The following was intended as a comment by reader accur81 under our Is TTAG Anti-Cop post. Unfortunately, the vagueries of the WordPress spam filter prevented him from hitting his target.
There are a couple of anti-LEO biases on TTAG. First, police officers are not civilians. There are certainly other definitions of civilians out there, but if you are professionally obligated to respond to violent SHTF situations, can be called back to duty at any time after a major incident, deal with violent a$$holes, and have to run towards the gunfire, those are combatants. I support self-defense, but John Q. Public is not required to face down dangerous people or lethal threats . . .
The police are not required in all circumstances to defend individuals, but they are required to face and resolve the emergency. For my part, I’m not going to let someone die if there is something I can do about (it) on duty or off duty (pulling an old lady off of the tracks in front of a moving train has absolutely nothing to do with firearms). My Boot Camp in the Marine Corps was 12 weeks with less than 3 months in School of Infantry, my training in my current agency was considerably longer and entailed a background investigation that was much more thorough.
Secondly, you’ve missed out on tactical analyses on two recent “good shootings.” CHP Officer Youngstrom was shot and killed by Lacy. Lacy was subsequently shot and killed by Youngtrstroms’s CHP officer/beat partner. Your articles only focused on the mentally ill and firearms. Take the WI Sikh Temple shooting: your article was on carrying a firearm in your trunk. I missed the heroic actions of the police officer who responded to the active shooter incident and stopped the threat. Courage under fire is heralded in the Marine Corps, why not in law enforcement?
The posting of the sensational stories with few details such as the Garland, TX shooting was premature. How can reasonable and intelligent analysis occur without facts and details? Predictably, the anti-LEO posters had a field day. Those with more reason and wisdom will wait a bit.
In my department, breaking the law can and will get you written up, suspended, terminated, or imprisoned. I will not cite specific examples here because I speak for myself and not my agency. I have testified against other officers when they were in the wrong, and I have been written up. It is regrettable that many agencies and police officers do not have honor, but I believe that they are the exception rather than the rule. I have integrity outside of the badge I carry, not because of it.
I greatly respect TTAG, your writings, and most of the comments here. I appreciate that my errors have been corrected by facts and citations (some of those errors were after several smoky scotches). TTAG has helped me become a more informed gun owner, and a better 2nd Amendment advocate. It has not helped me become a better police officer, because many stories of police heroism have been over looked, and that is a shame.