A funny thing happened on the way to the Methadone Clinic

I had my vintage VW Beetle out for a spin and was thoroughly enjoying the sound of my new exhaust system, carb, speaker system, and fancy rims. I drove all over town but my eyes were distracted, which gave me pause to pull over and watch the real drama unfolding before my eyes, across the sidewalk from a local Methadone Pub (Clinic). It appeared that three young black men were “hanging out”, laughing and having fun joking around as a police cruiser literally flew alongside with lights spinning and siren turned on. The young men were clearly as rattled as I was and I was just watching from the safety of my car!

I don’t know what the purpose of this stop was, or will I ever, but I will never forget the struggle that ensued. Two men bolted and the cops (two out of three) swarmed the third remaining man. They pinned him together against the trunk of the car they had been standing behind. It soon became clear that he wasn’t going easily. I saw one officer reach for his duty belt and pull out a canister of Mace or Pepper spray and emptied it “point blank” into the man’s (alleged “perp’s) face and sweeping it back and forth across the eyes and nose area until it was empty. One cop on each shoulder pinning him down with a face covered in defense spray, this guy was still flailing wildly kicking like a Georgia mule, and at every moment, almost squirming free. His strength appeared like two men. The third policeman now steps up and hits him in the chest area with a stun gun….no effects…gives him a second burst, but visibly shaken at this point the man fought on. The cop steps up and hits him a third time and he finally “took a knee”, to borrow an old boxing term. He was not “down and out” though by any means, but the police were able to finally “cuff him” and get him (just barely) into the paddy-wagon that had showed up as the titanic struggle was going on. I’m sure the scene at the station would have been worth seeing, as too many people had collected in the urban neighborhood to watch the scene, and the police were on their best behavior…considering the circumstances.

This whole thing disturbed me at a gut level. It gave me pause to think about many things. Why did the cops treat this guy so badly. I decided that he was a “bad guy” and must have had a warrant out surely, for them to zero in on him like a Tomahawk cruise missile. Second, the man’s resistance to “police strength” Mace, and subsequent shocks from the 3rd officer’s stun gun, repeated (3) times, and they barely got him restrained. These cops BTW, were “big boys” about 6′ – 6′ 2″, around 215 to 230 pounds, with bulging muscles and experience in this kind of work. So what went wrong?

I did call a young man who is employed as a policeman in a neighboring township and told him about what I saw and my reservations about the effectiveness of self defense spray and stun guns. He said “I’ll call you back in about 15 – 20 minutes”. Upon receiving his call he explained that the man was a known street pusher, selling crack cocaine to the captive audience as they went in and out of the drug clinic. Drug testing also showed the man to have had a large amount of crack in his system at the time following his arrest. Great place to set up shop, if you’re a dope dealer. I’ll give him an A- for entrepreneurship, the “-” being for not knowing that such places draw a lot of heat from the metro police, due to the very nature of the area he set up shop in.

This young policeman spent a few minutes relating other stories where drug and/or booze addled “perps” had resisted with such strength that it just wasn’t easy to believe unless you were there. He told me flatly that “some perps” just don’t respond to these measures (defense sprays – stun technology) and more forceful or brutal methods must be employed (like the triple team I had witnessed).

I spend a lot of time researching the effectiveness of self defense weapons and techniques to put “bad guys down” or gain an advantage to escape or mount a counterattack. This story was meant to relay the message that sometimes almost nothing works short of being a skilled runner, gun fighter, or just a plain bad ass. There are mace, and stun gun resistant criminals out there folks so be on your guard and don’t be in bad places at the wrong time. Know your city’s “trouble hotspots”, and be aware of your surroundings wherever you are traveling, whether going out to the club, your route to work and back, or where you want to go for a jog. Alert, aware and prepare my friends…they’re out there and they want YOU!!!

 Stun Gun Attacks!

I wanted to write about the plain fact that weapons we use to defend ourselves can be used against us very easily if we aren’t familiar with our self defense deterrent, whether it be a pepper spray, a stun gun or even a real pistol for that matter. In the military, police force, or martial arts we are taught to use various weapons and to handle them until we are comfortable with them. This increases our probability of success in using them and decreases the opportunity that we will be disarmed and have our weapon used on us. That is another whole topic to discuss. I found a couple of bizarre episodes in a Google search for stun gun attacks to see what the wires might be chattering about and found these related but quite different stun gun assaults, both ending in very different ways.

Stun Gun Attacks On Homeless Compared To Jackass Movie

“Young Men Allegedly Urinate, Defecate On Victims”

Scream the headlines from Cleveland News Channel 5 – NewsNet5.com where a policeman said he was flagged down by a street preacher “Brother Wright” and alerted him that youths were stunning homeless people and then doing unspeakable things. “I’ve never seen anything like it in 18 years, except on TV,” said Sgt. Ray Burner. “Did you ever see the movie ‘Jackass?’ Well, that’s essentially what we’re talking about.”

The youths (several were minors) were taken into custody and released, except for a 19 yr. old and are set to be formally charge before the courts.

Goat Shrugs Off Shot From Stun Gun!

The Associated Press, reported a goat escaped while being transported to a children’s farmyard at a county fair. Running amok, as goats are prone to doing it “spent four days roaming neighborhoods on the west side of Austin, prompting a rash of “goat sighting” calls from residents.”

A local police officer blasted the goat with his Air Taser (goats are potentially deadly) and knocked the brute off of his feet and subdued him – until the policeman walked up, and the goat jumped to his feet and bolted again. He was found that Saturday afternoon sleeping peacefully on a resident’s front porch. The story left me without closure though, as they did not mention exactly by what means “the goat’s freedom came to an end”. Sounded kind of sinister to me? Guess I’m going to avoid places where goats “hang out”, they sound like pretty rough customers to me.

Churchman Jailed for Exorcism Death

I read the headlines on CNN.com’s Law Center front page today.

A church elder was sentenced to 21/2 years in prison Tuesday for abusing an 8-year-old autistic boy who died in what prosecutors called an exorcism at a storefront church. Apparently, Ray Hemphill lay on Terrance Cottrell Jr.’s chest for at least an hour while trying to release “demons” from him, before the boy died August 22, 2003 in an exorcism ritual. It obviously failed. Medical examiners ruled that the boy died of suffocation.

Our “churchman” (church “elder”) obviously skirting the truth, claimed that an overdose of the child’s medication was the real cause of death. Really? How utterly ridiculous, that the most creative defense that his legal team could come up with was this sort of B.S.. Hemphill was found “guilty” by a jury, of physical abuse of a child recklessly causing great bodily harm……I’ll say!

What was this moron thinking? Probably that by crushing this child for at least an hour that the demons might come out in that 59th minute? These are the type of people that penal institutions are built for. Only 2 1/2 yrs for recklessly killing this young boy? It should have been 20 to life.

It’s these kind of fringe lunatics that give Christian believers a bad rap for sure. I suppose it’s like any other large body of people enjoined in the same belief and/or activity, there are always going to be some nuts sprinkled in the mix. Maybe his new cellmates will perform exorcisms on Hemphill by “laying on him for an hour”!

According to The Wayne’s Word Chile Pepper Edition

In these times of increased muggings, robberies, car-jackings, mountain lion attacks, and general perAnsonal insecurity, it is more important than ever to protect yourself. But why waste your time and energy trying to master the martial arts when you can use a proven, effective self defense product called pepper spray. Even when you are old and senile you can still protect yourself with pepper spray. A blast of this powerful mist in the face of a would-be attacker is guaranteed to incapacitate your assailant–at least temporarily. While your attacker is disoriented and writhing in pain, you have a chance to run like hell.

Depending on the brand, pepper sprays generally contain about 18% oil of capsicum from a very hot variety of chile pepper (Capsicum frutescens) or a related species. The active ingredient causing the intense burning pain is the alkaloid capsaicin (cap-SAY-sin). So potent is the alkaloid that one millionth of a drop can be detected by the human tongue. Capsaicin is not broken down during the digestion process–this is why you often get burned several hours later after dining on chile peppers. Like other alkaloids in the chemical arsenal of plants, capsaicin may serve to discourage mammalian fruit predators. Botanists believe that birds are immune to the burning sensation of capsaicin, and may serve to disperse the seeds. Capsaicin may prevent hungry mammals from devouring the fruits, so that they can be eaten by fruit-eating birds who are attracted to bright red fruits. Passing through the bird’s digestive tract relatively unharmed, the small seeds are dispersed to other favorable regions.

Like Mace and Tear Gas, Pepper Spray Should Be Treated As A Serious Weapon And Used With Caution:

1. Do not use as a soothing heat treatment for the relief of tendinitis.
2. Do not use as mosquito spray, air freshener or hair spray.
3. Never get this spray on or near any mucous membranes.
4. Do not use on soothing hemorrhoidal wipes (in place of witch-hazel oil).
5. Do not use as an oral antiseptic spray or to soothe a sore throat.
6. Do not use as an inhaler to clear up sinus congestion or to get high.
7. Never use on barbecue meat–even if you are out of chile pepper sauce.
8. Do not test your pepper spray on anyone–not even a friend.
9. In the event of pressure loss, use bowls of hot chile powder.
Note: If you accidentally get pepper spray on sensitive mucous membranes, apply cold water or an ice pack to the afflicted area.

Note #4 (My personal favorite tip)

Our Friends at WomenCentral.net agree:

Products such as mace, pepper spray and personal alarms can also help buy you those crucial moments it takes to escape to safety.

The Folks at the IGBC Concur:

Each person should carry a can of bear pepper spray when working or recreating in bear habitat. Spray should be carried in a quick, accessible fashion such as in a hip or chest holster. In your tent, keep bear pepper spray readily available next to your flashlight. You should also keep a can available in your cooking area. Spray should be tested once a year. Do not test spray in or near camping area. Be sure to check the expiration date on your can of bear spray. They also have a jam-packed informational page on behavior in bear country. Lots of “tips & tricks” and a very good read if you’re going to be traveling in bear country.

Hey, if this stuff will even deter bears then I’m all for a $10 – $30 solution, to thwart any attacker from a man to a Grizzly bear. Remember we only need enough time to escape or to mount a counter-attack if neccesary.

Identity Theft

I read a great piece from the pages of the University of Oklahoma Police Department on identity theft, with links to government documents which illustrate, through a variety of graphs, the various identity theft age ranges, amounts of dollars reported stolen, the types of mediums through which money changes hands and how much of the pie, that each accounts for and much more. Give it a read, it’s a real eye-opener!

Identity theft is the nation’s fastest growing crime according to FBI statistics and identity theft/fraud is the fastest-growing category of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaints.

Recently, a NY “identity-theft” ring was charged with the largest identity theft scam in U.S. history, lasting about three years and involving the theft of the credit histories of over 30,000 victims. Apparently this ring used the information to charge huge sums to credit card numbers, empty bank accounts, and fraudulently obtain loans which cost consumers almost 3 million dollars.

According to this source, identity theft was the number two most reported crime to the federal government in 2003. Just last year losses, through fraudulent (stolen) identities, to businesses and financial institutions totaled nearly $48 billion and consumer victims reported $5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses.

What is identity theft?

Describes in detail what identity theft is and gives some hard facts on identity theft and prevention.

How identity thieves GET your personal information:

These are methods that reveal the various methods of stealing your identity.

1. Business Record Theft

2. Shoulder Surfing

3. Dumpster Diving (a personal favorite!)

4. Under the Color of Authority

5. Skimming

There are about a dozen more like stealing your wallet, mail, information shared online, stolen from your home, and more. Thieves are very creative and only need a few seconds to gather all the information needed to wipe you out.

How identity thieves USE your personal information:

They are like kids in a candy store, and go on spending sprees using your credit and debit card. They’ll open a new credit card account, using your name, date of birth and SSN, call your credit card issuer and, posing as you, ask to change the mailing address on your credit card account, then go wild, buying high ticket items and having received all of the merchandise, they’re gone before you know what happened. They take out auto loans in your name and establish phone or wireless service in your name. They even counterfeit checks or debit cards, and drain your bank account. Opening bank accounts in your name and writing bad checks and if they’re arrested for something will even give the cops your name & info, so that if they are bailed out or set free before trial, the judge issues a warrant for YOU!

I could go on and continue to paraphrase more information, but rather I encourage you to use the links in this post to read the whole story for yourself. You won’t be disappointed and you may save your self from identity theft.

Fighting Terror

Well the threat of terrorism still looms large according to CNN coverage. Bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are overseeing the attack plans from their remote hideouts somewhere along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, according to senior intelligence officials.

The article began:

A plot to carry out a large-scale terror attack against the United States in the near future is being directed by Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda members, senior intelligence officials said Thursday.

“This type of plotting, this type of operational activity, is being done with the direct direction and authorization of that senior leadership,” said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Arrests of terror suspects in Europe and the Middle East resulted in the new warning, said Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

“We lack precise knowledge about time, place and method of attack,” he said. “But along with the CIA, FBI and other agencies, we are actively working to gain that knowledge.”

First of all, officials speaking off the record state that Osama & Co. are plotting high level terrorist attacks from their secret remote hideouts. This smacks of Dr. Evil operating from one of his many, evil, secret lairs don’t you think? Then Homeland Security Boss, Tom Ridge comes up with the line of the month: “we don’t know when, we don’t know where, when or how they’re going to attack us but we’re working on it”!?? C’mon Mr. Ridge is that the best you can do?

That makes me think of my son asking me about death and dying. I tell him “son, no one knows what time, or where, or even what is going to cause their death, but we’re working diligently to figure that out”! Give us a break, we know you have to make statements and other official stuff to justify the huge paychecks you all are given every month, but that sounds so lame that even I can’t take you seriously.

Also discussed are other variable to these new allegations on terrorism:

Possible Madrid model of attack

Accusations of Scaremongering (Politics, of course!)

Operations Center Opens (Help is as close as your ??)

Also Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security officially opened its state-of-the-art operations center, which will monitor real-time threat information and disseminate it to government agencies as well as state and local governments.

The Homeland Security Operations Center will operate 24 hours every day of the year in Washington, to monitor threats, share information and coordinate responses to incidents.

I couldn’t find the number in the news report so I guess you should call 411 or 1-411 and ask for Homeland Security Operations Center.