Ventura County Sheriff: Coward
BY Herschel Smith
10 years ago
Via Uncle, this from Wes Siler. I’ll leave the background and setup to Wes but copy in the money quotes to this post.
In all of our visits, we’ve never seen any cops. It’s just a small little bar and a campground way out in the middle of nowhere. I’d hazard a guess that they showed up this time to look in on events. While it was a “biker” camp out, these bikers were mostly 20 and 30 something creatives living and working in Los Angeles, Ventura or surrounding areas. The weekend is a chance for them to let their hair down and wear their leather jackets, but it’s not exactly what anyone would consider a rough crowd. The event is advertised online.
The deputies must have seen us leave and followed us back to our tents. No sooner had we sat down and cracked a beer (totally legal), we saw flashlights approaching and, when they were 20 or 30 feet out, heard a man shout, “Who’s dogs are these? Get them under control or I’ll shoot them!”
Both Wiley (85lbs) and Sansho (75lbs) are big dogs and they do sometimes growl, bark or generally act like dogs do when a stranger approaches us in the middle of the night. Neither one is remotely aggressive or dangerous in appearance. Just a couple of fluffy house pets who are good with kids and other dogs and people in general. They did not act in an aggressive manner as the police approached and were not rough housing either; they were exhausted from being the centers of attention in a crowd all night.
Two cops, in uniform, were standing in the center of the campground’s drive, one had his weapon out of its holster, pointed at the dogs. Two other men, who we assumed to be cops were also present. They wore black jackets and were clearly with the police, but did not identify themselves as such. One remained behind the two uniformed deputies, hovering back in the shadows, while the other circled around our little campsite to approach it from the other side. The dogs were taking turns sniffing each other’s butts and peeing on a bush.
Ty and I stood up, hustled to cover the 20 or 30 foot gap between us and the cops and dogs. Ty was immediately able to grab Sansho, but Wiley heard the commotion and scooted around behind the cops before I was able to get my hands on him.
During the 10 or 15 seconds it took for me to grab Wiley’s collar and clip on his leash, the cop who hadn’t drawn his gun remarked loudly, “You do not appear to have control of your animals.” To me, that sounded like he was saying that as a precursor to shooting them or as a suggestion towards further action.
“He’s just a little puppy!” I responded.Wiley is 21 months old and, while a big dog, is still just a goofy, floppy little baby that cries in my arms when he gets scared.
The cop with the gun then approached me and explained in great detail how he was authorized to shoot any dogs he felt were a threat. “I can shoot any dog that approaches me,” he said holding his gun, in a gloating manner. “All I have to say is that I feel they’re a threat.”
I’ve explained this before. If law enforcement officers cannot handle animals – dogs, horses and other ranch and farm animals – they are pussies. If they are scared of dogs, they have absolutely no business going after violent criminals or pretending that they are there to “protect and serve,” as the lie goes.
They need to spend their weekends for several years working at a ranch, farm, or dog breeder to learn to handle animals. This is simple boyhood stuff that their daddies should have done with them when they were young. If they didn’t, then the officers can blame their worthless daddies and settle the issue with them. They have no business taking their frustrations, failures and inadequacies out on peaceable folk.
In the mean time, before extensive retraining, the Sheriff should pull his officers back from duties where they may be exposed to animals since they are frightened of them.
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On October 29, 2014 at 1:34 pm, Paul b said:
I think that would have created the need to visit the home of these scoundrels passing themselves off as the law. Scared of their own shadows.
On October 29, 2014 at 8:22 pm, St Bernard said:
Exactly! A bunch of pussies.
On October 30, 2014 at 10:26 am, Western Gunowner said:
You would think that EVERY CA cop would be thinking differently now after Dorner went on his cop-killing rampage.
But may cops figure that the odds are still with them that they will “go home at the end of their shift”.
Perhaps when (if, and I am certainly not advocating that anyone take any specific action) those odds have changed maybe cops will begin to remember that they are not more important than non-police “citizens”.
On October 30, 2014 at 10:32 am, Blake said:
You would think the two CA CHP officers that were murdered recently by a twice deported illegal alien would have woken cops up to the master they serve. Quite obviously, politicians think the voters coming across the border are more important than the lives of cops.*
*I took some grim pleasure in making that point in front of a cop recently.
On October 31, 2014 at 8:29 am, RetdMSgt . said:
I’ve said before, to local LEOs that my two little dogs have proven, on more that one occasion, that they are willing to risk their lives to protect me. The least I can do is return the favor. So, if you come onto my place, and try to shoot my dogs, you’d best bring your A-game, cause I’ll damn sure bring mine.
On October 31, 2014 at 9:25 am, Cocked, Locked & Ready to Rock said:
Amen RetdMSgt., same here. Send a few of these sumbitches to meet their maker and this shit will stop!
On October 31, 2014 at 9:29 am, chrismalllory said:
Approaching a camp at night without hailing and receiving permission to enter shows hostile intent. 20 to 30 feet is well within the danger zone.
On October 31, 2014 at 10:28 am, empire47 said:
I spent a few years as a meter reader for the local gas & electric utility and met hundreds of dogs on their home turf. I was never bitten although there were a couple of times that required defensive action on my part (a well aimed flashlight battery works great). Dogs are generally easy to figure and come in 4 general categories. There’s the ones who will jump in your car and go home with you, those that will bark but not approach, those that will approach and might bite if you present them the opportunity, and those who are going to try to bite you no matter what you do. Your demeanor also contributes to how the dog will react. Maybe those cops should spend some time with a meter reader or mail person and learn how to understand and deal with dogs. Pretty basic stuff.
On October 31, 2014 at 11:57 am, Jack Crabb said:
And people still wonder why I think NWA had it right. Fuck the police.
On October 31, 2014 at 12:53 pm, Paul P said:
I’m sorry if a police officer is coming uninvited into someone’s campsite, he should feel threatened. Especially if they have a legal right to camp there. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The castle doctrine says that as long as you are where you belong, you have a right to use deadly force to protect yourself from a perceived threat. If an officer of the law is threatening to shoot my dogs or any other family member, I will perceive that as a deadly threat and act accordingly, especially if the dog/family member isn’t threatening the officer. I will just believe he has gone off the deep end due to the stresses of the job, steroid use etc. And if fired upon will return that fire. These pumped up pieces of shit, experiencing roid rage or just plain thinking that snuffing out the life of a family pet, sometimes in front of the children, makes them look sooo much the macho MAN, well I got news for you, it just makes you look like the man titty that you are. And in some circles may get you dead.
On October 31, 2014 at 2:04 pm, Alex said:
Sorry jerk but you always need to control your animals, if your dogs attacked me I would shoot them toot sweet! Your lucky that the cops didn’t shoot them when they approached as they were acting aggressive. Yes I know like most dorks its always someone elses fault that your dogs were running loose and someone shot them. Loser!
On October 31, 2014 at 7:13 pm, chrismalllory said:
It was the cops being out of control and aggressive.
On November 2, 2014 at 10:12 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Your comment actually invokes and interesting point. What you want me to say is that my dog is indeed a threat to you or other LEOs, in which case you think you will have proven the justification of the LEOs in the report.
It’s not so simple. First of all, my dog is a threat to anyone who is a threat to me. And Paul (comment above) is right. A LEO who is stupid enough to come into a campsite at dusk or any other time unannounced and expect that everyone is just going to lay prostrate for them because they do some yelling deserves to be shot, mauled or otherwise incapacitated. And that means you and the LEOs in the story.
My dog is not uncontrolled. I have total control over her. And if she goes for your jugular vein and you bleed out, it will have been because I allowed her to do that. She can roam freely in my yard, and if someone I don’t know trespasses into it, I will allow her to eat the ass off of that someone.
Now to the rest of the story. Having said that, most dogs can be stopped with the right verbal commands, the right inflection, the right body language, and the right posture. The rest of them – the absolute worst dogs (1%) – can be stopped with OC spray.
I’m back to where I started. If you can’t handle farm animals, you’re a pussy. A pussy. Got it? Go do some boy-style and man-style work rather than sit in offices as some effete urbanite. And you can blame your daddy for your fear of animals.
The conversation of closed (for you, that is).
On October 31, 2014 at 2:22 pm, Travis Lee said:
I wish they’d pulled that on members of an outlaw motorcycle club.
But I’m sure they avoid them; they can be dangerous!
On October 31, 2014 at 4:43 pm, steve2insd said:
I had an incident about 10 years ago, where an SDPC officer was climbing over my side fence to get behind the neighbor’s house. I heard him, and came around my house to see who it was, since we lived in an “interesting” area of San Diego. He was kind of young, but very polite. He explained what he was doing, and everything went well. Afterwards I mentioned that my so-called guard dogs had slept through the whole thing around the other side of the house. He mentioned he had noticed the large dog dishes, and I told him they were pit bulls. He looked like he was going to have an accident, but then I told him they were still puppies. I bought the large dishes just so I wouldn’t have to buy new ones later. :)
Not sure if it would have gone as well these days, with all of the dog shootings I hear about now. I’m kind of surprised there haven’t been more stories of owners protecting their dogs yet.
On October 31, 2014 at 8:33 pm, pjb1 said:
Well, to me this story appears less about lack of animal-handling ability (this is an assumption after all) and more about gratuitous bullying of humans.