THE BULLIES !

I've been watching videos this morning of police brutality. Straight out brutality. No question abou it. Our boys in blue are geting a bit out of control. Something bad is going to happen because of this. In some town, someplace, there is gonna be a backlash and the result will not be in favor of the police. I remember reading about that crooked Sheriff down in Tennessee right after WWII who ran a very crooked county. Can't think of the name of the town but the citizens finally had enough and attacked the Sheriff's office. Of course, the local boys had just got back from kicking Hitler and Tojo's ass and they knew what to do in a firefight. The Sheriff in question left office and got in the used car business. I would never have bought from him. The local Patriots got off scot free. But it is not a thing of newness for the local constabulary to turn hostile towards the people they are supposed to protect and serve. Not good cops but plain vanilla bullies.

I mention this because of the after effects of a severe SHTF or even TEOTWAWKI. If you can't trust the cops then you damn sure can't trust the mobs and gangs. But unless the local cops have come to join you then don't trust them. The law enforcement agencies across our fair land have become increasingly federalized. All these small town departments receive financial largess from our fedgov and depend on it for overtime funds, new equipment, and the hiring of more personel. In the small town close to where I live some of the old timers don't even know the cops that drive their streets. And they have lived there for years. This is a town where everyone knows everybody. So you could be dealing with a complete stranger. Someone who doesn't even know the ropes in you area. Someone who is not elected and who doesn't depend on your good will to stay in his well paid position. A great lack of restraint if you ask me.

In a bad time, these men, and some women, may just form their own gang and do what they damn well please. And why not? They have the guns and the ammo and the numbers of people to do pretty well. As long as they have fuel for their cars and radios that work they can be a very effective force in their area. But so can you, dear reader. And you don't live in town, if you have been paying attention. You live out in the country, the wild lands where the deer and the rabbits and squirrels all congregate. You don't live where the arrogant folks can come and enslave you. This is the same with Freebooters. They will enslave you also. But instead of making you go to government work camps for your own good, they will make you work your own land for their good. See the difference? You don't? Well, neither do I, to tell the truth. A gang is a gnag whether it is in snappy uniforms with badges or grundgy levis with holes.

CHOKEPOINTS

On your land you will have a road that leads to your property. Doesn't that have a nice ring to it? "Your property". Where ever you think is best you make a chokepont A chokepoint is where anyone coming down that road has to pass a certain spot in that road. Driving around it is almost impossible. And here is where you get your first line of defense started. You block that chokepoint, you crafty devil. You make an obstacle that forces your interloper to come to a halt and at best proceed on foot. Then you and a couple buddies ask them what the hell they are doing. Of course you do this from good cover and concealment. If they won't answer you then shoot them. See how simple that is? If they talk then you start your negotiatons. You have a pre-ordained system of weeding out the bad guys and accepting the good guys. If they are law enforcement then ask them who called them and why. If they say they are just checking the area then tell them that you are fine and don't need any assistance. Wish them good day at that point. Don't talk too much. Some people are just plain dangerous to talk to.

But you have gathered some very good information. You know if the local police are active or not. You know if there are Freebooters in the area. You know if the police are trying to round people up for relocation. You are ahead of the game and all involved know it. Just a word of caution. If you know this chokepoint is going to attract people then have a fair number of men manning the position. A group of Freebooters will just attack if you find them out. Or at least they might. If you are way out in the country then you can figure that they are getting desparate for food and shelter to come all the way out to get you. Freebooters are lazy as anyone else and don't want to exert themselves any more than they have to.

Military troops are a whole different ball game. They are used to taking orders and they have a hierarchy of command right on the spot. They march as told and they will kill you if you try to hamper them. Before tackling any military you had better have your shit together. You had better have the numbers and you had better have men who can do the job. This is why the acceptance of joiners is such a ticklish issue. Good joiners make for extra production. Bad joiners make for trouble.

You think, or perhaps some of your people think, that because you survived a currency collapse and a banking collapse and food riots that you are unscathed and relatively free to go about your daily business. Not so. There will be dangerous predators afoot in the land. And your own people could be their recruits. Remember the Israelites in the desert with Moses? They longed for the Leeks and Onions of Egypt. They were willing to go back to their life of slavery to achieve what they called security. And some of these malcontents and turncoats could very well be among your own people. Establish your own personal network of intelligence gatherers in your camp. For Christ's sale don't establish a Stasi or a Gestapo. But have your own personal network of friends who tell you what is going on. It is not wise to run a spy network among your own people but it is wise to keep you finger on the pulse of the group attitude.

Another thing to watch out for is Zoos and Jails/Prisons. In a very bad time the personel at a Zoo are likely to turn loose of the animals in their care. They are very caring of these creatures and would not like to see them starve in a foodless Zoo. They will not kill them, so they will turn them loose to let the "noble" beasts fend for themselves. The wonderful beasties will oblidge buy eating the very people who have been taxed all these years to support them. ANd there could very well be a host of animals on the loose. Bears, Lions, Tigers, Panthers, Cheetahs, Ocelots, Jaguars. Bad customers. And I ain't got started naming the snakes.. Things could get a little tight if you were to run up on some Polar bear while you were on a walk through the woods. Better have enough gun! A lot of Zoo animals are not afraid of humans. They have lived around them all their life. Humans held them captive and fed them. They are not afraid of you. Carry enough gun!

The most dangerous predators are people who have been let out of prisons and jails because they cannot take care of them any more. You can get quite a mix of good and bad from a jail population. And they won't be all bad. There are some decent men locked behind bars in this country. A lot of them are what you would call political prisoners. Then there are the gangbangers, and a lot of them are not worth the powder to blow them up. You will have to have a screening process in place with your people to handle these folks. Do not trust anyone. Make them prove themselves. Don't be mean but don't be soft headed. If the chance presents itself sit down and talk to these people and search them out. And talk away from your base where you have your women and kids. Don't expose your tender parts to possible enemies. Chances are that jails and prisons will dump their populations in a general move to evacuate their premises. The worst and the best will not be segregated. They will all be loosed upon the streets. Take care.

Stay alive!

Michael
mboone@rtccom.net