From the website of the Rosenberg, Texas Police Department:
The Rosenberg Police Department is a progressive department serving a rapidly growing city. The Department prides itself on hiring and training the most elite Officers and personnel. The Officers of the Rosenberg Police Department are dedicated to the highest levels of integrity, professionalism, excellence and pledge to continue to strive to enhance the quality of life for the citizens they serve.
Yet on their Facebook:
Link: here
So the Rosenberg Police Department’s “elite officers and personnel” view you, the cat, no threat to these ~20 dogs, as a treat. They’re eyeing you and just itching for an excuse to snap you up. They then pat themselves on the back for having the “discipline” to wait until you, dangerous Mr. Kitty slip up.
But consider that this doesn’t say, “Just waiting for you to break the law” (thus making a morally justified arrest) No, it says, “Just waiting for probable cause”. The distinction is fine, but substantial in its implications. Probable cause gives them the ability to mess with you, guilty of a crime or not. With probable cause, an officer can make an arrest. With probable cause, an officer can secure a search warrant.
This takes me back to the well-known sheep, wolf, sheepdog analogy made popular by LTC Dave Grossman, author of On Killing. In the event you don’t wish to take the time to read it I’ll summarize: Sheep are the pure and innocent good guys, heads in the clouds. Us. Wolves are your bad guys who love to snap up a sheep for dinner. But ah, then there are the heroic sheepdogs. These are your cops/military/etc. They keep the wolf at bay, all the while being unappreciated and misunderstood by the sheep, for he looks like a wolf and is not afraid to use violence.
I like Grossman. I think On Killing was an excellent book. I don’t agree with many of his conclusions, but he’s a great thinker nonetheless and I respect him. But I don’t think he took the analogy far enough. What do we do with sheep? We herd them. We group them together into an unthinking mob ready to move to the whim of their betters. A wolf occasionally sneaks in and eats one. But we herd them to the same purpose. But instead of one, we intend to eat them all. But just as important to the analogy, what does a sheepdog do when a sheep decides to leave the herd? They nip at their heels. They bark. They put you back in that herd.
As a side note, remember who it was sitting behind the president calling for gun control. Cops. Sheepdogs. Who suggested a limit on assault rifles? Moscow Police Chief David Duke. Deprived of arms, you NEED your sheepdog. And the sheepdogs know this.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather the ability to occasionally leave the herd, sufficiently armed in a world that if a wolf bares his fangs, I’m able to protect myself. The alternative is to be that kitty in the meme, with both wolves and sheepdogs looking at you like a snack, all the while stuck in the herd.
