Law Enforcement

On October 1, a suicide bomb went off on the campus of the University of Oklahoma at Norman. The only death was the person who was carrying the bomb, Joel Henry Hinrichs III. There were no injuries.

Both Federal and local law enforcement officials have been investigating the crime, and so far they have been very cautious about the information they release to the news media. This has generated a fair amount of frustration from pundits who see the incident as a clear attempt at an act of terrorism. The police should simply give voice to the obvious, they say. A good example of this is given by Firehand at Irons in the Fire.

“As to the disclaimers from the feds(“No, no, no evidence of anything like terrorism”), they do not give me a great deal of confidence.”

Speaking as someone who once worked in law enforcement, I can say with confidence that the police are required to operate under rules and restrictions that are alien to the general public. Speaking in the broadest possible sense, if you haven’t been in the trenches then you just don’t have a clue.

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Like most of you, I’ve been following coverage of the relief efforts in and around New Orleans. But, unlike most of you, I’ve felt a great deal of pride from those efforts. It appears that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have. I certainly don’t want to offend anyone, particularly fellow Chicago Boyz ken who wrote a post that inspired this one. But it seems to me that while some criticism of the government response is warranted, the majority is not only unjustified but unrealistic.

Why would I feel this way? Because I once had a job in law enforcement, and I have a little inside knowledge of the difficulties that present themselves when preparing for disaster.

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The state of Maryland has spent a great deal of money collecting a database of fired cartridges. The idea was that a gun used in a crime could be traced by examining the unique markings left after a gun is fired.

This sounds like a great idea to people who aren’t familiar with the technical side of firearms, and they’ve been very vocal about how the database is worthwhile because it will solve crimes.

Those of us who actually work with firearms on a regular basis have always considered the concept to be somewhat less respectable than those espoused by the Flat Earth Society.

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Theodore Dalrymple has another excellent column up at The Spectator. (Free registration required.) Unlike most of his work, this one is rather short.

One of the problems with having a job in law enforcement is that you keep coming across stuff that is old hat to you, but startling and surprising to those who’ve haven’t had the benefit of your experience. Even so, there’s a few things that are so self evident that it’s just plain dopey to act like it’s news.

Must be a slow news day, I figure. I just read this item with the headline “ALCOHOL INCREASES CO-EDS SEX ASSAULT RISK”.

I’m waiting for the breathless announcement that WATER IS WET, or maybe FIRE IS HOT!!!