When seconds count the police are often minutes away. Unless you’re Jamie from Dallas. In that case, they’ll be at your house in one hour and 27 minutes.
Two burglars broke into Jamie’s home last week and forced him, at gunpoint, to lie on his stomach while they ransacked his possessions, according to WFAA Dallas.
“He pointed the gun at me and he said, ‘Don’t you say a thing. Don’t you dare move,’” said the M Streets homeowner. “He had the gun to my head and he made me turn over on my stomach.”
Jamie is so terrified the gunmen will return to his house that he’s asked the local media to conceal his identity.
“I still feel the gun on the back of my head,” he recalled. “He kept saying, ‘Where is the safe?’ and I would say, ‘I don’t have the safe’ and he would press [the gun] into my head.”
Once the men left, Jamie ran next door to his neighbor’s house and called the police.
“I was at her house for I think at least 20 minutes, maybe more than 20 minutes, and they still had not shown up,” he said.
Jamie kept calling 911, but he was told no one was available.
“They would say, ‘Well, are they still in the house?’ I said, ‘No but the guy put a gun to my head. What if he’s still around here somewhere?’ Every time we were told, ‘Well, we don’t have anyone to send out. We’re shorthanded.’”
The dispatchers aren’t kidding. More than 260 Dallas police officers have left the department since October, and their absence has often left residents like Jamie stranded without assistance.
Dallas PD has been able to respond to Priority 1 calls—things like murders and burglaries in progress—within about 8 minutes.
But Priority 2 calls like Jamie’s are being answered in about 22 minutes, and in some cases the wait is even longer.
“In many instances, Priority 2 calls can be held for 30 minutes or up to three or four hours,” Officer Nick Novello, a central patrol officer, told WFAA. “If we were at the precipice, we are in free fall right now.”
The Dallas PD are in a unique and troubling situation, and the officers still in the department are no doubt working as hard as they can to care for their residents.
But Jamie’s experience underlines the importance of the Second Amendment right to self-defense with a firearm. A lot can happen in eight minutes. Even more can happen in half an hour, and the best police departments can’t always arrive in time to prevent injury or death.
Hopefully city officials can make the necessary changes to improve the situation in Dallas. But even if they do, residents like Jamie would do well to make themselves and their families safe without having to rely on law enforcement.
Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper said it best when addressing the issue of violent crime…”If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim”. Along this line, we must understand that the police don’t carry a gun to protect you (they aren’t present when the crime occurs),they carry to protect themselves. Therefore the best deterrent to violent crime is to be armed and prepared to return fire.
That’s why I’m always armed! I love my P.D. but when seconds count they’re minutes to hours away! Unless you call 911, you won’t get a timely response, and even then it’s too long. They don’t respond to “alarms”! The perp is gone or you’re dead, or both. My P.D. is more concerned with where a perps bullet would go if they attempted to rob me, rather than if I’ll kill the perp. Getting my FFL is an up hill battle with these guys. (Gunsmith) They asked if I would be armed while doing business, and I said yes, and they were fine with that. ATF inspection and approval was a breeze, my P.D. is the hold up! (No pun intended) Getting the O.K. from them is what is keeping me from getting my FFL. Getting a CCW in my city is a no go! More like, OH HELL NO!
Mossberg 500 in my bedroom with personal defense rds chambered.
Same here, good stuff!
Crazy guy followed my friend going home after closing the Bar my friend did the right thing and came back to the Bar guy came driving through a empty lot tried to run us over I pushed my friend into the Bar This Goon threatened to kick down my door said he had a Gun four calls to 911 & 45 minutes later, called again told them to cancel the Call I had to shoot him & hung up What do you know 5 minutes later there they were. guy was now parked on street other side of lot pointed him out cops right on him he turned right through a red light then down a side street cops right on his tail so while I am finishing up closing the Bar phone rings He says now I am going to get You!! I am an ex Cop they turned me loose. Now I am really pissed there were two doors in the back I told him don’t wait come now both the Doors are wide open. unplugged the Cigarette Mach & Juke box because of the lights & waited for a hour & a half with my .45 Colt Officers Model never saw the Guy again.
Let’s see… I’ve got one, in my pocket all the time, one next to my lazy boy chair, one under the dinning table , one in night stand, one right by front door, one in garage, truck and cars too! Now, when I’m dressed there is at least tree one me! Angle, hip, pocket!
Good Man!
100% of all home invasions happen in the home. I have a gun with me at all times with several spares close at hand. Paranoia? Call it what you like, but I think not. I have merely adjusted my lifestyle to fit the reality of life in 2017.
I agree. I carry all day every day, one in each nightstand, and a couple more throughout the house. Times are getting dangerous and the bad guys are getting either braver or dumber. Remember to keep your doors locked and look before opening it. The tactic commonly used now is to ring the doorbell so you will open it for them to force their way in, and if no answer then they will break in. Anyone who does not understand the criminal mind will become a victim.
Now you know why I carry. My neighbor was broken into, it took the sheriff four days to show up.
Police officers carry a sidearm as part of their uniform and for personal defense and a ball-point pen to do their job.
The police officer responds to your call after he clears the three calls he got before he received your call from the dispatcher. His report will be “what crime occurred? what did he look like, which way did he go?” Then they clear the call and go to the next call to meet with the complainant and do it again. The idea that the cops actually catch bad guys is a fallacy. Yes, it happens now and again, but most police officers will tell you they use their handcuffs to arrest someone with an outstanding warrant, usually encountered during a traffic stop, not someone during the actual commission of a crime. Police officers will tell you they almost never catch a criminal during the commission of a crime.
Liberals who think the Police are there to protect them are deluded. It just doesn’t work that way.
Now Steve, you know that’s a bit of an exaggeration…but not much!!!
As an ex-cop for Pomona, Ca. PD, I worked 4/10 shifts and it usually went like this:
Work Day 1: Go to briefing, where dispatch calls down and tells the Sgt. there’s an ‘in progress’ call in your beat. So you head for the call, get the info, get sent to another call, and on and on. End of watch: 3 reports held over that you didn’t get time to finish.
Work Day 2: Repeat of day 1… End of watch: 5 reports held over…
Work Day 3: Repeat of day 1… End of watch: 7 or more reports held over.
Work Day 4: You can’t leave the squad room till ALL reports are turned in and approved.
This was pretty much every single week. I was so glad when I left there for a smaller city in central Calif. where I actually got to do real police work!
The only real ‘first responders’ are the people on scene when something bad happens. Be prepared, folks!!
Typical useless cops. Our heroes.
The city has been struggling to deal with the funding of police and fire retirement fund (severely underfunded as are so many public retirement programs). After changing arbitrary, but seemingly necessary policy changes to withdrawing retirement funds, police have been quitting and leaving for departments that have been funded retirement plans. So, when combined with department ‘pay’ rate issues, the DPD is struggling to deal with this issue and that is effecting their response times – among other things.
Andy they are not useless, they do a job that most people do not want. The city of Phoenix AZ is short 2500 officers due to a hiring freeze. Mohave county where I live has a shortage of deputies and one of the larger counties in the state of Arizona to cover. Unless you live in a large city you are mostly on your own resources.
Well I get it, everyone should be armed, and we all know that in a crises like this you can’t count on anyone to save you. The larger question here is, armed or not, was there time to access a firearm. What kinds of precautions were taken against a home invasion, and what plans were made in the event that there was one and there wasn’t time to get to a firearm. This is more about total preparedness than it is about simply owning a firearm.
I’m at home with a revolver in my pocket right now. I think that I could access it in time.
I am prepared ,44 Smith and Wesson Special handy at all times.
I agree. Good points.
Was sitting at my kitchen table when a man fleeing from the police picked my house as a hiding place and walked right in. While previously I had always had a gun ON MY PERSON, after that incident I always have an ASSEMBLED gun on me while cleaning the other(s).
Reason number 1 million to own a firearm. Time for this man to get a nice firearm.
I’m just a bit curious if this guy voted for the Left.
Believe it or not many “on the left” own firearms and have ccps. Don’t paint with such a wide brush.
I saw this quote posted somewhere and thought it would be perfect for this guy to learn from:
“Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government
take care of him better take a closer look at the American Indian.”
― Henry Ford
I man should be able and willing to protect him self and his family. Don’t wait for someone else to.
There is nothing unique about the situation in Dallas. Detroit, last I heard, had, because of its financial problems, less than half the number of police officers on the street than it has in the past, and if it is a burglary, they do not respond at all. citizens have to file a report instead. Chicago is short on officers, and it too is losing many to other departments. In my little town in California, we do not have as many officers as we should, both in the city police and the sheriff’s department, because of budgetary restraints. In fact the city just accepted a $500,000 donation to keep a community policing unit operating for the next couple of years. As costs and the increasing burden of retirement funding increase dramatically (since many public employees are promised greater retirement benefits in exchange for no raises, or minimal raises now, thus deferring costs to the future in the vain hope there will be money then to pay for them), I foresee the problem getting worse, not better.
I am sympathetic to DPD and the citizens due to the mass exit of officers. Even if LE was at 100% Staffing it would still not put a cop with you the second you have a emergency. ONLY YOU can prep to respond to immediate threatening situations.