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A Police Career

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"An honest man speaks the truth, though it gives offence. A vain man, in order that it may."

William Hazlitt

With regard to the foregoing, without vanity nor immersing myself, once more, in the endless discussion about calibers and capacities, here is a sage note from a friend, recently retired, who worked in a large metro PD for many years. This particular metro area is famous for its high rate of violent crime:

"During my career with the PD, I was personally involved in eleven shootings, all of them fatal. I didn't shoot eleven people, but I was personally present when bullets were flying!

Most of my time was spent ducking bullets and getting injured officers into paramedic vehicles for evacuation.

I did fire numerous shots at VCAs with various weapons (mostly pistols) at various ranges, from nearly point blank to fifteen meters and more. Some were standing; some were running; some were in vehicles, and some were otherwise barricaded.

I hit some and missed some! Of the ones I hit, some reacted immediately; others displayed little reaction. I was never hit myself, mostly due to dumb luck. The worst I got from it all were skinned knees and elbows.

As dust was settling in the aftermath, a thousand anxious, confused thoughts swirled through my cranium, as you might expect. They still do!

But, here is one thing I can't recall ever saying to myself, even once:
'Wow, I sure wish I'd brought a smaller gun and less ammunition!'"

Comment: No matter how you want to dance around the issue, nor sugar-coat it, one fact is inescapable:

Unarmed Unprepared

It matters not whom you are, how you're dressed, whom you're with, where you are, what you're part of, how you "feel," nor the color of the horse you rode in on. VCAs aren't impressed and don't care in any event, and you still bleed red blood!

The degree to which you want to be armed is your call, keeping in mind the above sage advice from my friend.

The world is as it has always been: a harsh, brutal, dangerous, indifferent place, no matter what part of it you live in.

You either make reasonable preparations to go forward boldly and be victorious, or stick your head in the sand and wait for the executioner. Either way, nobody cares, and, when you don't either, that makes an absolute majority!

"Because you survived your last bad decision doesn't mean you're going to survive your next one. You may well have lived through it in spite of your personal decisions, not because of them!"

Roy Bethge


John S. Farnam