The Alamo for law enforcement

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_5319210

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - LAPD Officer Edward Brentlinger remembers crouching behind a wall, popping his pistol as two masked bank robbers fired back with AK-47 machine guns.
Wounded bystanders screamed and other officers cried out that they'd been shot. Brentlinger's 27 shots merely bounced off the heavily armed - and armored - bandits.
"I could see the material on their (bulletproof) jackets go `poof,"' recalled the award-winning North Hollywood Division community-relations officer. "They were some bad ass guys.
"We didn't have the firepower to stop them."
Ten years ago today, two men armed with automatic weapons and clad in body armor did more than rob the Bank of America at 6600 Laurel Canyon Blvd.
For 44 thunderous minutes, they marched down the street, spraying stores and homes with 1,100 armor-piercing bullets, and wounding 11 police officers and six bystanders.
The more than 300 law enforcement officers fighting for their lives fired back with 750 rounds.
And the nation watched the terror unfold as news helicopters broadcast images of what became known as the North Hollywood shootout.

When it was over, the two bandits lay dead - one after shooting himself

and the other after bleeding to death from 29 gunshot wounds after telling police, "F--- you. Shoot me in the head."

Like the many holes still left by the hail of bullets, the spectacular gun battle transformed the Los Angeles Police Department, boosting its reputation after the Rodney King debacle while greatly improving its armed response.
With Los Angeles once considered the bank robbery capital of the world, with up to 900 heists a year, the LAPD implemented tactics after the shootout that cut robberies to fewer than 90 last year.
The shootout also left indelible marks on scores of cops and civilians. Many still suffer the depression, the nightmares and the flashbacks of battle-scarred soldiers.
And in a case of life imitating Hollywood, which many said mirrored the bank-robbing movie "Heat" of 14 months earlier, the shootout then inspired made-for-TV documentaries and movies.
"Our officers faced two savage individuals hellbent on destruction, who had brought with them automatic weapons and had prepared for an unspeakable amount of violence," said Deputy Chief Michel Moore, commander of the Valley Bureau.
"Our officers, though themselves not similarly equipped ... rose to the challenge."
City officials will conduct an anniversary ceremony today to honor those who helped stave off the North Hollywood bank bandits.
The gunmen in "Heat" had nothing on these guys.
Larry Eugene Phillips Jr., 26, was a gruff-looking man with a pencil mustache - a former grifter once arrested for real-estate fraud. He had a wife and two children.
Emil Dechebal Matasareanu, 30, was a scraggly haired, 283-pound native of Romania who suffered painful seizures after being struck in the head by a mental patient at his mother's home-operated day-care center.
He had brain surgery months before his death and was estranged from a wife and two kids.
A civil-rights lawsuit later filed on behalf of Matasareanu's two young children alleged he was deliberately allowed to bleed to death. It ended in a deadlocked jury, with the city ultimately agreeing to pay $50,000 in legal fees.
The former Altadena residents had once served a brief stint in jail for possessing what Glendale police said was a virtual bank robbery kit.
The two were later tied to two San Fernando Valley bank heists netting $1.67 million, as well as an armored truck robbery in which the guard was killed.
The cash was never found.
Ready for a fight
Veteran police Detective Jimmy Grayson, who participated in the exhaustive search for the money from California to Colorado, suspected it was all spent on guns, ammunition and previous medical expenses.
"It all makes sense," he said. "If you had money stashed, why go out and do another robbery? They were living large."
Phillips and Matasareanu triggered the Bank of America alarm at 9:15 a.m. Apparently enraged to find only $304,000 in its coffers, they beat a bank branch officer.
Slavic Zlatkin was waiting in a van for his father to make a deposit when the bandits walked out, firing their automatic weapons.
"I heard what was like a sledgehammer," said Zlatkin, now 33, of North Hollywood. "I got out of the van, the (car) window next to me shatters. I said, whoa!"
Carlos Lemus, a tire store employee heading to the bank to cash his paycheck, had turned around when he realized he'd forgotten his wallet.
"It's the luckiest thing I ever did," said Lemus, 48, who still works at the Goodyear shop.
Across the region, hundreds of police officers from various departments raced to North Hollywood to help quell the violence, including SWAT members who scrambled from Griffith Park, where they'd been training in running shorts.
Military veterans quickly recognized the telltale "blat" of the Russian-designed AK-47 assault rifle.
In machine-gun mode
The robbers, clad in cut-up Kevlar, emptied 100-round clips from a variety of weapons, sending hot rounds through concrete walls, iron fences, dozens of cars and through the walls of a nearby ice cream parlor and pizza joint.
A golden retriever was shot in the nose while on the way to his vet.
"Does any unit know how many officers are down?" asked a police radio dispatcher.
"More than one, more than one," responded a frantic officer recorded on audiotape.
During the standoff, frustrated police ran into the now-defunct B&B Gun Shop to grab high-powered weapons and ammo.
One man in a house behind the bank was so traumatized by the gunfire, according to his family, that he went into a diabetic coma within six months and died.
"My husband, who had diabetes, was very sick; he started shaking," said Yolanda Arreola, 64. "The robbery scared him to death."
Jose Haro had hit the floor in his locksmith shop across the boulevard from the bank when three police officers sought refuge in his kiosk.
Haro made his way into a nearby cleaners, where he pulled a woman to safety just as bullets shattered a window.
"After everything was over, I saw the bullet holes in my kiosk and my arms started to swell," said Haro, 73, who received an award from the county. "For eight months, I didn't sleep during the night."
Lasting impact
Dr. Jorge Montes, a dentist, risked his life to treat two wounded officers in his second-story office.
For his trouble, he suffered nightmares and a nervous tic in one eye. His father, worried during the ordeal, suffered a heart attack and died later from the anxiety, Montes said.
"The sound of bullets was so nerve-racking, it was as if we had no windows here," said the dentist, who also received an award.
During the shootout, most police remained calm, despite ineffective weapons, faulty radios and a command post relocated four times.
One seriously wounded officer who later quit the force and became a minister said: "I heard the devil; he told me: `You're gonna die, you're gonna die."'
It had been 13 years since Officer John Caprarelli had fired his service revolver. During the robbery, he was one of the first cops at the scene. He would fire 26 rounds from his 9 mm Baretta.
Before a national TV audience, Caprarelli ran to a street corner to draw fire from Phillips, emptied his gun, then leapfrogged over a fire hydrant for cover.
He can still hear the thump-thump of bullets whizzing through walls, or the phtt-phtt sound of rounds in the trees overhead.
He was the last man to stare into Phillips' eyes before the gunman shot himself after his assault rifle jammed.
"It was a proud day overall, a proud day for the department," said Caprarelli, a North Hollywood community-relations officer who received awards for his valor.
"Time heals," he said, crediting God for his recovery. "I knew nothing about post-traumatic stress. I didn't know I'd have to wake up each night at 1 a.m. in the morning, reliving the shootout.
"I can't watch war movies anymore, like `Wake Island.' I can't stand the auto gunfire. I saw `Heat' before it happened - I bought it - but I can't watch it now.
"It tears me up."

dana.bartholomew@dailynews.com
(818) 713-3730

TWO LESSONS:

LESSON #1....Before this incident, all police agencies had the following firepower: The Officer's sidearm, and shotguns. Sidearms are good for about 45 feet, and the bullets will not penetrate any thing thicker than a 1 x 4 board. Shotguns are good up to about 30 feet, then the 00 buckshot spreads so wide you are not sure any of the pellets will hit the target.

The Officers had to break SEVERAL California Gun laws to get firepower to match these two thugs. Luckily, Johnny Sutton ( Ramos-Campeon) wasn't the City or County District Attorney.

This incident got Police Administrators to pull their heads out of their asses. Before they had two reasons not to buy "Assault Weapons" to match the bad guys:

1. The weapons look threatening, and police might get a "Storm trooper" image.

2. The cost of each weapon impacted their budget. They would rather--and this is a FACT--spend the money on PR campaigns like Sober Driver or Designated Driver

LESSON#2...You are only affected by a shooting as much you have been programmed to. This applies two ways. First, if you are hit by enemy fire, you will either go down, convinced you are severely injured--or stay in the fight. If you have been trained, like Marines and Special Ops, you will fight on, and ignore your wound. Secondly, you will be as traumatized by seeing others shot as much as you let yourself be. GO BACK TO "WHAT IT MEANS". Part of being a"Rough Man" consists of building a psychological callous. Yes, you will see persons--maybe some of them close--get hit, and possibly die. You can't let it slow or stop you. You can't hesitate. This callousness will get you an "Insensitive" label.

The Advocates of Surrender

FROM AN EMAIL RECEIVED TODAY:

Congresswoman McCarthy of New York has reintroduced the Assault Weapon Ban in the US Congress, and the large capacity magazine ban as well.

It is currently in committee, now is the time to stop it in its tracks. It goes beyond the past ban in several ways. There will be no renaming of guns or making cosmetic changes to skirt the ban.

There is no exception for using US parts to avoid the ban. Guns are named by model as banned including all AK style, all AR-15 style, all FAL and H&K style rifles, M1 Carbines are named specifically, as well and many others.

All magazines over 10 rounds are banned. Additionally it gives the Attorney General the power to unilaterally determine that even though used for a sporting event, it doesn't mean your firearm has a sporting purpose and can be banned as a non-sporting gun. (doublespeak at its finest.) You will not be allowed to sell your existing military arms directly to another individual.

Now is the time to impress on your Representatives in Congress that the last ban had no effect and we will not tolerate the continual erosion of our freedoms in this country by special interests and agendas. The full text of the bill can be found

here:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-1022

There once was a bumper sticker--still see it around now and then---WHEN GUNS ARE OUTLAWED,ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS.

Damn Straight.

One day, while I was still a law enforcement Officer, roaming Southern California, I stopped in at an AM-PM for a drink. This hippy-looking dude sidles up to me and says out of the corner of his mouth," Bet you can't wait 'til they make guns illegal...It will sure make your job easier".

I gave him the Enforcement stare reserved for the clueless.

Then, I told him: " NO, I want to see everybody have a gun, and know how to use it".

End of conversation.

IF most of the population is armed, criminals will not dare to assault or rob them.. Yet, this

senile witless old hag ( Official web site for Representative Carolyn McCarthy (DUMBOCRAT - NY)

http://www.carolynmccarthy.house.gov/

would make it unlawful to have a firearm worthy of self-defense. Remember, the Democrats are the party that would "Protect" you. NOT!

As one friend said, why don't the Democrats just put in a Bill that would let Al-Qaeda sleeper cells have automatic and large calibre weapons? Throw in some rocket-propelled grenades, and maybe their Russian-purchased version of Ground-to-Air, shoulder launched missiles.

Racing away from Reality

When is an award not deserved?

Any more, constantly!

We see Al Gore getting Academy Awards for a documentary that is Fiction.

We see clowns, dictators, and thugs being awarded The Nobel Peace Prize.

Thank the Lord that the Military has not seen fit to hand out top medals to soldiers, Marines, and sailors in Iraq for just doing their jobs. This was a common practice I discovered in Vietnam. You want an example? Jack Murtha, never got out of a bunker, never heard a shot fired in anger, but he got medals and is "A decorated hero".

This is the Liberal Tactic: Take something that USED to be very valuable, and richly deserved, and give it to some suckass, or some Liberal darling, like Jimmy Carter.

It isn't only in adult endeavors. Liberals now have little league games, and soccer games where yo do not keep score. Grades K-9 in a lot of schools get no report cards or grades.

My conclusion is that Liberals want to feel as heroic as Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone--without the risk. They want to feel as creative as a Van Gogh, without ever painting a picture. They want to feel as brave as a soldier in Iraq, without ever facing a threat. To do this, they cheapen the efforts of real artists, first responders, and defenders to make themselves feel good.

As I have often said, Liberals have two hallmarks:
Fantasy and Hypocrisy

What it means

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf

Men who are going to be in confrontations have to be trained. Some have to get a 13 week session, some have been trained since they were old enough to talk, and others will get a combined dose.

What the training prepares you for is THE CONFRONTATION.

When you are suddenly thrust into a CONFRONTATION:

You do not have time to weigh the benefits and consequences of your reaction.

You do not have the time to try to verbally convince your confronter that he she should not try to overcome you or kill you.

Once you have been involved in a CONFRONTATION:

You will learn that criticism is certain. You will hear all kinds of Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda. People who never ever faced the possibility of having their ass kicked will be instant experts on use of force.

Psychologists will opine that you could have done several other things other than kill your opponent.

Wussies and women will call you a savage, and wonder how you became so brutal.

Legal experts, JAG Corps and attorneys, will debate what you did--If you did it legally, did you follow policy and procedure, or observe the Rules of Engagement. Often, to guarantee their own employment, they will charge you with a violation, and be concerned with the following trial or Court Martial. You, and a confronter, enforcer, or enforcer, can NOT consider this at the CONFRONTATION. Hesitation will give the advantage-however slight--to your opponent, and he will probably kill you.

So, in the minds of "Normal" people, you are a "rough man".

They do not want to BE you, do not want to do what you do, and feel free to offer criticism and accusation. Often, they are jealous as Hell of you. Regardless, your function of to save their ass.

Why can't I just...?

Why can't I just say I'm a doctor, then be one?

Why can't I just say I'm broke and draw public funds?

Why can't I just make up an I D card and go into a facility like the nuclear power plant near San Clemente, California?

Why not?

Because there laws, with penalties for violating them, that prohibit all of these actions and statements.

The ones who take these laws the most seriously are the ones who make those laws, elected officials, politicians. Yet, these politicians are very selective about who those laws are enforced upon.

YET--the same politicians do not seem to have a problem with (IA's)Illegal Aliens . IA's come here-illegally, drive cars-illegally, commit crimes and are not arrested, and if arrested, District Attorneys REFUSE to prosecute, stating that the perpetrator can not be positively identified.

Why Duncan Hunter

Why would you vote for Duncan Hunter for President?

Many reasons.

Lets start with these:

http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Duncan_Hunter.htm

As you can see, Congressman Hunter has voted Conservative all his career, with no apologies to the "Kinder. gentler crowd".

I worked for his sister, who is a member of an endangered species--an honest attorney. My task was to investigate stories related by potential plaintiffs, and to verify those stories. From her, I found that Duncan Hunter and I went to the same law school at the same time.

REASON: Duncan's father was relatively well off, but that didn't mean that Duncan got everything given to him. Take for instance, he went to Western States University--on the GI Bill.

CONTRAST: The Kennedys, the Bushs, the Romneys, going to Yale and Harvard on Daddy's money. Those SOBs wouldn't know what it is to do a day's work, or how to budget what you earned that day.

REASON: You have seen Duncan's voting record. He has had the same positions, and advocated the same causes for 26 years. He has had the same wife for 26 years.

CONTRAST: Guiliani wanted strict gun control, and has changed wives.

Romney has changed his mind on taxes. Poor Little Rich Kid. Father was CEO of American Motors, and Governor of Michigan.

McCain has sold out other POW's and discarded a wife who supported him, after she crashed and became disabled. He is also a "Poor Little Rich Kid", as Dad and Grandpa were admirals and got him into Annapolis.

Condeleeza Rice thinks you can make a deal with Islamofascists.

Jeb Bush has a Mexican wife, who tried to evade Customs

We know what Pres. Bush's idea of Border Control is: "Let 'em all in".

Media Traitors

Think your news has turned to being on the side of US troops>

THINK AGAIN.

In this video:

http://www.strategypage.com/military_photos/200721443737.aspx

You will see:

Video of a CH-46 flying

Puffs of smoke from the CH-46

An Arabic symbol at the top ( Recorded by "Insurgents", Media-speak for Radical religious gangsters, also known as IslamoFascists)

AP... at the bottom left. ( AP= Associated Press. Obviously either the IslamoFascists knew where to contact AP or Vice versa)

This indicates to me that AP has a close working relationship with people whose main goal is to KILL AMERICANS

Prom Car

In 1959, we were seniors in Kingman High School. Very strange, but in the summer of 1958, I had a dream about a girl in my class.

Her name was Evelyn. I dreamed that I went to the Prom with Evelyn.

Now, I knew this was "just a dream" because Evelyn was about the most popular girl in school, although she wasn't a raving beauty.

However, when we began the senior year, with a class of 53( Yes, I know--High School classes in most places are in the thousands), I was elected Class President only because I was not afraid to talk to the principal and teachers, or to give speeches to assemblies and the speech at graduation.

Evelyn was elected Class Treasurer, and given charge of assembling the yearbook. We began to do things together.

The Prom was coming. I was almost ashamed to ask her, because:
In those days NO student had a car. Hell, I didn't have a driver's license. My folks would not sign a paper taking responsibility for me.

It was beneath my pride for her to drive ME in her mother's car.

I had a best friend, John Hopeman. John's father was the chief of the Ford Test Track west of Kingman, and had allowed John to BUY a car from Ford after testing was done on it.

I talked to John and said " What am I going to do?"

John said " Take my car".

We did.

After the Prom, we drove out a way from Kingman, stopped, and just had the radio on and talked.

It got time to go. I turned the key and NOTHING. OH-God! Am I going to be in trouble--and we were ten miles from anything.

Evelyn calmly said--It has to be in Park. ( I wasn't familiar with automatic transmissions--I had driven tractors and jeeps on the ranch. )

It started and we went home.

The greatest gift that night was: I was with my dream girl, and she didn't belittle my for my ignorance.

Gore's Disciples

IF you are a follower of Al Gore and other believers of "Global Warming", your goals closely align with the Islamofascists.

Why?

1. You want to take us back to the lifestyle practiced by American Indians upon the arrival of Europeans. Living in huts or teepees, hunting game for food, pooping in the woods, complete avoidance of bathing, raiding other tribes and taking the women as slaves.

2. You want ideas and practices to return to 600 AD, when Mohammed figured out that if he declared his stated goals a religion, he could write the book about how to murder, rape, and enslave women and declare it to be part of the religion.

3. You hate America, you hate Capitalism, and long for "Communes" and full government operation of people's lives. You hate transportation. After all, it either pollutes or puts CO2 into the air. You want us to go back to the commerce of settlers in 1850, grow your veggies, store your veggies, and only rarely hitch up the wagon to go to town and buy "Staples" ( Sugar, Flour, Cloth, and Medicines)

4. You want to return to communicating by hand written letters. After all, it takes electrcity to run computers, cell phone towers, television, radios, and faxes. While "Natural Energy sources(hydroelectric, solar, and wind) are producing some energy, the majority is either Oil, Coal, or Nuclear (Shades of the China Syndrome)

5. You are hypocritical in the application and imposing your ideas on the majority. You would want those measures imposed on the United States--but would exclude China and India, the countries with major industry and population.

Entitlement crippling of society

We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. George S. Patton

You always have to be careful about trying to remedy a situation. Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave us "Welfare" in response to an economic problem.

Yes, you can get by by claiming poverty or disability, but your "benefit" is going to come from a bureaucratic government agency. You will quickly find that all you have to do to get these "benefits" is to give up your self-respect, dignity, and privacy.

A correlation is what people regard as to their protection. Where, at one time, most folks were farmers or ranchers, and essentially grew their own food, we now look to grocery stores, or in the case of welfare recipients, Food Stamps.

Now, people ASSUME that a government agency will protect them. Locally, you are led to believe that a call to 9 1 1 will bring a police car within 5 minutes. Truth: In most southern California locations, you will be very lucky to get a police agency on scene within 30 to 45 minutes.

Federally, most people ASSUME our military will protect us from invasion or attack. That is true if you are facing an organized, uniformed armed force. However, the enemy we face now spends millions of dollars and Pounds to lead you to believe that they are "Just like you" and "only wish to be respected".

Very few sources will tell you the truth about this "Peaceful religion". The main media will ignore their foaming-at-the-mouth rants by a "religious leader", telling his assembly that they "have to kill all Jews and Americans".

Socialists and dreamers in this country have fostered the idea that "If you get rid of guns, violence will disappear".

The net effect is that Americans are a bunch of sheep, depending on the herder for protection, and often critical of how the herder does his job.

LIBERALS: Two distinguishing hallmarks

In my life, I have concluded from much observation, discussion, and evidence that there are two unique traits to Liberals:
Fantasy and hypocrisy.

Today, this will be about their fantasy.

Example 1.

If you raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour, poverty will disappear.

This totally disregards the law of Supply and Demand.

What will happen is that those lower on the skills level will be let go, because their work isd not worth $10 per hour. Prices of goods and services will raise to meet costs of doing business. So, those out of job by this action, can't afford any goods or services.

Example 2.

Take everyone's guns away, and there will be no violence.

Reality- As one old bumper sticker says: When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

Now that is especially distressing, given the constraints placed on law enforcement by the ACLU, politicians, and budget cuts. A friend retired from a Sheriff's Department in Oregon when they cut 10 Deputy positions to give the homeless more money.

The highest locations of crime are New York City and Washington DC. Both make it completely illegal to have a gun. And, take Mexico. Every week, more dead people are found with their throats cut or decapitated,

Example 3.

If we just try to get along with terrorists, we can get along.

From years of working as a law enforcement officer, I know that there are people who do not respond to requests, who do not negotiate, who do not respect authority. These people will kill you, and have no regrets. It actually increases their resume when they brag about theirexploits in prison.

The picture at top left says it all.

The people mentioned respect IMMEDIATE, OVERWHELMING FORCE.

They are only deterred by a conviction that non-compliance will result in severe injuries or death to themselves.

What compounds the harm of the Liberal's fantasy is that there is always a Liberal available to criticize an officer or soldier, who, when facing one of these vicious thugs, does use force.

Liberals have so cotaminaed society with the notion that you can never get angry, youi must remain calm, and try to motivate a thug.

I'm Back

Due to an invitation, I have returned to Blogspot.














There are several themes that have to do with National Security, country and self defense.
The topics I will post all have to do with these.

While the main thrust is defense, there will be related topics about the benefits of discipline, and living in a cuntry that has values other than self-gratification and self above all else.