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TTAG reader MS writes:

More of a local story, but a violent felon escaped from the Elgin Mental Health facility. [Click here for the Trib’s take.] One guy, in handcuffs. Cue the lockdowns. People are freaking out on social media. Even if he managed to get OUT of said handcuffs, does it really justify the MRAPs and assault gear? Heck, there’s even a photo of an officer with both an M-4 and a shotgun. It’s like he’s girding himself for a zombie attack. Meanwhile, across town, I’m perfectly content hanging out around the yard, knowing that my puny little sub-compact 9 will do just fine, in the highly-unlikely event he comes charging out of the back woods at me. I like the Elgin cops I’ve met, and I know they’re only doing their jobs, but since they deal with armed gang bangers on a daily basis, isn’t this just a bit overkill for 1 unarmed man on the run? [More tacticool pics after the jump] . . .

 

Elgin SWAT are hot (courtesy chicagotribune.com)

Elgin cops (courtesy chicagotribune.com)

 

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128 COMMENTS

    • As hard as they try to portray themselves as being a part of this “efficient killing machine”, (I mean they have this incessant need to prove they aren’t as emasculated as they’ve always felt themselves to be); they still piss in their pants when actually confronted with any meaningful threat.

      Put them on duty without their storm-trooper attire; perhaps in a tutu and a 20 gauge shotgun, and I guess their self image would be pretty much toast.

      • Sadly I have to agree based on the fact that despite all this gear and equipment they avoid harms way as much as possible when this equipment was designed to make putting yourself in harms way favour your effort over the bad guys. SWAT teams to serve regulatory inspections of businesses scaring the shit out of citizens and their customers must be a rush of power. Going into a cartel stronghold where everyone is equally armed is something they only do in movies.

      • The definition of “meaningful threat” has degraded somewhat over time.

        Today it seems to boil down to “your in my way.”

  1. This is a soldier cop’s wet dream. They live to gear out and hope for the superhero moment. I remember a past article here on such a topic. It’s really a shame that the soldier cop has evolved this far.

    • Some soldier cops in Houston may have gotten the day off today, or at least spent it shopping for new tacticool gear. It seems some car burglars broke into a car overnight this week, parked outside of an FBI agent’s home, and stole what’s been reported as thousands of dollars of SWAT equipment.

      Supposedly no weapons were stolen, but that has happened before and recently, too. I think that was just last year that an SBR was stolen from an agent’s own home here in Houston. How can these people protect us, when they cannot even protect the high dollar gear we provide them with to protect us?

    • I think I’d find it hard not to go out on my front porch to badger and make fun of them. Of coarse I’d have to have some video recording along with me.

    • “Evolved”? Umm, I’d say it’s devolved; our society has become more corrupt and degenerate.

      John Adams said “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”

      He was right; when the people are no longer living by an internal guide of what is moral and acceptable; when the people live without the willingness to say no to every desire; no matter how perverted or self-destructive; then the external guide/enforcer will become the norm. As they are so obviously doing today.

      • The question is, do police departments attract sociopaths, breed them, or both?

        Sociopathic Police Personality: Is It a Product of the “Rotten Apple” or the “Rotten Barrel?”
        https://www.ncjrs.gov/app/publications/abstract.aspx?id=181019

        “This paper provides support for the “Rotten Barrel” theory of police deviant behavior, which holds that the stressful conditions of the police occupation constitute a primary risk factor for police misconduct.”

        The State As An Attractor for Sociopaths
        http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/09/butler-shaffer/the-state-attracts-sociopaths/

        “The man or woman who is prepared to initiate an act of punishment to compel obedience to a governmental mandate easily segues into the SWAT team member or police brute or one who tortures another. It is the appetite for ultimate power over others that drives such people. We have now reached that most vicious end-point on the continuum, the war system, where the indiscriminate killing of innocent people – many of them children – becomes justified by the psychopathic war-lovers on no more compelling ground than that they have the power to inflict death on a massive scale.”

  2. So whenever some statist claims that a bunch of militia types wouldn’t be able to stand up to the government with their tanks and drones, all I have to do is show them how one or two people can shut down an entire town now.

    Remember Boston?

    Shoot, a bunch of mall ninja types were able to stand-down a Federal agency. Granted, it was the BLM, but still. Just because they were about evenly matched.

    Wasn’t it a user here that said there were something like 50 police units responding to the bank robbery in Stockton?

    • Yep, and it was likely the cops that killed the remaining hostage when they decided to have a mad minute on the suspect car.

      • I’m certain of it. You know if a concealed carrier had so much as nicked an innocent the news would be all over the over-zealous and reckless behavior of the CCW. Cops kill a hostage and it’s “Well, they are professionals who want to go home at the end of the day”

        • “Well, they are professionals who want to go home at the end of the day”

          Doesn’t everyone just want to go home at the end of the day? What makes them special? Most of my friends, whom I shoot with ,stopped needing play WWII in the school yard at recess in grade school, years ago. Could we start hiring adults for a change.

        • If it was just that they want to go home at the end of the day it would be one thing but for too many it seems to have shifted to a requirement to go home at the end of the day without a scratch or hurt feelings.

        • The hostage was resisting.

          Officer safety. Yo.

          But…we’ll have to wait and see what the coroner says about what caused the fatal wounds.

          I’m expecting an admission that the hostage was struck a few times by “police bullets” but that they were already deceased from the suspect’s weapon.

          Or something like that. Could even be true. File under the “we’ll never know” bin.

    • If they didn’t beclown themselves like this there would be nothing to report, Paul.

      Honestly, when they overreact, use inappropriate levels of force, and in general demonstrate why Sheriiff Taylor only let Barney have one bullet, which he was not allowed to put in his sidearm without direct authorization, they pretty much do it to themselves.

    • I see you’ve once again willfully confused denigrating bad behavior with “cop bashing”. Back under thine bridge, troll.

    • There is a huge difference between “cop bashing” and not sheepishly going along assuming they are handling everything correctly.

      P.S. I don’t think dual wielding a shotgun and a rifle at the same time is handling this particular situation correctly.

  3. This is the kind of nonsense that would make a good Andy Griffith episode and there might have even been one like this.

    Example: Andy and Barney foil a plot/capture fugitive with common sense and good police work while the state police/FBI overreact, bungle things up and underestimate a “podunk” sheriff.

  4. At least they don’t too much look like they do ‘physique by TSA’, and the WAYHMP “why are you hassling me pig” crowd would beat them in any footrace that didn’t have donuts at the finish-line.

  5. They’re going to be sweating like pigs by the time they turn in for the day (no pun intended).

    I think I’d honestly want lighter gear for running around town searching and pursuing.

  6. Not to let facts get in the way of the anti-cop feeding frenzy, but the shotgun is a breaching shotgun and the vehicle is not a MRAP.

    How about the keyboard commandos suit up and show us how capturing a dangerous felon is done?

    • Well, I really don’t see any reason as to why they need any of that crap to catch a felon on the run. All they need is their standard duty gear. They’re not going to fight ISIS. Back in the day cops had no problems going to hand to hand with people all the time. These days I guess they just don’t train them like they used to. I mean look at them in those pictures. They’re all tired. Sitting down, not pulling security. The dude could run right by them and they wouldn’t even notice. You know why? you have to be in hella good shape to preform with body armor on. That’s why the military PT requirements are so much more hardcore than is needed for police. Plus, all that gear makes it easy for someone to beat the hell out of you. If they need to go hand to hand, which police often do, they’re going to get stomped. Hand to hand Fighting in all that tacticool gear is like wrestling someone while wearing 60lb weights attached to you.

    • It’s not the public’s job to apprehend the criminal. It’s the police departments job to do so. And to do so in the manner least impactful to the community, while taking into account a realistic assessment of the threat level. Let me summarize that for you:

      1 possibly violent escaped offender at large in restraints.

      It is the public’s job; however, to hold these clowns responsible for how they conduct themselves. If the police can’t justify their actions in terms an average person would find reasonable, then they are in the wrong. Period, end of story.

      Mall ninja never comes into it. Any reasonable person would view that response to the situation as needless.

      There’s no reason this couldn’t be handled by officers in duty uniform. If the escapee had 1) taken a hostage, or 2) barricaded themselves in (ie, the reason we have SWAT teams) – THAT’s when you call for the armored vehicle and the SWAT team to resolve the situation.

      I hope that clarifies the relationship between the police and community in a democratic society for you.

    • ** Not to let defense of over-reaction and bad behavior get in the way of facts, but let’s see you end up on the wrong side of a wrong-house raid or deliberate police brutality and see how you feel afterwards.

      Fixed that for you. You’re welcome.

    • Don’t non-police civilians already legally kill more criminals per annum than do the police as it is? And many of them who do so I would expect are guys who perhaps thirty seconds prior to the confrontation were sound asleep in their boxers, or even buck naked and….well, not sleeping. If police need a refresher on how to capture a felon, they can read their own police reports then.

    • Easy, you don’t dress up like a soldier to hunt down one man. It’s ludicrous. Body armor, and a long gun is reasonable. I think dressing up like a soldier tips your hand if you’re trying to sneak up on a guy.

      • Of course, I’m sure your comment is based on your personal experience of jumping fences, potentially rolling around on unforgiving ground, in a uniform you have to pay for out of your relatively meager salary qualifies you to sit in judgment on men who are simply wearing utility clothing?

        Hmmm?

        • He would rather wear polyester shirt @$54.00 ea. Pants on std. uniforms are also polyester add 20pounds for a vest in the summer.

        • Are you indicating that officers in their standard uniforms do not expect to do any criminal-chasing, fence-jumping, ground-rolling, etc? Actually, statistically that would probably be a correct assumption, but I would think that the officers are supposed to be ready to handle that kind of stuff in their everyday uniforms without taking a break to change into “utility clothes”.

    • Maybe if the suited up cops were going after them you’d have a leg to stand on. I don’t see the 50000 gangbangers being culled in LA, despite the fact that LAPD SWAT has the best toys in the nation. And it’s not like a warrant is even needed these days, just say “drugs and guns” and have at it…

    • The way it is done was done across the country for 200 years. How did the United States survive without swat teams before 1980?? These guys look like a bunch of dorks and it is just fine and (according to the 1st amendment) dandy if people on the website want to call them out for it.
      If you want to dress up like a soldier than join the army. This guy may have been a creep but he was not the ring leader of ISIS.

  7. Bonus operator points if the guy at the top says “I keep this handy… For close encounters” whenever he pulls out the shotty

  8. Standard uniform, body armor, rifle/shotgun (pistol on belt), flashlight, radio, handcuffs. Done. Unless they’re trying to intimidate the guy to death. Wait, they are trying to get the guy alive, aren’t they?

  9. These guy are just plain dorks. Seriously, what in F’ing Hell do they think they’re doing in all that crap? By the looks of how tired they are, I’m sure they’ve now come to realize how much wearing all that crap sucks, and why you have to be in much better shape to be in the military than be a cop. And I’m sure they’ll also learn the hard way when someone does attack them how hard it is t fight hand to hand in all that crap. There’s a reason why back in the day cops would complain about being added more and more gear. It leads to getting your ass kicked when someone jumps you. They need nothing more than their standard duty gear for this.

    • “Brotherhood” do tell us of your experience in law enforcement, in confronting and arresting dangerous, mentally ill felons? I’d like to learn of your experiences that put you in a position to participate in the cop bashing here.

      Do tell, sir.

      And, might I point out how hiding behind a fake screen name does make it a bit more difficult for you to be perceived as a person who has the personal courage and integrity to be held personally responsible for his comments.

      Cheers.

      • Yup there goes Paul t McCain again not knowing a thing he’s talking about demanding my credentials to comment on this site knowing full well that after I tell him about my tours pounding sand and mud in Iraq he will simply call me a liar. We’ve got you all figured out dude, your a wanna be intellectual. You think your smart, witty, have all the answers…. But really your just arrogant. And your fat. I know this because you seem to get real bent out of shape when I start calling physical fitness of the officers into the equation.

        • Remember how heavy those ceramic rifle plates were + all the extras? Imagine doing that once or twice a month versus every day, remember how tired you were? No food or water break climbing under houses with all that crap on. Were you ready to hit a bunk @ end of 8-12 hours of work but no officers to relieve you for another hour in the meantime filling out a dozen forms & log entries before you call it a day. Plus having every idiotic “reporter” want your take on the situation & you just
          get extra days off instead of O.T. because the union rep got a new car to cut a deal to keep your job. Most do the work because they want to give back or help because officer friendly when they were kids. Some need a job. Both are good, the ones that scare me think they are still in the military, the military would not take them & are on a power trip. The worst are the borderline mentals, they are badge heavy use the uniform to get dates, have every tacticool thing made
          & insist they are experts in everything more & more these are being hired for whatever reason, they don’t get pysch exams any longer so they get in on the first second or more attempt. They are not cops, law enforcement or professionals. Professionals try to get them into other jobs, we don’t want them any more
          than you do. Make all of us look like Ranger wannabes, they actually make me madder than you

        • In response to your comment to McCain, “We’ve got you all figured out dude, your a wanna be intellectual.”

          Actually, I though “holster-sniffer” was more appropriate.

      • Paul T. McCain is right.

        There should be more fair and balanced reporting that highlights the character, courage and selflessness of good cops.

        Here’s a great example:

        Video of Good Cop Protecting a Mentally Disturbed Man from Fellow Cops.

      • Do you think that forcing people out of their houses was appropriate in the Boston case? Have you ever heard of the 4th amendment?

  10. Here is info about the victim of police harassment, such a great guy:

    The 33-year-old is already charged with the vicious beating of his girlfriend in the parking lot of Six Flags Great America in Gurnee on Sept. 29, 2013, according to Lake County prosecutors.

    “She was taken immediately to (Advocate) Condell’s ICU and placed in a medically-induced coma because she had a fractured skull and was bleeding on the brain,” Cynthia Trujillo-Vargas, spokesperson for the Lake County State’s Attorney office, told the News-Sun.

    Vega was charged with eight felonies: two counts each of aggravated domestic battery, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and aggravated battery in a public place; and one count each of obstruction of justice and aggravated DUI.

    He was scheduled for a fitness hearing to see if he was mentally fit to stand trial, Trujillo-Vargas said.

    An arrest warrant was issued after he failed to show up in Lake County Circuit Court on Wednesday.

    Vega was also named in a federal arrest warrant, Elgin Police Commander Glenn Theriault said, who said Vega was a Chicago resident. Lake County authorities said he lived in River Grove.

        • Prarie, quite the contrary.

          To interject at least a modicum of sanity in the cop-bashing, tin-foil hat wearing nonsense that ensues on each post like this.

        • And there you go with the tin foil hat insult again…. You know, the liberals don’t even use that one anymore. That was so 2013 panic lingo.

      • What I see is an act of domestic violence – a bully who beat up on his own wife/girlfriend.

        No apparent history of using weapons. No apparent history of violent behavior towards random individuals. No apparent history of using force against cops. No bloody trail of bodies during his escape. And absolutely nothing to justify a the absurd level military-like weaponry they seem to be prepared to use.

        This level of force is overkill, pure and simple. The police use the toys because they have them. Personally, I’d feel a lot safer if the police were driving Priuses (sp?) instead of urban assault vehicles and saved the military gear for when we’re actually at war…

    • And yet you once again willfully miss the point completely, and simultaneously fail to back up whatever vague (non)argument you were trying to make.

      • I thought he was going to tell us that the BG was an obnoxious Lutheran minister. In that case, I would have called in a drone strike.

        • Ralph, yes, and while you are at it, consider how comments from a pompous jackass such as yourself may deserve a stern talking to.

          I’m not about to call in a drone strike on you, no matter how tempting.

          “Lead us not into temptation. Amen.”

        • Cant handle the discussion and so you call people names>? Not going to get anyone here on your side dude. These cops deserve all the scorn they are reaping. Thank God that we live in a country that allows us to point out their foolishness.

    • Seriously, Mr. McCain, I don’t think anyone is trying to posit that the escapee is some kind of good-guy martyr. Just that he’s not likely to require an armored vehicle to take him into custody. BTW, maybe you can tell me, what makes that short shotgun specifically a breaching tool? Aren’t full-stocked shotguns usually used for that?

    • Am I reading beyond this childish pissing contest correctly? This turd busted a woman’s skull and was F—ING RELEASED? Someone is then surprised that he did not show up at a hearing to determine that he is nuts? What kind of game are they playing, he should be in JAIL! For the past 9 MONTHS he’s been on the loose? Boy do I feel safe.

  11. I’m in LA, and one of the cases I’m working is a felony hit and run. However, I’ll probably only be able to file misdemeanor charges due to LA’s court system. I’m currently armed only with a pistol, knife, pepper spray, and ASP baton. My Kevlar helmet is in storage.

    Hope I can make it through ok, but I should probably jump in an MRAP or Bearcat if I see one.

  12. I live on the west side of elgin (near the institution) an I have zero worries about this as I am proud CCW for Illinois!!! my training and the xds will keep me safe

  13. I had to run into Elgin yesterday on an errand. While there I grabbed lunch for me and my son since Daddy is out of town on business.

    Waited around, sat in my car while food was cooking. Nice day so had the car doors open. Of course I am secure knowing I have the rare IL CCW and my loaded Sig P230 is handy in the glove.

    Came home around 2pm and heard the news about the escaped mental health guy. Nodded my head – “Good thing I was armed” I thought “… you just never know ..”

    • Right? Wheres the guys in guillies with the barrets! They’re hopelessly outmatched without them!

  14. Seeing the picture of the two cops tooling around standing on the back of the truck, with such grace, balance and athleticism, I can only think that if only they’d scored just a *few* more points on their civil service exams, they could have been hired as garbagemen.

  15. But he was CRAZY. And who said the POlice were harassing him rev? He should’ve been in a regular jail like half the crazyass inmates of Cook County,Illinois jail.

  16. Wonder if that officer is inviting those bike riders into the vehicle so they can get home safely too….

  17. How exactly does a guy in handcuffs escape a mental health facility in the first place and not be captured for 8 hours in the second?

    The guy might have beaten his girlfriend in a drunken rage, but do cops really need body armor, shotguns (excuse me, “breaching devices”), helmets, rifles and an armored car to track down one guy in handcuffs?!?

    • How about this one: if a “breaching device” is needed, does that not obviously mean you have time to drive to the next city and buy one? Other than in order to attain tacticoolness, why carry it along, making you unable to actually respond to anything?

  18. Escaped violent felon will always get the hackles up for any dept. At least they didn’t do a Boston v. 2.0 (Warrantless house to house searches.)

    Plus the whatchamacallit big thingy needed some road time.

      • And why is that not correct? Especially since, particularly today, there will likely be 50 of them with their .38s against one shackled and unarmed nut. So why is that not correct? Waiting.

  19. A few issues ago, American Handgunner had a response from Massood Ayoob to a reader’s letter re police militarization.

    While I generally enjoy his writings, I think he was way off-base with his take that there isn’t an issue here.

    Two things: as he pointed out, historically, law enforcement has had access to “military grade” weapons (eg lever-action guns, revolvers, etc.) … but so have the rest of the citizenry. This is decidedly not the case today.

    Second, it was always possible to tell the lawman from the soldier because they wore different uniforms. Now I’m all for our protective forces – of whatever flavor – having good protection. But camouflage for police forces? Really?

    I won’t rehash the rest of the arguments, but when I can look out my window and see something resembling a Red Dawn movie shoot … but with no film crew … that there’s a problem.

  20. It seems it would be better to have plainclothes units doing the majority of the searching with uniformed officers holding a cordon around the search area. If it turns out the fugitive is holed up somewhere then have SWAT move on the situation.

  21. You know it’s a good thing they have that tacticool camo.

    Otherwise the bad guy would see them sneaking up on him….

  22. Several extra Crown Vics with a shotgun and an AR and a pair of regular sheriffs in tan shirts searching the streets would probably do the job. Nah lets get the Green Berets!!!

  23. A little over the top but, think about this your out on foot looking for this nutjob & run into a meth lab. Gangbanger hangout or just another crazy that is off meds. BTW most cuffs ain’t hard to get out of if you have worn them a few times. Having dealt w/more than a few schizophrenics off meds. I can tell you they have a lot of strength when adrenalin flows. I’m 6’2 265 and a 130 pound woman slipped her cuffs kicked out a car cage & almost beat 2 of us half to
    death. Taser & pepper made her madder finally used the banned choke hold. It was that or shoot her.

    • Do you reckon officers should be kitted out like that all the time? I mean, they could run into those kinds of situations chasing a garden-variety shoplifter or housebreaker too, couldn’t they? Have to agree about the cuffs, I remember sitting in a courtroom and watching a female inmate slip her hand out of her cuffs so she could scratch her nose, then put her hand back in when she as finished.

      • 99% of the time no. Standard level3a vest, polo shirt & class B pants.
        Boots are neccesary due to protection & comfort. Your looking @ a special occasion, thank God these are not every day occurences. Where I’m at have 2 bike festivals mothers day & memorial day on these I still work traffic, cover for meals etc… & dealing with Hells Angels, Pagans & gang bangers I do put on a black (not camo) vest & rifle plates. Put an oversized T-shirt over it all & Levis or BDU pants. Nobody ever sees a pistol, baton or spray. Only thing is a ball cap w/police embroidered & S&W, GLOCK 1 front 1 back of shirt & Armorer underneath. Wife gave it to me so I wear it. Boots cause the pair I have is as comfortable as a pair of adidas but steel toe. After
        A few toes broken they are important. Any other time I go in the field to talk to victims of crime Dockers & a golf shirt with I.D. visible. Still have a vest on & armed nobody ever knows. I volunteer as victim advocate & an armorer also still a Chaplain. Put your faith in GOD, put your safety in Smith and Wesson. or favorite firearm.

  24. The incessant cop-bashing posts which are obviously posted to incite and encourage a feeding frenzy such as we have here in the comments, in my opinion, demeans TTAG as a responsible and intelligent place to read about the TRUTH ABOUT GUNS.

    Yes, yes, I know, no criticism of TTAG’s content is permitted in the comments, which, come to think of it, is rather thin-skinned, I do believe.

    But there you go.

    Robert, please stop this.

    • Stop what? People exercising their first amendment? You may not agree with what is being said but that is allowed.

      By the way I live in ca and my house almost burned down last summer. The fire burned a ton of land and some homes. The fire could have been put out before it burned 5 acres but it was horribly handled. I criticized the crap out of the methods the FD used. That is not fireman bashing. It is criticism of poorly handled situations. People on TTAG are criticizing, not bashing the PD.

    • Paul T. McCain is right.

      There should be more fair and balanced reporting that highlights the character, courage and selflessness of good cops.

      Here’s a great example:

      Video of Good Cop Protecting a Mentally Disturbed Man from Fellow Cops

    • Exactly. Stop what? The antidote for supposedly unsavory speech isn’t less speech, but rather more speech! If your first instinct in response to hearing or reading something you dislike, is to cry for force or fiat of some institution (whether a court, a regulatory agency, or even just some blog’s site admins) to suppress it, then you really ought to rise above your base instincts and start using your mind to counter that speech.

  25. Well, Paul obviously isn’t going to do it–could some other knowledgeable person tell me why that short shotgun is a “breaching tool” as opposed to, well, a short shotgun? I thought breaching shotguns were fully stocked and had a toothed crown that you jammed into the doorframe before firing.

    • He actually looks like he’s
      walking back to the patrol car. Likely he grabbed the shotgun or m4 from his car geared up @ the SWAT truck picked up his SWAT issue & is putting 1 of them back into his usual car. I’ve seen the younger new guys having to hump the heavy ram or all the other gear to the truck. As to handgrips most depts. just shoot from the hip & hold back. Standoffs are actually screw in chokes most depts. still carry cylinder bore no choke 12ga. It would be better to change to benelli tacticals but most agencies even feds still use Remington 870 Mossberg 500, 590. $300 for those versus $1000. for a Benelli tactical. Comes down to do the most with least.

    • It is far easier to position a PG shotgun up against a door frame and blast the hinges then a regular length shot gun.

      Does that help?

      I had the dubious pleasure of using a “Bagdad lock pick” and it worked great for the purpose intended.

      You carry it with you, with a few round in it, and it is far easier to use than lugging a full length shotgun.

      Sorry, but what part of this are you finding to hard to understand?

  26. That’s a lot of P.O.S. ! (Police Operator Syndrome).

    When your most expensive tool is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail.

  27. I know people who dress like that just to go to the range or post pictures on arfcom and non of them are cops. fuck off with this anti-gunner tier sensationalizing.

  28. We got the call a little before midnight. Code 3 to the police station of a small town at the edge of the “Greater Metropolitan Area”. When we got there, the building was dark, and we couldn’t rouse anyone. After calling in, and being told to wait, a Police K-9 unit pulled in. An El Camino, it had a camper shell on it for the dog, but the dog was in the front, with the officer. Our patient was in the back. He had escaped the State mental hospital about 50 miles away, made i home, and proceeded to beat up all of his family before the officer, with the aid of his dog, subdued him and brought him in. And not a MRAP in sight. Just one man, one dog, and an El Camino

  29. After several hours of Elgin SWAT police with search dogs looking for this guy, plus helicopter coverage for most of the day, how was the guy found? Called in by a homeowner who said she saw him trying to flag a taxi.

    Where was he? About a block from where he originally disappeared yesterday morning.

    Looks like all that expensive high-tech equipment really helped out!

  30. What is it that you do not understand about a violent felon that escaped from a mental health facility? For those of you that have never spent a day in law enforcement you do not comprehend the dangerous superhuman strength of some mental patients and suspects high on narcotics. It is easy for you to mock the professional law enforcement officers searching for this escapee and protecting their community because you do not have to walk in their shoes. Man up and work as a reserve officer for a year in your community and see if it is still so easy to mock these officers after you have spilled some of your own blood. The dangers that American law enforcement faces today are professional paramilitary trained terrorists and narcotics smugglers that are better armed and don’t care who or how many innocent people they kill. I am willing to bet that if this suspect had gotten into your home and endangered someone in your family you would love to see one of these geared up officers coming through your door.

    • I suggested they do a ride-along, ended up getting called a child molester. I know that they all say I would have shot him or I can take care of myself. Its easy to say it all from a keyboard but if you really feel the way that is claimed do a ride-along I know minds will not be changed but you might have a better understanding. Ride with an older officer not a new guy you will see a prospective of a police officer not a SWAT guy. BTW thanks John yes we chose the job real cops chose it to help make a difference in a few lives for the better.

    • Hey, Officer Whoever you are, you’re a public servant. Get it?

      You don’t like your job, get another one and create an opening for someone who can cope.

      You’re also a civilian. Not all of us are. You get no sympathy from me because, from my perspective, the “threat level” on your beat is jack cr@p.

      “ZOMG, bad guys with guns, ZOMG!” Ever hear about AQIR or the Taliban?

      You put on a uniform, you accept the risks that go with it. It’s your job to accept those risks. Don’t expect praise for doing your job.

      You want to make lives better? Great.

      Move out and draw fire.

  31. Absolutely ridiculous, perfect example of what happens when reasonable law enforcement tactical capability and preparations are permitted to proliferate into pseudo military operations.

    It’s time for tax payers to demand that their local Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs reign in the former and wannabe military veterans within the ranks of civilian law enforcement and put a halt to the spectacle of grown men acting out their combat patrol fantasies and fulfilling a disturbing and childish need to look cool while playing with cool toys.

  32. There is a time and place for paramilitary police operations. If you have any doubts google the Los Angeles Bank of America Robbery shootout from 1997 and the Miami FBI shootout from 1986 against bank robbers that resulted in the death of two agents. In both cases the officers were outgunned but prevailed only because of their training, valor, and commitment to one another.

    I challenge you to be the lead man on a stick of officers during a hot entry attempting to apprehend a violent felon.

    • John, don’t attempt to hit these haters with logic my friend, it eludes them. It’s easy to sit on the couch munching on some potato chips and reading articles from police haters sites! Then becoming an expert in law enforcement and what it takes to apprehend the bad guys! Oh yeah, we’re in a police state don’t you know? lol When law enforcement has the same fire power as the gangs on the streets and vehicles to stop AK-47’s, it must mean they are going to take over the U.S. and steal your children! lol

      • It’s disturbing top see people get so dismissive of any contrarian viewpoint and then watch them as they are only able to bolster their feeble opinion with the typically lame “LOL” nonsense, as if to suggest that it’s common knowledge that everyone else agrees with them and even funnier that they still don’t see things your way.

        Had you tried connecting a few more dots, be that here or ANYWHERE, it isn’t really all that difficult to see how trends in illegal defense appropriations, the intentional build-up of FEMA and DHS, and the concateny of false flag events on both the foreign and domestic fronts, are taking us ever closer to a police state. For those few politicians who are brave enough to dare step out of their globalist prescribed box, they are usually met with a monogrammed bullet or a small plane calamity. Meanwhile, all the sheep in the various branches of government either turn a blind eye to the assaults on our Constitution or still believe their respective Democrat or Republican Party will somehow get us out of this mess if they can only convince enough Americans to vote for them.

        Especially since GHWB was in office, every single candidate that was allowed to get near the finish line had already been vetted through Bilderberg. Both Romney and Obama were BOTH Bilderberg attendees, as was Rick Perry, John Edwards, Kerry and many others ……. and no one gets into a Bilderberg meeting unless the members feel confident that you are going to play globalist hardball according to their rules.

        But go ahead and blather on about cop-bashing. No one is saying that all cops are bad, but they will all be judged by their actions in the court of public opinion. How they choose to align themselves is certainly their choice; they are either with the people and bound along with them through the Constitution …… or they are against them and see themselves as somehow being members of an elite paramilitary organization to the exclusion of all those voter peons who are unfortunate enough to still believe that their tax dollars actually provide them some measure of protection.

  33. So funny, how flippant you are in your sentiments. I wonder if you’d feel different had you been standing there, and seen the man do to your mother, sister, wife, girlfriend, daughter or niece what he did to the woman he mangled.

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