A FEW GOOD MEN 11-21-12

A good cop is born , not made---- or was that meant to
read the other way around ?


As a Police Sgt, I always liked to have men around me
who would take direction and act without hesitation.
One of those men was Tom Murphy.
Tom came to America from the Dublin, Ireland Garda.
The Garda in Ireland are the police.

Tom and I became good friends, but he was all cop
without any help from me, in fact I used to treat him
pretty rough, accused him of being verballiy dislexic.
He accused me of being other than Irish---- A terrible
insult.

Tom was injured one time.  "That" motorcycle gang were
tearing up a bar on Lincoln avenue when Tom being the
first one on the scene, as usual, one of their dogs bit him
in the butt.  Tom came out of that bar fuming, but with
three of the cyclists in custody, and the dog.

Once , at  bar closing time I had my hands full with some
drunks when Tom came on the scene.  He said "who do you
want taken out ,, John."  I pointed to a group of five across
the street and said , check `em out.
In a few minutes Tom asked me if I had any more handcuffs,
he had the five in custody.

We had a big Captain who was very ambitious and always
trying to do the right thing,  usually at a time when no one
wanted the right thing, for example....
One day when we were real short handed, myself and one
officer with his arm in a sling on the radio----Tom was the
only patrol officer on the street.  We got a call that the big
Captain had left his car and attempted to break up a fight
on the beach.   The crowd was unruly and had the Captain
down on the ground mauling and kicking him when Tom
arrived on the scene.

Taking his shot gun with him Tom waded through the crowd
using his shotgun as a club, he beat a path to the Captain,
got the Captain out of there and headed for the station.

While Tom was saving the Captain`s ass a large part of the
crowd came roaring in to the police station demanding to
file a report of police abuse (having been beaten with Tom`s
shotgun.
Several of the rowdy crowd started yelling that they were
going to take over the police station.

I always had a riot club leaning against the desk when I was
Desk Sgt.    I grabbed the "stick" and went over the counter,
nto the middle of the crowd swinging that stick like the mad
man I was.  I dropped several of them before they got away
from me and raced out of the station hitting the large plate
glass door, smashing it out as they raced to get away from my
stick.

Tom showed up a little later and turned his shotgun in to me.
It looked like a large pretzel, twisted and broken.
I patted Tom on the back and told him to check out a new gun.

I really thought I would have to pay for that exspensive plate
glass door on the front of the police station, but the next day
when I came to work it had been replaced with a new door.

Sure that I would be fired, or at least disciplined, I met the
Chief in the hall a few days later and out the corner of his
mouth he said, " good job".

Tom got a big letter of commendation shortly ----- from me.

----- John Crowley

COPS WHO ARE AFRAID 11-19-12

Cops who are afraid



We all love heroes. Audi Murphy,

the Sullivan brothers. There were

hundreds of wonderful heroes on

and after World War II.



The Marines came out of service

and joined the police departments.

Then what happened to them ?



Did they stop being heroes ? I don`t

think so.



Life got complicated, before you hit

the bastard you had to read him his

rights.



The guy that helped to plant the flag

on Iwo and shot a few people on the

way back down, now has a rule book

in his duty case. I can`t begin to tell

you the rules, but if you have not

completed your probation, you better

be prepared to follow that rule book,

word for word.



Cops Who Are Afraid



Big John walked out of the bar where

he had just settled a dispute between

several customers who were ready to

tear each other to pieces.



He walked out to his car, sat and started

to tremble. He could not stop shaking.

He questioned himself, thought maybe

he was having a heart attack. Naww !

He was calm, but sweating profusely.



Walking into the station, Big John went

directly to the Forensics Bureau where he

talked to Sgt. Boog who had previously

invited him to work in the bureau.



They talked and Sgt. Boog dispatched a

memo to the Chief requesting that Big

John be assigned to the Bureau. The next

day Big John was interviewed further,

assigned to the swing shift and spent the

next nine years in the bureau.



Officer Burns came to me one day and

confided that he was losing his nerve. He

just was`nt sure of himself anymore-- so I

had him assigned to traffic, writing parking

tickets.



Then it dawned on me---- and there were

many others with similar "kinks". These

guys are anxious about the number of rules

, but most importantly , they are going to

make mistakes . They know they will make

mistakes. The state supreme court will

come down on them, the United States

Supreme court will find against them and

most importantly ---- they will be criticized

by the members of their own department.



I started a communication with these officers,

requesting transfers to less volatile jobs.

One went to the Juvenile Bureau, two more

were assigned to the Detective Bureau, another

into Forensics.



You see, when a COP works patrol, he has to

know everything, no he has to have average

or better intelligence, but he needs the ability

to sort through problems with lightening speed

and make decisions that will not create further

problems. He has to be in close touch with

the members of the community.



That probably is an oversimplification......what

exactly does this patrol officer need to know to

do his job without controversy or worse ?



At one time I wrote new job classifications, new

advertisements for officer applicants, ads,

requirements, qualifications---- I did exactly what

somebody before me had done, I skirted the

issue.



Getting Security



There has been a problem for a long time , the

problem of officers seeking security on the job.





COPS WHO ARE AFRAID



I do not recall ever knowing a COP who was

afraid physically, every one is there pulling at

the traces ready to throw himself on the pyre

of self sacrifice without much thought to his

own safety.



AFRAID OF THE BOOK



One time when Big John was Sgt. Big he

heard a dispatch that a motorcycle club had

taken over a portion of the beach, making it

difficult for women and children to use that

portion of the beach. On his arrival Big found

three or four officers talking to the "leader".



The motorcycle leader argued that they had

as much right to the beach as anyone else.

Sgt. Big said leave NOW or be arrested.



The COPS started to shuffle feet and tried to

argue with Sgt. Big who simply walked over

to the motorcycle , the most beautiful one on

the beach, placed his foot on the engine and

dumped it into the sand.



Simple solution. The gang did not dare to fight

they were facing community condemnation if

they did the wrong thing. Swing on the Sgt.

No way, the leader was too smart--- he could

have been seriously injured, he could lose face

or and he did---- picked up his motorcycle and

waved his men to leave NOW.



Sgt. Big had a little talk with the officers individually

after this incident and that was the end of it.



The Officers were afraid of making a mistake, of

losing face, of being criticized by superiors, or

of violating some foggy issue in the book of regs.



Sgt. Big solved the problem--- How ?

He was not afraid, perhaps he did`nt know any

better, maybe he was intuitive and sensed the

right action. But, the men were not physically

afraid, they were afraid of the "book", either the

book of regulations , or perhaps the "book" of

public opinion, or the unwritten book, the one

that holds that thin blue line in one cohesive

working unit.



Officer Qurios was assigned to ride with me one

day when he first joined the department.

He said hello followed by a litany of questions

that could have covered an encyclopedia of

policing .

I thought ,"rookie" and forgot about it, but he

never forgot the questions. He was worried about

what he would do under any given situation.

This guy was an ex-marine, at several situations

he demonstrated physical courage, but he never

stopped worrying what he would do in some

hypothetical situation.



The rookie, officer Qurios finally gravitated to a

traffic job and seemed to be content for years.



One of the officers who was assigned to Detective

Bureau distinguished himself over the years.



They were all good men, good officers and good

policemen--- they were simply afraid of ----

something .



----- John Crowley

October 2, 2012









10-2-2012 SOUTH DAKOTA COWBOY

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agudwunOctober 3, 2012 11:52 AM

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There is no problem with THUNDER BUTTE . COM

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written by him.

Thanks----John Crowley (Eagle Cruagh)



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This is a representation of

eaglescruagh.blogspot.com



eaglescruagh.blogspot.com is the

email address of this site.



There is no problem with THUNDER BUTTE . COM

This is my blog and a continuation of thunderbutte.com which is alive and well.

amd is the property of MICHAEL CROWLEY and is

written by him.

Thanks----John Crowley (Eagle Cruagh)



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