Blog 12
Respect for elders and the liberal left

When I was in grade school in the 50’s the average class size was between 35 and 40 students. Most of the teachers after the 4th grade were ex-military officers fresh out of the Korean War. They commanded respect. They came to class in business suits and ties. We did not even know their first names let alone call them anything but MR. Mrs. Miss. Or Sir or MAM! I do remember one boy in the class asked my 5th grade teacher what his first name was.

He got a strong rebuke, and this explanation “I have graduated from college with a BA in History. It took me 4 years of my life to do that. I have the right to be addressed as Mister. You will address me as mister. You do not need to know my first name until you have received your degree”. From that moment on I wanted a college degree.

Many of The teachers today want to be addressed by their first names. I personally find this offensive. It diminishes them and me. How can adults in society be so indifferent to their social responsibility to teach respect for others. They don’t respect themselves and the effort it took to get them too where they are as the leaders and the moral guides they report to be.

What could be the reason the left thinks it is a good idea to do away with respect. Why? If you do this you put one’s self at the same level as those you are trying to elevate. Now you are trying to push them up rather than trying to lift them up. Lifting requires greater effort on the part of both parties. You have to want to be a good college student. You can’t or should not be pushed into it. I was 24 before I was ready for college it took 8 years to get my degree while working fulltime as a police officer. I wanted it!

Why are there so many cases these days of teachers having inappropriate relations with students? I don’t think the teachers that want to be on a first name bases with their students are trying to lift anyone up. They are trying to get down with the kids if you know what I mean. Now maybe not all of them have this goal in mind, but those that don’t are giving aid and comfort to the one’s that do. Liberalism is constantly excusing bad behavior, redefining words, and belittling those that differ from there doctrine of can’t we all just get along.

A civil society is not a go along to get along society. It is one that sets standards and adheres to those standards. I don’t completely disagree with liberals because society sometimes forgets the golden rule when they set standards. Injustices must be fought against with all the vigor we can muster. The trouble comes when for political advantage we fail to recognize that the war has been won.

A case in point is this phony race war,the liberals keep waging. It’s over, get over it. Stop stirring up phony race wars and get on with correcting the real problem of enforced poverty. If an oppressed minority wants to get out of poverty they must stop voting for people who depend on their vote to stay in office. Make both parties compete. Don’t give it to them by default make them earn it. Don’t listen to race baiting politicians. Kick them in the nuts and tell them it’s about jobs and education. Demand policies that foster home, family and work opportunities. Money and upward mobility will follow the family that stays together and works hard. Demand things like charter schools. Police your street, stand up and demand the respect you are entitled to. Tell the criminal element in your midst to straighten up or ship out. It’s not the color of one’s skin that makes you right or wrong it is your actions and what comes out of your mouth.

Those of us that grew up poor and got out of it, know this fact. To break the cycle poverty you must opt out of the poor cycle. Leave everything behind that seeks to keep you in the cycle. This may mean that you lose your best friend. Never mind that you can come and get them later, if they are worth it, and show them the way. We are NEVER! going to get even with the people that hurt us and ground our faces in the dirt. That’s GOD’S job anyway. Our job as Christians is to fight the good fight.

See you on the other side.

S. Henry Knocker theknockerblog.com

Blog 11

The dumbing down of the American society

The American society of today has been dumbed down to the extent that Bill O’Reilly can send out his man; Jessy Waters; on the street and at noisome find college kids that can’t get by what was 6th grade civics; when Bill and I went to school in the 50’s, with questions like who was the vice president, or secretary of state? Then they look at him with a blank stare.

With that I wish to relate a real story from my book: A View From The Street / River City Policing, coming out this winter.

It was a warm summer evening. The children were partying and generally enjoying themselves. I was working the 2 Robert 9 district. I had responded to a loud party call, probably from some social outcast who hadn’t been invited to the party. I had been dispatched to the complaint in a large apartment complex around 10 p.m. Everyone in the complex was partying. Most of the sliding glass doors were open. The evening being warm, you would expect that. The call was routine. (Hey cops out there, before you say “nothing is routine in police work,” don’t you think I know that? It’s my story. Snotty office poges say those things. I contact the complainant and the party goers and try to come to some accommodation between the parties. That might have been the end of the fun had it not been for the 8 to 4 crew who had swung by to back me up. The 8 to 4 crew’s sole purpose was to be a floater car. They went where the action was.

I cleared the noise complaint after getting the parties to respect each other’s right to exist. As I was about to exit the lot, I saw that the 8 to 4 crew had stopped a group of revelers in a car across from the apartment complex at the Gull gas station. There were two apartment buildings along NE 4th with their rear decks overlooking NE 4th.

About 20 feet to the rear and south of the unmarked patrol car, was a young man dancing around shaking his fist at the officers of the 8 to 4 crew. He was yelling at the top of his lungs the vilest obscenities imaginable. I let them know I was there and was observing the young gentleman. I exited my patrol car and strolled across NE 4th noticing as I did, the young man had garnered the attention of most of the folks in the two buildings along NE 4th. There were several other groups of people coming out of the other buildings to see what all the commotion was about. The young man was seemingly oblivious to me or the audience he had attracted with his antics. I walked up behind him and stood there and looked around at the crowd. I lifted my hands in a jester meaning, “can you believe this?” The young man still had not noticed that I was standing right next to him, just to his rear. He was still spewing out obscenities when I leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “F YOU.”

He then jumped straight in the air and spun around. At this point he noticed that I was a 6 foot 5 inch police officer in full uniform and there was a crowd of at least 100 onlookers laughing and pointing at him. That’s when he was overcome with religion and piety.

The young man started jumping around and yelling at the crowd while pointing at me repeating over and over “HE SAID THE F WORD.” While doing this, he lost all his concentration on the 8 to 4 crew, who by this time had finished their warning of the driver of the car they had stopped. They had exited their unit and were now standing behind the young man. As he bounced around yelling, “he said the f word,” and pointing at me, he happened to back up into the 8 to 4 crew. They snatched him up, one on each side of the young man, lifting him off the ground. At this point, this young man demanded to see the Sargent. “I am the Sargent,” came the reply, “and you’re under arrest for disorderly conduct.” The crowd roared.

I know I should not have said the F word. Something came over me. The sight of this anarchist challenging authority over something he knew nothing about created an exigent circumstance. At such times, the Supreme Court has ruled that police can act outside the bounds of decorum to reestablish public order. I have every expectation that the ACLU will forgive this slight peccadillo on my part. Choices have consequences.

This young man had been educated in the finest of our public schools or so the local educators claimed. I suspect that the part of the education process called discipline was absent in the school and home life of the young man in question., Apparently that aspect of his upbringing had been remanded to us the working cops. Now we take personal offence to being the default administers of corporal punishment but, we did the job when forced into it.

S Henry Knocker

Blog 10
The effect of a do the minimum get the maximum Philosophy

I was about ten years into my career as a police officer when the so called new breed of cop arrived on the scene. They were collage educated liberal leaning children of the sixties enlightenment. They were gravitating to the profession in ever increasing numbers.

This was due to a marked increase in pay being offered those who would take up the challenges of this daunting profession. Salaries had increased from $711.00 a month to $2300.00 a month the job of Police Officer had entered the middle class. Those of us that were already in law enforcement were encouraged to get our college degrees. When the government offered to pay for our education with the L.E.E.P. program in exchange for years of service Many of us jumped at the chance. I took the program clear into graduate school at Seattle University.

I worked full time and took a full load at university. I was active in the Police Guild and Helped to improve the pay and working conditions on our department. We also encouraged other departments to form Guilds rather than engage in Bargaining through corrupt national unions. It was felt that many of these unions were in the pocket of organized crime and that was an influence we wanted to avoid at all cost.
When I first heard the term ”Do the Minimum get the Maximum” I was shocked but not surprised that it came from the son of teachers whose parents were active in that Union. Only liberal minds could conceive such a maxim. Get paid to do as little as is possible while sticking the taxpayer for as much as you can. Convince politicians that the people are behind you, because you have never had a citizen’s complaint, and those other guys that do get some complaints are unworthy, and a political liability, even though they do most of the work. In effect steal advancement from those that deserve it.

Whose fault is this? Ultimately and collectively it is the peoples fault because they vote for every feel good thing that comes down the pike. Every politician that promises a free lunch! Because of all the bloat that is created the tax payer ends up paying two or three times what they should for everything when you roll in all the costs.

By way of example; If I have an officer that works hard and engages the enemy, (Criminals) in a given area it is a fact that the officer will not just interact with the criminal element, but will get up close and personal with the innocent tax payer and some of those interactions will be negative.

The positive that comes out of this is that the crime rate in the area will be driven down. This is because the officers with the reputation for no nonsense will cause the criminals to move on and or take them out. This drives down the need for extra officers. The taxpayer in those areas gets a break on his various insurances. Taxes can be used to improve streets and infrastructure and property values go up.

Politicians have a nasty habit of getting between the officer and success because of those citizens that complain. Police chiefs have a habit of getting in the way also. They don’t like the politicians on their necks. Some are politicians in their own right and not real chiefs. The news media are not helpful in that they rarely act rational when there is sensation in the wind.

What is needed is an independent review process with a board made up of citizen’s police union reps. Police administrators and a street cop picked by the public. The reason for this is to keep hard working conscientious officers working hard. Get them properly rewarded for their efforts and stop the slide towards do the minimum get the maximum hacks.

S. Henry Knocker

Blog 9 What Happens When Parents Opt Out

Over the last 60 odd years Parents in this nation and indeed all over the western world have opted out of their responsibility to guide and discipline their children. Please understand that this may be apparent to me because of the View I have had growing up and my 30 years of policing

Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s in a poor section of the city the oldest of10 brothers and sisters I was pressed into service early in life. I was helping with washing clothes, doing dishes, cutting the grass, gardening, as well as changing diapers of my siblings by the time I was old enough to follow my mother’s instructions. It was like I was born Old. I was about 6 when I ran my left arm into one of those ringers on our ringer washer. If you don’t know what that was it was a motorized tub with a agitator and a set of rollers that you fed the wet closes into to squeeze the water out before they were hung out on a line to dry.

Our mother didn’t like house work and would put it off as long as she could, preferring to work outside or read books. I was always ashamed to have kids over to the house because of the mess. It never seemed to bother mother. By the time I was in my early teens I wanted out. So I acted out, ran away, refused to go home and was generally a pain in the butt to my parents. If it was not for my great grandfather caring when I was young I would never have made it.

I joined the army as soon as I was old enough 17, 1/2 I was a good solider because I wanted to be. This is where I developed the “YOU GOTTA WANNA” philosophy. “You gotta wanna means”; if you want something you have to work for it. You must do things with a passion. No half measures will do.

This made me a good solider. I made rank fast. When I got out I carried this philosophy into police work. There I was forced to choose whether I wanted to make rank or be the best cop I could. I first tried to do both but soon learned that I was better suited to being a working cop rather than a political stooge. I was active in the police guild and became the guild secretary and Vice President, and then president.
As a patrolman I tried to work one district as much as possible. I chose the R 9 district. I did this because it was the poorest section of town and was the busiest and therefore I thought the best place to learn the most. Brother was I right on that one. I did more real police work in a year than most of the guys that were avoiding that district did in ten years. I recruited a couple other go getters on another shift and together we cleaned it up going from 30 burglaries or more a month to less than ten. Car prowls and other crimes went down also.

I learned not just who was doing the crime but why they were doing them. It came down to the same reason I joined the army as a youth. I wanted out and they wanted out too. Most of them had parents that just didn’t care. The parents were living their lives and the kids, for the lack of a better description,were in the way. They all said they cared, but when it came right down to it, what they cared about was not being bothered. The kids ran the streets, skipped school, got bad grades, and smoked mom and daddy’s dope, cigarettes, and drank their booze, several even sniffed gasoline.

Effective parenting starts at 6 months and continues the rest of your life. Get that fact threw your head and be happy. Spare the rod and spoil the child the bible says. That doesn’t mean beat them. It means to train up your children in the way they should go. A rod is a walking stick, a tool of correction. It has a hook on it to grab and pull a child from that which is dangerous. If the rod is present the child will see the parent cares and be fix on the path. Otherwise it is a crapshoot. I was lucky. I had a great grandfather that cared. He put me on the path. but died when I was nine. Still, I knew he cared and I am not going to disappoint him ever!

S. Henry Knocker