van in order to see over all the brush visible in the area. If you note the guy behind the van, he has a rifle case open on the ground, and a small spotter scope on a tripod next to him. He’s the other scout/sniper; you always try to use them in pairs.
What you have here appears to be an observation post, probably that overlooks at treeline or other natural feature that they figure would create a natural barrier or limit for the people that they’re hunting.
Ed – looks like the guy on the ground is the one actually going to go into the woods with all that crazy brush camo on.
“The police could begin by arresting the insider(s) on the prison staff who helped in the escape.” They have already arrested one, more to follow I am sure as it all unfolds.
Cuomo was on the scene of the escape in a New York minute, to deflect anything he can from the spotlight on him, and the crisis of competence and mismanagement he faces in New York.
Ya’ mean, like calling off an investigation, that he initiated, into decades of corruption in Albany when it got too close to his own office? Um, yeah, like that.
I’d be praying for prison breaks every weekend if I were him.
If those guys have any sense, they are in Baltimore by now. They might have a slight problem being white and all but Rachel Dolezal showed us how to handle that.
Cuomo took a few moments off the hunt to announce his “Yes means Yes” campaign in which he adopted the lunatic California rules about sex.
The world, at least the USA, seems to be resembling a crazy theme park more and more. The Chinese could probably volunteer to handle intelligence and personnel matters for us.
Our only chance seems to be the EMP that sends everyone to survival mode. I can think of a lot of people who will be first to starve to death,
On closer examination, the guy in back (in the ‘ghillie suit’), has his rifle next to him, it’s foreshortened towards the camera. He’s probably going to head to a ‘hide’ further out in the brush.
There’s apparently four guys here, the three you can see, and the one in the driver’s seat the guy on the left is talking to. If there was a perceived likelihood of shooting, there would be considerably more standing around.
Ah excellent observation Ed. That guy in the crazy cam is definitely heading to a hide.
good lord … a ghille suit ? are you f’ing kidding me … so now we just hunt escapee’s down and kill them ? How about some dogs and tracker before you bring in the shooters to kill them … can’t kill what you can’t find morons …
Why does Charles Taylor come to mind?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor_(Liberian_politician)
JeffC – I am guessing that the locals use these types of opportunities to get out all the toys they have in storage and dust them off a bit.
Ed, Dan:
You move around to the one o’clock position on the vehicle, take out sniper guy and driver’s door guy, and then slink away.
Amiright?
Seriously, this picture just reeks indefensible position to me, and I’ve never been in the infantry.
Oh, and taking into account Ed’s subsequent comment: take out the driver, too–if you can see Mr Sniper and Driver’s Door Guy, you can probably see and hit the driver too.
Kirk – while sound strategy, I doubt the escapees are armed if they are in the area. But who knows. I just saw a photo of cops driving down the streets in a tactical four wheeled atvs lol.
Dan,
I doubt they are, too. But it certainly bugs me that our “Best and Brightest” simply assume that they have no tactical issues to pay attention to.
I mean, I can be the only one who has wargamed Beslan over and over in my mind…
Kirk agreed. That is sort of the point of my post. Folks need to take it upon themselves to have a network of people or else their close unit to count on when the fecal matter hits the rotating vane. Citizens need to know how guns work and at least know how to use them in a rudimentary fashion (shove it in the belly and pull the trigger). The ones that don’t know basic survival are simply meat in a Katrina/Rodney King/Baltimore situation. Or if these guys from the New York prison break in.
Oops, of course I meant I can’t be the only one who’s thought this through.
Our local schools for the most part at just sitting ducks for Beslan-style attacks. The only real requirements I see are (a) a small cadre with (b) reasonable/moderate proficiency with firearms, and (c) who are willing to be martyrs as part of the operation. That’s it. I, of course, want to be part of their OPFOR, and to help others here in the US prepare for opposing such an eventuality.