L.A.W. & O.R.D.E.R. IN BALTIMORE

L.A.W. & O.R.D.E.R. IN BALTIMORE
by Andy Weddington
Tuesday, 28 April 2015

"I don't initiate violence, I retaliate." Chuck Norris

The Baltimore bedlam is not a protest. 

What's going on in Baltimore is not just civic disobedience and it is not a mere riot. It is wanton mayhem that must not stand. 

Innocent citizens are being harmed. Police are being attacked and injured. Homes are being destroyed. Businesses are being burglarized, looted, and torched. City property is likewise being destroyed. And on it goes. 

Anger and frustration, for any reason (and that includes the death of a citizen, at the hands of police, for reasons yet to be confirmed by investigation), are not acceptable in extenuation and mitigation for public mob violence, destruction, and threats of murder (of police officers; et al.). 

With police from outside Baltimore and Maryland National Guard forces converging on Baltimore to assist city police there must be definitive action to stop the madness. 

Thus...

L.A.W. - Strategy

L - Lead. The citizens elected to Baltimore's high offices are expected to lead; like it or not. Thus far leaders they are not. Were they, and their predecessors, the conditions leading up to the ongoing crime would have precluded such chaos. The citizenry bears responsibility for entrusting these people with their safety and security. Now Baltimore will find their true leaders. 

A - Assess. The leaders must accurately and quickly assess the scope of the problem. Then just as accurately and quickly implement whatever measures, to include deadly force, necessary to restore calm.

W. Win. Violence is defeated through superior violence. And superior violence must be executed with surprise, speed, and overwhelming crushing force. 

& 

O.R.D.E.R. - Tactics

O. Observe. Protect experts as they methodically, but speedily, go about making an exhaustive survey of the problem.

R. Reconnoiter. Eyes on the ground validate observations.

D. Detain and Destroy. Identify and find the instigators. Detain. Destroy those that cannot be detained. 

E. Evaluate. Removing instigators (leaders) changes mob dynamics. Again, observe and reconnoiter.

R. Restore. The citizenry pays for and deserves safety and security. No retreat until stability follows calm. 

At this juncture, a common sense and necessary approach regardless the politician's and academia's complicated and contentious economic and sociological and philosophical debates as to cause - mostly excuse-laden shallow double-talk that will continue without agreement much less solution(s).  

Post Script

My Great Uncle, a Jesuit priest and longtime resident of Baltimore doing God's work, lived the city's 1968 riots. The depths of his anguish and pain and disappointment defy words. If alive, he'd again be broken-hearted.