Social media has
escalated the tin-foil hat revolution.
Baseless, fact-lacking garbage is multiplied a million-fold with the
click of a mouse. When reading the
latest drivel, every person has to wonder what truth lies behind the
sensationalism. For once I’ve had a
front row seat to the malicious nature of shock journalism.
Fifteen years of
my law enforcement career were spent on the Midland County Sheriff’s Office
SWAT Team. My last five years on the
team were spent as commander before I transferred to the District Attorney’s
Office. I’ve worked in or with many
government entities in police and military capacity at state, local and federal
levels. My experience is that most
government failure is the result of incompetence, complacency or indifference;
all of which make a successful far-reaching conspiracy almost impossible. Around 1998 our team received two M113 Armored Personnel Carriers from the military’s 1033 program. The current conspiracy theory is that these vehicles are to be used against civilians in a massive sweep to move the population into death camps. I never received any orders to take people to death camps, but we did deploy the vehicles in several high-risk situations. My team and its command consisted of very strong, proud patriots so I didn’t have much concern about their part in a world-domination plot. By providing smaller agencies with gear like the M113, the government has reduced the dependence of local police upon state or federal tactical assistance; which is the exact opposite of the alleged conspiracy. Further discredit of the 1033 foil hat theory is fodder for another blog post.
In 2007 our M113,
nicknamed “Bubba,” was used to capture Pedro Armendariz in Hobbs, New
Mexico. We were called to assist the New
Mexico State Police because Pedro was firing on officers with an SKS rifle from
inside his home and we had the closest armored vehicle. I
drove the vehicle during the incident and managed to run over Pedro’s junk car
while maneuvering the 12 ton APC into a position to deploy gas into the
house while Pedro bounced rounds off the APC's hull. I still haven’t heard the end of
the ribbing.
The conspiracy
spin begins with a smartass in the office next to me. Said smartass had access to a sign
printer. It’s important to note that the
road signs you pass every day on the street are blank when purchased. Since there are a few basic shapes and
colors, it’s cheaper to purchase them blank and print adhesive vinyl lettering
and pictures as needed. Our jokester
decided it would be funny to stick a small adhesive car near the driver’s hatch
to commemorate the fate of Pedro’s car.
He didn’t stop there. He also
wanted to mark successful arrests made during the vehicle’s deployments that
year: Pedro Armendariz and Larry
White. Larry killed three Odessa Police
Officers earlier that same year. In the
database of sign graphics, the best match for an arrested person was the stick
figure used for pedestrian crossings. So
“Bubba” was adorned with a small adhesive car and two stick figures.
In April of 2008
my team was called to assist the Schleicher County Sheriff’s Office and the
Texas Rangers in the search of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints
compound near El Dorado, Texas. I was
told that the cultists promised a fight to keep us out of their temple despite
a lawful search warrant, but fortunately they didn’t deliver. The older men ran away and left behind crying,
terrified, unarmed young teen boys to defend their gates. We were all fortunate that the incident
wasn’t a bloodbath. About eighteen men
were convicted of sex crimes after the incident. During the media blast, photos of our armored
vehicle made it all the way to the national media scene, including The Oprah
Winfrey Show. That’s when my phone
started ringing.
First, it was one
of my superiors. He was getting calls
about the “kill marks” on our vehicle. I
told him the story about how the marks came to be. He wasn’t thrilled, and I was definitely
having “good idea at the time” thoughts.
I told him the stickers would come off, and if he’d forward the calls to
me I’d glady tell the story. I was
forwarded a few calls, and most identified themselves as media. One tried to pass himself off as a college
student but I didn’t believe him. I told
him that I wasn’t going to lie, so I would appreciate the same courtesy. I told him the truth.
The calls tapered
away, but I got called to the carpet one last time. Our department had received a Freedom of
Information Act request for maintenance records of our armored vehicle, and the
request was specific to the incidents involving the people we killed with
it. I explained that there were no
records because all we had done was change the oil, a job that was performed by
the team members. We had no records to
show that we’d killed anyone because there were no kills. That’s classic Roswellian fiction. Demand something that doesn’t exist then cry
“conspiracy” when it isn’t produced.
What followed was an article on Alex Jones’
Infowars written by Paul Joseph Watson.
The full article is linked below.
First, the title of the article is “Militarized Police Celebrate Killing
Americans.” The article states that Gary
Roberts, “former US Army tank driver” said that the marks mean we had killed
two people with what the article called an “APC SWAT tank.” Watson goes on to claim that the only threat
in the “polygamist retreat” was women and children. The rest of the lies are shown here: http://www.infowars.com/militarized-police-celebrate-killing-americans/.
First and
foremost, MCSO’s vehicle isn’t a tank.
Tanks are larger and have fixed guns.
An armored personnel carrier holds people. The only armament on board is the small arms
carried by officers. My experience with the
FLDS has proven it to be nothing more than a cult centered on the sexual abuse
of young children. However, Watson chose
to downplay the reality of the compound being a pedophile cult. He dedicated the article to his disgust of
how my team celebrated the murder of two innocent people; a story he fabricated. My Spidey senses tell me that Watson was one
of the people I spoke to on the phone. Since
the truth wasn’t sensational, he found it best to quote someone with absolutely
no useful knowledge of the matter at hand.
Never let the truth interfere with a good story.
I ignore most
anti-police stories, but this one insulted a team I’m very proud of. The men in that vehicle volunteered for that
duty. Like the sheriff who commands
them, they are patriotic people who swore an oath to defend the
constitution. It is my hope that this
story will sow seeds of doubt in the satirical media garbage that is carelessly
spread these days. Watson’s article is
pure hatred and self-serving commercialism.
Alex Jones and those like him are a hindrance to defending ourselves
against real constitutional threats. 