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JWR,
[In his article “The Thin Blue Line”,] Deputy W. makes a very good observation about the tipping point when law enforcement retreats to protect their own families. This situation has occurred twice in recent history here in the U.S., during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in 1992 and most recently in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina. I lived through the riots in L.A., as well as two earthquakes and would like to share some of what I learned from this experience.

The fact I want to impress on SurvivalBlog readers is that they will most likely experience a situation like this wherever they live at some point in their life, it is almost unavoidable. Mention this experience to most people and they will think “this will never happen to me”. However, human behavior really hasn’t changed very much for thousands of years. If you starve people or remove the threat of arrest and incarceration, some of them will turn into animals who will stop at no evil, causing a breakdown of civil society. The saying “at any time, you are three days from anarchy” is no doubt true.
As the riots began, most people assumed the situation would remain under control in the South Central part of Los Angeles, a poor and rundown area. The story ran on the evening news and everyone went to sleep thinking it would blow over. Law enforcement (the Los Angeles Police Department – LAPD) made a number of errors in handling the situation and it rapidly spiraled out of control. By the next morning, the air was smoky and the news was filled with scenes of mobs attacking defenseless people like truck driver Reginald Denny, who was nearly beaten to death because he had the misfortune to drive his truck through the wrong neighborhood. Keep in mind, at that time LAPD was considered to be one of the best run police forces in the U.S. If the LAPD couldn’t keep control, then could your local law enforcement keep control in this kind of situation?

What did it feel like to be there for “the end of the world”? Power and water still worked, and I had about a weeks worth of food on hand, so it was a comfortable, though scary “end of the world” for me — I didn’t own a gun at the time and the flimsy gate and sliding glass door at the entrance to my apartment didn’t offer any protection if someone wanted to get in. Because LA is a media center, the local helicopter news coverage was quite good and people stayed glued to their televisions, just to make sure the mobs weren’t heading our way. So good in fact that looters would burn down the business they finished robbing and go home to watch the fire on television. Once it became clear to the public at large that no police would be there to stop anything, it became a free-for-all. Television crews on Sunset Boulevard filmed people breaking large storefront windows, the alarm bells blaring and dozens of looters entering to help themselves to the “30 Minute 100% Off Sale”. I remember quite clearly an interview with a looter who had just exited a shoe store holding up a pair of shoes for the camera and saying excitedly, “Granny, they didn’t have the shoes you wanted, but I got you these in your size”.

Another scene burned a memory I will never forget. Many of the businesses in these poor areas were owned by hard working Korean families. These merchants banded together and got on the roofs of their businesses with shotguns. Four days later when the smoke cleared, they were the only businesses left in town and I don’t believe many of them even had to fire a shot.

I ventured out to the local grocery store after the first day — you could hear gunshots from neighboring Venice. The parking lot at the shopping center was full of panicked people, desperately buying anything. They patiently waited in lines over ten people long — at least people were still reasonable in this neighborhood. We traded stories with people who had just come down from Sunset Blvd., where the looting was really taking off, it was completely out of control. The shelves in this store, however were stripped clean — it looked like a store you would see behind the Iron Curtain, people had money, but there was nothing to buy.

After this experience, I swore that I would never be unprepared — you can’t always count on someone else to look out for your interests and protect your family. – CK

Mr. Rawles,
I have been a law enforcement officer (LEO) in a small city – western New York and was raised in New York City. I believe that Deputy W. stated his facts on the nicer side. The mental state of anyone in survival mode is not a pretty thing, ff they are not prepped as most here [where I live] are. I would venture to say better than 50% of the LEOs in the nation would not go to a callout under TEOTWAWKI scenario. And how many would respond to a SHTF moment? They have to take their families as primary importance and you would not expect otherwise. The only way to avoid this is to make certain that the families were well provided for and protected, that is not done anywhere that I am aware of. So do not take the law into your own hands just to be righteous, but protect yourselves and be prepared to defend family and property, food, et cetera, if you see the legal system break down.

I was once told by a fellow LEO: “I don’t need to store food, I have guns and I will feed my family” .And, yes this man was basically [otherwise] ethical and honest as are majority of LEOs in this country. I am not Christian or Jewish nor any variation of that. So my faith in your savior is not what I lean on, but my faith and my belief in my right to survive will allow me to do what I must to survive. I pray for all whom ‘he’ would protect and allow all to live — if they do not threaten me and mine.

Get a firearm and practice with it, and if they will listen, train your family as you might not be there to use it. If possible, have a plan and a backup plan, and have a gun with you at all times. That plan should include a bug out bag (BOB) and it should be portable,many sites to find what should and should not be in there. Shalom, – S.S.B.

Jim,
I would like to add that during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that the New Orleans Police Department was doing just as much looting as the Citizens and the National Guard was there to disarm the survivors. So I’m not even going to trust a LEO during the bad times ahead, they have family to feed too. What makes the matter worse is the average citizen has been conditioned to obey law enforcement.

What do you do when a LEO comes to your door and wants [to ‘requisition’] your supplies? Signed, – Dan

Dear Mr. Rawles,
Regarding the recent article concerning the Thin Blue Line being the “only” thing separating honest citizens from criminal chaos: I think one of the basic suppositions is incorrect.
For the past year I have been living in two places. Approximately 3-4 days a week I live in a large Pacific Northwest City and the other 3-4 days I live on the edge of a very small town (pop. 2,000, which is my Bug Out Location) somewhere in the Inland Northwest. The police force in the large city is doing the best they can, but I am am constantly at Condition Yellow. Crime is serious and getting worse. In contrast, the small town doesn’t have a single police person. There is virtually no crime. While I think a societal breakdown is more than likely in the city, given almost any excuse, I also think that almost any kind of problem in the small town will most likely bring the town to an even higher level of cooperation and care for the common welfare of the citizens.

I plan on making the small town my permanent residence as soon as possible. The ramifications for quality of life issues are vast, even if the Schumer doesn’t hit the fan!
I in no way mean to take anything away from the police. They are doing the best they can, but these days they should be getting combat pay! As Dirty Harry said: “We’ve got our finger in the dike, and the whole dang thing is crumbling around us!” The future is not in any city. Thank you (again) for your guidance and fellowship. God bless, – E.T.