photo #8959115

From Clint Stutts - The other night I found myself blocked in by cops at Taco Bell for about half an hour. I took my neighbor to get food after I picked her up from work. This is the pic she took. Anyway, they pulled over a guy who was clearly under the influence of something. He ended up parking two spaces away from me, which is why I ended up blocked. So a cop gets the guy to roll his window down and talks to him for awhile. The guy gets very emotional and starts crying. The cop tries to find out what's really eating at him (I can't hear much though). Finally, the guy rolls his window up. So then the cop opens the door, and it seems like he's going to get the guy out and arrest him. Fully justified. Then he asks the guy if there's anyone they can call. A woman pulls up a few minutes later, thanks the cops, and she takes him home. That was a pretty merciful thing. But as I was sitting there waiting through all of that, I imagined what that cop's attitude and demeanor would be like if he was surrounded by people blowing whistles, honking horns, yelling slurs and expletives at him, if people followed him to every call he went to and tried to block him on the road, etc. I imagined how that cop might feel if he had to spend alot of time telling people to back away from the scene so he could do his job. I imagined how that cop might feel if he knew people in the crowd were actively trying to dox him and find out where he lives. I imagined how it might feel if the mayor and the governor held regular press conferences where they mouthed off about me and my profession. I concluded that these factors would have a decidedly negative affect on the cop. These things can make a good cop perform badly. I would imagine the same is true of ICE agents who are trying to conduct operations. Except it's even worse. We've got at least one state rep and the Lt. Governor of MN involved in Signal chat groups that serve as dispatch for the people who are protesting, rioting, following, and impeding ICE. They also use it to compile their license plate database. There are thousands of people in these groups, and yes Renee Good and Alex Pretti were in those groups. There's no segment of law enforcement more vilified than ICE right now, and I think it even rivals what we saw against cops in general after George Floyd. The people in these Signal groups don't want anyone deported, not even the ones with criminal records. They do their best to impede every operation. And that's why there will likely be more Renee Good's and more Alex Pretti's. These people will put their lives on the line for people who don't care one bit about them if something happens to them. Their ordo amoris is functionally backwards, placing strangers ahead of themselves and their own families. They are useful idiots. Every contact with law enforcement that somehow goes wrong is used to the fullest effect as propaganda. Alot of folks may read this and think I'm a bootlicker. Nope. I have had enough encounters with cops where they lie straight to my face so that I don't automatically assume any particular cop is a good one. You have to prove it to me, like the cop at Taco Bell. I'll call them as I see them. But remember this: it doesn't have to be this way in Minnesota. It can be exactly like it is here in Texas. It all comes down to choices.