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Letter Re: No Law Enforcement in TEOTWAWKI

Mr Rawles,
I’d like to take a few minutes to comment about Ron W.’s article, No Law Enforcement in TEOTWAWKI [1].

He brings up a good point at how truly unprepared most elected officials and government agencies for any kind of real catastrophe.

Three summers ago in the jurisdiction where I am an officer we were hit by the severe winds that came from a Gulf of Mexico hurricane. These winds took out the power to more than 80% of the city and township where I patrol. This included the maintenance and service buildings for the city as well as the gas pumps where we get fuel for our emergency vehicles.

Losing the ability to pump fuel from our own storage tanks has never been much of concern before since our city had a purchase order contract with a local gas station and we had no generator available. However, this power outage affected the gas station as well and by day 2 of the outage, more than half of our fleet was out of service due to no fuel. By day 3, some of our officers drove their assigned cruisers to another city and purchased fuel with their own money just keep a few cars in service.

The sad part was neither the city nor police department administration had a credit card for us to use should the outage carried on any longer. Fortunately, the gas station where we had an account was finally back in service about 72 hours after the initial outage and we were able to get fuel. But, the gas pumps owned by the city were not back in service until almost 96 hours after the initial outage.

Not only was this unacceptable but about two years prior to this event I was part of a work group that warned the city and the police department’s administration that we were woefully unprepared for such an emergency. We also made recommendations to the powers-that-be that we at least meet the minimum preparedness criteria set by the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, we still are not prepared and little has been done to do so.

However, I must take issue with Ron W’s assertion that a majority of law enforcement personnel will abandon ship should a major, TEOTWAWKI-type event occur.

I know that there will be some that head out but I think that you will see a significant number stay put, especially in the smaller communities. Obviously, we never know an exact percentage unless such an event occurs, but I believe it will be higher than what some people think.

One reason I say this is that many of us are deeply embedded in our respective communities. We have invested years of service and we have a large number of family members and close friends living within walking distance that we could never abandon. In spite of what some people think and/or believe, we do this job because it is a chance to serve others in place that we love and call home.

Another reason is that many of us don’t have a pre-arranged retreat area already established by family members or friends. A majority of our family and friends are right where we live and work.

A third reason is, that without a pre-arranged retreat location that can handle a majority, if not all, of our family and close friends, we have to stay put and try to work through it together because we really want to avoid becoming refugees except for the most dire of circumstances.

I have experienced some of the same apathy and negativity from coworkers and admin that Ron has. But, I am seeing a growing number of officers starting to think outside of today’s norm and at least considering what could happen. Also, several of these same officers are now taking steps to equip and prepare their families.

I pray that this preparedness trend continues among officers and their families. Hopefully we can start getting elected officials and our departments admin on board as well.

On a side note, I’d like to recommend a fantastic book to your readers. It’s called The Modern Day Gunslinger [2] by Don Mann. It’s available from amazon.com for less than $17 with standard shipping and handling.

In spite of what one may think when they initially read the title, this is by far the best, most comprehensive book on using a handgun that I have ever seen. It’s easy to read and is written for the end-user rather than for trainers only. To me, this book seems to be a culmination of all of the quality handgun training that I have ever received.

One significant part that I think survivalblog readers will get a lot out of is the areas where concealed-carry options and techniques are discussed in depth.

Obviously, nothing can replace competent, hands-on training from a quality training organization. However, there is no way to possibly remember everything that you learn in training. I feel that this book is the reference that I need to keep my skills sharp in between formal training sessions.

Be safe and God Bless, Doug