An Open Letter to American Patrolmen in the Wake of the Guilty Murder Verdict Against Patrolman Derek Chauvin

Dear American Patrolmen,

Well if you didn't know it before, you sure as hell should recognize it now, the government is not your friend.

Foremost in your mind should be that the charges against Patrolman Derek Chauvin were brought by the state. Yes, the state threw one of your brothers under the bus. 

It is difficult to understand, if one were to take politics out of it and look at it from a cold, rational perspective, how this occurred.

As the attorney Andrew Branca writes (my highlight):

The state has suggested that for much of the period of restraint Floyd had stopped resisting arrest, and that from this point forward no further restraint was justified. This is, really, just silly—the state’s own witnesses testified that just because a suspect appeared to have become compliant did not mean they would remain so, and that indeed the fact that the suspect had been violently resisting lawful arrest only minutes before, as Floyd had been here, was a factor to consider in deciding whether to maintain restraint.

Even during the period that Floyd appeared to lose consciousness, continued restraint could well be reasonable. Again, the state’s own witnesses testified that suspects who lost consciousness due to drug overdose, and then revived, were often more violent upon revival than they had been previously—and it had already required three officers to subdue a handcuffed Floyd the first time around.

George Floyd was a big 6' 4" tall, not a skinny 6' 4'. Given the way he had been resisting arrest and the fact that the state's witnesses confirmed that out of an unconscious state suspects can become more violent after waking up, it appears that Chauvin was justified in restraining him and doing so in line with his training.

Now, given the political climate, it is not surprising that the jury came back with a guilty verdict, and rapidly, but this is on the prosecutors who did not have the courage to stand up to the crowd. They did not have the courage to not charge Chauvin in the first place. The state sealed Chauvin's fate the minute he was charged.

But this has ramifications beyond Derek Chauvin. No doubt many of you are counting the days to retirement in the hope you don't get that call that puts you in an intense situation, especially against a black man, and the state determines that an action you were trained to implement was not justified in the killing or severe injury of a suspected perpetrator. 

You know more of these cases are going to come in this mad "woke" climate that in reality is as unwoke as possible. It is a period manipulated by power-seeking hustlers that will take anyone down that will prevent the advance of their power and that police are at the top of their take-down menu.

But before I go further, let me explain where I am coming from. I believe in law and order but I don't believe that it should emanate from the state. I wrote a book about it, Foundations of Private Property Society Theory: Anarchism for the Civilized Person. I am all for police but I believe they should develop in the private sector. The book explains how this could develop and why it should.

But since I don't expect my desired Private Property Society to emerge anytime soon, I recognize I must live within the confines of the world that exists as do you patrolmen.

So what is the solution for you all when there is visceral hate toward police by many?

I suggest you follow what is close to the PPS, but not quite, the libertarian non-aggression principle. The NAP is defined by Prof. Walter Block as follows:

The non-aggression [principle] ...is the lynchpin of the philosophy of libertarianism. It states, simply, that it shall be legal for anyone to do anything he wants, provided only that he not initiate (or threaten) violence against the person or legitimately owned property of another. That is, in the free society, one has the right to manufacture, buy or sell any good or service at any mutually agreeable terms. Thus, there would be no victimless crime prohibitions, price controls, government regulation of the economy, etc.

To uphold the NAP is a heroic thing and as patrolmen, you are in an important position to advance the concept.

In the current climate, it makes sense to ignore government laws that go beyond NAP violations. Such non-violent "crimes," as defined by the state as the possession or selling of drugs, prostitution, driving without a license plate, driving with dark-tinted windows, to name a few.

By ignoring these non-NAP crimes, you are cutting down the odds you are going to end up in a confrontation where the state will throw you under the bus.

Stick to real crimes. Join the Look the Other Way Political Party when it comes to non-NAP "crimes."

By sticking to real crimes such as murders, robberies, muggings and rapes, the odds of your being thrown under the bus by the state fall dramatically.

Indeed, there is a very technical NAP Look the Other Way argument that Derek Chauvin, and the other police officers, should not have attempted to apprehend George Floyd. 

You see, the originating call was that Floyd was attempting to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. From a hardcore libertarian perspective, Floyd was just going into competition with the Federal Reserve which is a government entity that supports the elitists against the people and pumps out money to them.

In other words, the justification to roll on this call would have been reed-thin.

The Look the Other Way Party is all about, well, looking the other way when people commit "crimes" as defined by the state that are not NAP violations.

A hardcore libertarian patrolman, if he got this call, would not have even "seen" Floyd crossing the street in front of his patrol car, even if he completely matched the description of the one passing the bill. And there would be zero chance he would have pulled him over in his car sometime later.

In summary, the woke crowd is after police with a vengeance, you are marked men. You will know it whenever you make a stop, the cellphones will come out recording you and in more and more neighborhoods verbal abuse will be heaped by the crowd at you during these stops.

You need to protect yourselves before you can protect us. The state is not going to be there for you. Stick to protecting us against real crime, NAP violation crime. It is your best chance for not being the next Derk Chauvin.

Good luck out there, you are going to need it.

 -RW