There's a lot of truth in this WaPo article ~ but it pisses me off BIG time that the go-to response from police union reps is always blaming "others" ~ taking an honest look internally to identify institutionalized/insidious racism would help ~ as would reasonable/responsible gun control ~ Sooz

Police on high alert, fear more attacks
The Washington Post | 2 hrs ago

Three hours after a gunman killed two New York police officers sitting in their car Saturday, a somber message went out to D.C. police.

“Members are reminded that while on duty on patrol, while stationary in a vehicle and while in an off-duty status they should remain vigilant and constantly aware of their surroundings,” the cautionary bulletin said.

Every two hours since then, the bulletin has been repeated. Between the lines, the message is simple: Don’t panic. But watch out.

Similar sentiments were being relayed to police elsewhere in the Washington region and throughout the nation after the fatal shooting of the two officers in Brooklyn, a brazen act that their chief would later call an assassination.

The alleged killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, left a trail of social media messages suggesting he was out to avenge the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island.

“We’re vulnerable because we are in uniform and in marked cars,” said Delroy Burton, head of the D.C. Fraternal Order of Police. “There is no way to defend against someone who wants to do us harm. There is no way to see it coming.”

The shootings, said D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, were “a tragic reminder that police officers are vulnerable at all times, simply because of the uniform we wear.”

There were worries — in New York, Washington and elsewhere — that officers could come under attack again. “I’m fearful that that won’t be the last,” said Dean Jones, president of the police union in Prince George’s County.

Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said the “vast majority of the public supports” his officers and “what we do every day.”

But he also knows that it is difficult for officers to keep this support in mind, given what happened in New York and threats against law enforcement in many jurisdictions. He called the situation a “very challenging time for cops, who took this job to help keep people safe.”

On Sunday night, Manger sent a message to his officers, urging them to “protect ourselves as we protect the public.. . . Be safe, look out for each other, be smart, wear your seat belt, and wear your [bulletproof] vest.”

Prince George’s Police Chief Mark Magaw said he had asked his department to send an announcement “alerting all of our officers to be even more vigilant than usual.”

After grand jury decisions not to charge officers in the deaths of Brown in Ferguson and Garner in Staten Island, Jones said, he’s heard “general expressions of disappointment” from Prince George’s officers over how some members of the public are viewing police as “the enemy.”

“It creates anger and brings out the crazy people,” said Walt Bader, a board member and past president of Montgomery’s police union. “People on the fringes pick up on that and go in their own direction, and police officers are dead because of it.”

Burton, from the D.C. police union, said comments by President Obama and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. after the Brown and Garner deaths, combined with dehumanizing language used by some protest groups to describe officers, has created a difficult environment for police.

“We’re the bad guys right now,” Burton said. “It’s particularly dangerous right now because of the rhetoric and the negative portrayals of police officers and their actions.”

He said police officers remain in danger because of “unhinged” people.

“If I respond to a call and an ambush is set up, then I’m walking into an ambush,” Burton said.

Off-duty officers gathered at the FOP Lodge in the District on Sunday afternoon said they, too, felt targeted by the comments of Obama and Holder, as well as by social media commentary and online responses to news coverage.

Saturday’s shootings raised their concerns to a new level, they said.

“Everybody knows there’s a risk to being police, but just sitting in your car eating your lunch?” asked a 12-year veteran D.C. officer. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the news media.

“All this does is add fuel to the fire for these police out here who are already scared.”

Lynh Bui, Peter Hermann and Clarence Williams contributed to this report.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/police-on-high-alert-fear-more-attacks/ar-BBh5GA2

As ye sow, so shall ye reap!

And now for the copycats...


Yves Francoeur, Montreal police union boss, says 'multi-ethnic' population a risk to officers
Officers 'not immune to the possibility of attack' because of Muslim population, he says
CBC News
Posted: Dec 22, 2014 1:23 PM ET|
Last Updated: Dec 22, 2014 1:23 PM ET

The president of Montreal’s police union says officers here are a target for attacks because it’s a “multi-ethnic” city.

Yves Francoeur told Radio-Canada that “police officers are not immune to the possibility of attack because of the ‘multi-ethnic’ character of Montreal.”

When asked to clarify his statements on CBC’s Daybreak, Francoeur said radicalized Islamic attacks are a factor the police need to consider.

He said the police have good relationships with Muslim leaders, but that radical attacks are a concern for the police force.

“We have good co-operation with those communities, who have to face some very extremist individuals in their own communities, but we’re working with them."

Francoeur said there’s still an ongoing investigation into the man arrested on Friday for allegedly making threats against police, but he believes the man was motivated by religion.

“I know from the investigation, there was a relation with religion, Islamist.”

A spokesman for the Montreal police department has not confirmed that Islam, or any religion, was involved in that arrest.

Francoeur also noted that the men involved in the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Ottawa attacks, Michael Zihaf-Bibeau and Martin Couture-Rouleau, were both French Quebecers who were Islam converts and not part of the mainstream Islam community.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ ... -1.2881517

“Everybody knows there’s a risk to being police, but just sitting in your car eating your lunch?”

“Everybody knows there’s a risk to being black, but just walking down the street?”

See how that works, police fellas? When you blow your credibility by ALWAYS justifying and excusing everything cops do...those chickens come home to roost eventually.