Editor’s Note: This week’s PoliceOne First Person essay is from PoliceOne Member Heath Jepson, who writes in support of a proposal by PoliceOne Columnist Dick Fairburn to establish a Minuteman Militia (comprised largely of retired LEOs) to protect our schools. In PoliceOne “First Person” essays, our Members and Columnists candidly share their own unique view of the world. This is a platform from which individual officers can share their own personal insights on issues confronting cops today, as well as opinions, observations, and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. If you want to share your own perspective with other P1 Members, simply send us an e-mail with your story.
By Heath Jepson
Police1 Member
It was a cold, blustery, December afternoon as I walked from my truck towards the front of my son’s elementary school. Much like countless other parents across this country, I was having a hard time focusing.
My thoughts bounced back and forth between the uncomfortable cold, the necessities of everyday responsibilities, and the incessant news reports concerning the recent slaughter of the innocents in Connecticut.
I may not have been the only potential sheepdog at this school on this day, but I would lay odds that I was the only armed sheepdog guarding the flock.
Now on this cold, post-Sandy Hook afternoon, I was stopped by a two-pronged threat I wasn’t truly prepared for: fear and grief.
One of my son’s classmates asked, “Why did he kill all those kids?”
At that moment, a scared eight-year-old boy who lives a half a country away from the incident in question just trumped all of the political pundits, media, and experts in one short sentence.
I came away from that encounter with my own questions. I came to realize that the answer lies in the power of grief. Yes, you heard me right — there is power in grief.
We have now a call to arms similar to the one that we had shortly after 9/11. However, we must take care that we don’t succumb to the knee-jerk reactions and politically-motivated responses that often occur after such mass-murder incidents. In short, we should listen to the active-killer / school-violence experts (and not politicians) in this matter.
For me one thing is clear: The Sandy Hook tragedy hurt the hearts of this nation. As first responders (sheepdogs), we must remember that we are all human — a fact that John Giduck addresses in Terror at Beslan. It is from that book that I find this quote most appropriate:
“…The fear is what controls everyone; the fear is what enables evil to affect these horrors…I knew when I walked out of that place that I would never hesitate to fight, shoot, and kill were I ever to stumble onto a similar scene. For the first time in my life, dying would not bother me. Killing perpetrators of such horror would bother me even less. I would not now hesitate to draw a weapon and shoot…”
The quote above is evidence of my assertion that one man can go through grief, to healing and then acceptance of what needs to be done to deal with the monsters that perpetrate such acts of terror.
Please let me be clear, I consider anyone who perpetrates an active killer incident such as the tragedy in Sandy Hook to be a domestic terrorist, and no less deserving of this “lack of hesitation.”
I would ask that as part of the healing we resolve to accept what has to be done by supporting the efforts of my friend and Police One Columnist Dick Fairburn.
Fairburn has proposed a Minuteman Militia. Fairburn’s program of recruiting and training qualified volunteers to provide armed security service is the most rational proposal that I have heard since the Sandy Hook shooting incident occurred. Please seek out Fairburn’s piece Minutemen: A Militia to Protect Against Active Shooters for more details and get involved.
The idea of armed volunteers patrolling our schools and calling themselves a militia may sound extreme or even scary. To those people, I would counter with this: the idea of armed pilots, more vigilant and increased TSA screenings, and an expanded Air Marshal presence may have sounded extreme prior to 9/11.
All of those things are now reality and we accept them as a life change made necessary by changing times and current threats. Ten years from now, armed security in our schools may be just as commonplace as the aforementioned measures adopted after 9/11.
The Minuteman Militia is a low-cost program that can be initiated now, in a time of economic challenges. The Minuteman Militia should be done now — in a time that nonetheless demands action.
Though I see healing in our future, I still have to accept the fact that I will never be able to answer that little boy’s question. I take solace in the fact that I am empathetic enough to share his pain and fear with him just enough to acknowledge it.
Once shared, I can deal with the monsters he fears…“without hesitation.”
