Since we last spoke, it has been a truly brutal time. The recent cold-blooded murder sprees actually began on Halloween night and have continued right up through yesterday morning. At times such as these, I feel that it is up to law enforcement professionals like myself to search for and discuss possible answers to the “why” for such horrific events. I find that even as I deeply grieve for the families of the murdered victims, the healing process has already begun. As I have stated in past articles, the task for us is to learn as soon as possible the lessons from such unspeakable tragedies. In this article I will add my voice to the many others who are trying to make some sense out of these times. Please bear with me.
Due to the similarities in the Washington state incidents, please allow me to first discuss the Fort Hood incident.
While it is true that thirteen members of the United States Armed Forces were murdered in cold blood on November 5th, 2009, and thirty others were wounded, I feel strongly that wrongheaded political correctness was the primary cause of these casualties. During that event, an Army major named Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on unarmed service members in a deployment processing area of the base. Understandably, chaos ensued. It was only through the true heroism displayed by two civilian police sergeants, Kimberly Munley and Mark Todd, that there was not even more bloodshed. The question is asked daily throughout our nation: how could a U.S. serviceman do something unheard of like this? The answer might be something some people may not want to admit.
Over the past several years, I have come to agree with many political and social observers that an attitude of non-confrontation or non-intervention has pervaded Western society, that is the United States, Europe and most other free countries. This pervasiveness reaches from the highest levels of government into the daily life of the family. It encompasses work life, school settings and the ever present media. The decided tendency of political correctness eliminates almost all personal accountability and delineates so called “protected classes”. The definition of something deemed “offensive” has been rewritten to mean something not “liked” by almost anyone, regardless of its actual veracity based on indisputable reality.
Based on preliminary reporting, I believe that it is clear that the Fort Hood shooter, Hasan, is nothing more than a foreign terrorist acting in concert with international jihadist goals. While he was born in the U.S., Hasan’s premeditated actions in preparation for November 5th bely any semblance of loyalty to his native country. It has already been established by preliminary investigation that Hasan repeatedly engaged in anti U.S. rhetoric while studying and working in a psychiatric capacity for the Army. His pronouncements have supported the sworn enemies of the U.S. and he has verbally praised jihadists who were successful in killing U.S. troops and other “infidels” around the world. Numerous such incidents involving Hasan had been documented by his superiors. Hasan had also come to the attention of Homeland Security and intelligence community monitors for his repeated contacts with a known supporter of terrorist activities, Anwar al-Awlaki. In a moment of incredibly muddled thinking, all of this added up to Hasan not being deemed a threat. In accordance with this conclusion, Hasan received hands off treatment and was transferred to the jumping off point prior to his scheduled deployment, Fort Hood. He was considered an example of “diversity” in the modern Army despite his protestations about his deployment. What a foolish, nonsensical approach to clear danger signals. Firmly entrenched political correctness in American society provided the cover needed for Hasan to carry out his atrocity. I invite anyone to provide a credible argument to the contrary.
In contrast, the killings of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton, the wounding of trainee Officer Britt Sweeney and the ambush deaths of Lakewood Police Sergeant Mark Renninger, Officer Ronald Owens, Officer Tina Griswold and Officer Greg Richards may be due to one of the surest historical killers. But before I go any further, please alow me to offer my deepest personal condolences to each and every relative, friend and colleague of all of these victim officers. Once again, my gut burns with grief over their loss and I pray that their respective killers will be brought to justice and will recieve their just due.
Again, allow me to reiterate that my intention here is to save lives by taking a hard look at what actions or inactions may have contributed to this tragic loss of life. When conducting patrol operations in the field away from the relative safety of the station, the mindset can only be geared to one thing: hypervigilance. While one officer may have his eyes on a report, a computer screen, a ticket book or be performing some of the other all-absorbing tasks dictated by modern day policing, any other partner officer must act as cover. That is, the covering officer’s eyes must constantly take in all nearby physical movement, account for where surrounding people come from and ultimately go to, and have a learned awareness to capture the unusual, the out of the ordinary in the nearby surroundings. While this is counter to the generally relaxed behavior of everyday law abiding citizens, as a police officer this skill must be learned in order to see a threat at its earliest and furthest point. This affords the maximum time possible, often still only seconds, to process the existence of a threat, formulate a response and implement that response. I believe that this learned habit of hypervigilance is the most important officer survival skill.
It is sad to say that this skill must be practiced in every public venue at all times, whether seated inside of a police vehicle or in our second home, the coffee stop. Because we are constantly in the public eye, it is not difficult to imagine how a determined killer can at first watch us from a distance, then stalk us at close range resulting in an ambush. We should never allow this to happen. May we always honor the lives of these heroes by practicing hypervigilance each and every shift. Pass it on.
Please learn and live. Until next time,
Tim
9 Responses to “Looking for Answers at Fort Hood, Texas, and Seattle and Parkland, Washington”
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