Now that the Los Angeles Lakers have won their 10th NBA championship, the phenomenon known as “Riotus Jerkitis” is playing out in and around Lalaland.
Revelers, basking in the joy of their favorite team’s win, threw rocks and bottles at police cars injuring several police officers and damaging police cruisers. This isn’t anything new. In 2000, after the Lakers won their first NBA title in 12 years, fans rioted, burning police cars and damaging more than 70 vehicles, many at nearby auto dealerships. More than a dozen people were injured.
Monday, LA Police Chief William Bratton commended his officers for showing restraint despite “a lot of provocation from a number of knuckleheads.”
Restraint? Isn’t it about time the police stopped using restraint? You see, that’s the problem. When I was growing up no one, and I mean no one, ever thought of throwing a rock at a policeman. Not unless you wanted a good beating. When you spoke with a policeman it was always, “Yes, sir or no, sir”, not some four-letter word (expletive deleted.)
When a policeman is attacked, whether it be with bottles, rocks or spit, he has a right to physically defend himself. If that means some out-of-control potato-head gets a bloody nose or busted lip, tough. Maybe the next time said potato-head meets a police officer he’ll be more inclined to be a little more respectful.
Now, I’m not saying that every altercation has to turn into another Rodney King episode, but thanks to the ACLU and like organizations our police and our courts have become ineffective. You only have to look at the punishment criminals DON”T receive to figure out why our judicial system is upside down and why recidivism to out of control.
The ones who do make it to jail are coddled and well-fed. They play video games, watch cable tv, have weight rooms and have almost unrestricted access to drugs. That’s punishment? To some, it’s like going to Disney World.
The criminals of today, like our enemies in North Korea and Iran, watch very closely as to how much they can get away with. The more we give them, the more they will take. That’s not a recipe for fighting crime. That’s a recipe for disaster, and that’s what we have in many communities.
But one man seems to get it. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona gets the job done. His prisoners live in tents with no air conditioning (remember, it’s Arizona.) He banned smoking, coffee, movies, pornographic magazines, and unrestricted TV in all jails. He has the cheapest meals in the U.S. too. He feeds the inmates baloney sandwiches. The average meal costs about 15 cents, and inmates are fed only twice daily, to cut the labor costs of meal delivery. He even stopped serving them salt and pepper to save taxpayers $20,000 a year.
He’s not called “America’s Toughest Sheriff” for nothing.
Hey, maybe we could get him to move to LA.
