By Steve Pomper
There are two reasons I like the idea of a sheriff’s citizens posse: one, it is practical and will make additional, trained bodies available to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office for emergencies. And two, as Loiuse Beven wrote in The Epoch Times (ET), “residents are invited to learn more about how, and why, law enforcement officers do what they do.”
The latter is why I began writing books and articles on law enforcement issues. The average person has no clue about police work. They make a lot of destructive assumptions and, worse, some buy into anti-cop myths. The more people who learn about what, how, and why cops do what they do, the better. This sheriff has created such an opportunity.
Calling it an “academy-type program,” Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb has created a program to train qualified applicants to become members of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Patrol Posse. Captain Karl Montoya will supervise the program.
The Arizona Revised Statutes say the “sheriff’s shall ‘prevent and suppress all affrays, breaches of the peace, riots and insurrections which may come to the knowledge of the sheriff’ and that he may ‘command the aid of as many inhabitants of the county as deemed necessary.’” By organizing a trained citizens posse, the sheriff can have more confidence than just calling up random, untrained, county residents during an emergency.
Critics immediately worried about the Sheriff’s Office creating a squad of vigilantes. In another article in the ET, Charlotte Cuthbertson asked Sheriff Lamb if he thought a citizen’s posse “might encourage people to go rogue.” Lamb answered, “No—I mean, people could go rogue now.” He added, “Here’s what I’m more worried about: I’m worried that we are already pushing our citizens toward vigilantism. So, I feel like this program is going to help kind of curtail some of that energy and give them a little bit of someplace to channel it.”
Sheriff Lamb believes some media and local government officials are “stoking fear and panic.” He equated the type of fear and panic to “what we’ve done to this country for a virus that has a 99-point-something percent chance of survival. You have people shouting each other down in stores because they’re not wearing a mask. That’s unacceptable. That is not appropriate behavior.” Lamb says, “most criticism for the initiative has come from people who don’t understand the program.”
Posse members, after undergoing a background check for criminal history, wants, warrants, court orders, and sex offender status, will receive an initial four-hour course on basic police procedures and constitutional law. The Sheriff’s Office will also provide additional ongoing monthly training. Sheriff Lamb said, “participants will also be referred to local businesses for further training in firearms safety and self-defense.” Though the sheriff will not deputize posse members, he will issue them I.D. cards and uniforms.
The sheriff noted his concern about the violent unrest occurring in places like Portland, Oregon. He mentioned Portland officials’ “inability to stop that [rioting].” I’d argue it’s more of an unwillingness, but point taken. He also lamented the media refusing to report on riots, instead referring to the obvious violence against law enforcement officers as “protests.” It creates frustration in every community in the country.
When gauging community interest, the Sheriff’s Office initially received over 2,000 responses. And the assistance to the sheriff’s office will be welcome. Pinal County is home to 460,000 residents and covers an area the size of Connecticut—patrolled by only 220 deputies.
Sheriff Lamb understands the frustration some people are feeling when watching unrest in the news and having their liberties restricted because of the CCP virus. This provides some who feel the need to “do something” the opportunity to take part in a constructive effort to help their communities by assisting their Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff expressed his concerns about some violent radical groups who have shown they will venture into residential and even rural areas to confront, intimidate, and threaten people and officials they oppose. Recently, in Seattle, militants stormed into residential neighborhoods and demanded white people turn over their houses to the mob.
This descending on residential and rural areas has occurred with rioters in St. Louis, Portland, and Seattle where a group of about 200 militants traveled some 40 miles out of the city to another county to confront Police Chief Carmen Best at her home. Chief Best recently stepped down from her position. She was fed up with the lack of responsibility shown by the radicals on the Seattle City Council.
Saying “he hopes he’ll never need to use the citizens posse in a riot, but if a Portland-type situation occurred in the county, he wouldn’t hesitate to call it up.” Sheriff Lamb wants the forming of the posse to serve as “a message to anybody that would try to do us harm.” Proactive policing and law and order—what a concept. After so much de-policing happening across our nation, this gives law-abiding Americans some reason for optimism.