Reaction to Oakland Police Murders Paint a Much Graver Picture

by Stacy Dittrich

The brutal homicides of 4 Oakland (CA) police officers, and a 5th officer wounded, this past Saturday is beginning to paint a greater picture of what’s to come. The horrific turn of events began when two officers on motorcycles initiated a routine traffic stop on Lovelle Mixon, 26, of Oakland. With the knowledge that he had an arrest warrant, without a bond, Mixon opened fire on both officers killing one at the scene—the other died two days later. Mixon fled on foot to a nearby apartment building, where he was subsequently surrounded by SWAT members. As the team entered the apartment, Mixon shot and killed two other policemen before he was fatally shot by return fire.

With an already extensive criminal history, Mixon (pictured right) was on parole for assault with a deadly weapon which was the result of an armed robbery he had pulled years earlier. His parole was violated, and the warrant issued, when Mixon failed to appear for several appointments with his parole officer. Consequently, it was an assault rifle that Mixon used to kill the last two officers with. What probably sickened me the most about this story, was that over 20 bystanders at the crime scene were taunting the remaining, grieving, officers. Oakland, like many cities across the country, has suffered strained race relations due to officer involved shootings of black suspects. Evidently, the two motorcycle cops had no business running a black man’s plate.

Furthermore, they were completely out of line to stop the car once they learned the driver had an arrest warrant and violent criminal history. How dare they do their jobs! Lovelle Mixon, according to his uncle, was simply misunderstood and depressed over not being able to find a job because of his felon status. Obviously, he was too depressed to appear at his parole meetings as well—he was busy out buying a stolen assault rifle. His uncle said, “His frustration was building up.” Okay, then, let's chalk it up to society's fault and we'll all go home.

To the cowardly and vicious bystanders, it was another day in Oakland. Hey! It was the cops’ fault!—a familiar scenario by now. To add further distaste and insult, the associated press wrote an article on the incident that almost emitted a bit of sympathy for Mixon. They described his marriage to his childhood sweetheart while he was in prison. I don’t know about anyone else, but I really could care less. It was further learned that Mixon's DNA was matched to the brutal rape of 12-year old girl the day before the shootings. Of course, some of the blogs are referring to Mixon as a "hero to further the rights of the repressed African American community." I have friends that are black and I can assure you that none of them are looking at a mass murderer and child rapist as a "hero." It's absolutely disgusting.

My thoughts turned to something else when I saw that, on the front page of AOL, the story had quickly been replaced by the story of a 15-year old Hispanic teen that died after being tasered by several white Michigan police officers. Did I miss something here? Are we getting so paranoid on political correctness and crime that the notion of a black felon murdering four white police officers is entirely too inflammatory? It seems that the all too liberal media is hell bent on demonizing the nation’s peace keepers. Of course, many of our politicians are fueling the flames as well.

I had the nauseating misfortune of turning my television on to, none other than, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, addressing a group of legal and illegal immigrants. She was belching about how the laws needed to be changed so the big-bad police officers couldn’t dare kick in the doors to homes where illegal immigrants slept peacefully in their beds. This, of course, was before she was off to have her 23rd face lift. Then there’s the God-awful Stimulus Bill that allotted only $2 Billion of the massive amount to the nation’s entire police force; not close to being enough. Where police departments across the country are already stretched thin in manpower and equipment, the bill slapped the faces of officers everywhere.

My own sheriff’s department just laid off a quarter of its deputies. Please, explain to them why $2 million is needed for swine odor removal and $200,000 is allotted for getting that tattoo you got when you were drunk in college removed. Of course, as long as we have millions for the ridiculous global warming panic, we should be fine, right? Again, explain that to the 75,000 people that live in unincorporated areas in my county that will have extremely limited police services, if at all. There, the jails are already overcrowded and the city had the dubious honor of the highest crime rate per capita in the nation in the 1990’s. And it’s only getting worse.

The negative coverage of policing by various news outlets isn’t warranted. Drew Peterson doesn’t represent the over half-million men and women that put their lives on the line every day. And, if you feel that is the case with all police officers, your thoughts are out of sheer ignorance. I realize it’s difficult to not get swayed when people like the modern-day-Jane-Fonda, Susan Sarandon, are out protesting cops every chance she gets. President Obama succumbed to the pressure from the FOP when he paraded in front of 25 Columbus (OH) police cadets (the entire force has roughly 3,000) claiming that he “saved their jobs.” However, he didn’t account for the several hundred that were being laid off just a stone’s throw away. I hate to say this without throwing up in my mouth a little, but it was actually Bill Clinton who signed the bill to put over 200,000 new cops on the street. At least I’ll give credit when it’s due, and there hasn’t been a president since that has made the nation’s first responders a priority.

If you were being robbed at gunpoint and feared for your life and the robber turned and fired on the responding police officer—and the robber was ultimately killed, would you care if the robber was black, white, Hispanic, Asian, or other? I think not. I think you’d be damn glad that officer just saved your life. The disastrous economy is taking its toll on crime and the people that fight it. Don’t brush it under the carpet because of race. The liberal media's consistant disrespect towards law enforcement is filtering into our streets and posing even more dangers to our cops. Yes, I'm angry, and I have a right to be.

To the slain officers at Oakland Police, and across the country, rest in peace.

If the disrespect and lack of attention towards the Oakland homicides, the lack of attention to law enforcement by the Obama administration, the numerous layoffs of cops, and the media bias are any indication of what’s to come—we’re in serious trouble.

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