[StBernard] Hired Guns

[Westley Annis]

Can anybody out there really answer the Question "Why can't the furloughed
officers be rehired, if they want to come back?"  My reservations on this
course of action is of a  slightly different take, though.  I settled into
St Bernard after a long career in both the Military and Strategic
Intelligence fields. During which I was brought in intimate contact with all
sorts of American, British and South African based International Security
and  Executive Security (both very polite terms for another descriptive
name) firms including the two mentioned in the article. My personal
experiences with them and the environments in which they operated; was that
they are very well suited and trained to operate in those areas but, that
fact in itself makes them inherently inappropriate for US Civilian Law
Enforcement purposes. The money would be better spent bringing back people
who lived here, want to live here, have a desire to make it better and
maybe, if needed, for training in close combat, security/weapons,
intelligence and/or gang intervention. I have no illusions about either the
firms or their usefulness but St Bernard and its law enforcement
requirements should not be their mission. Don't let them fool you. The
Corporate brochures and presentations are first rate. Let these Beltway
bandits continue to function in areas where they operate best. Besides, my
own contacts still in the field tell me that everyone in the ExecSec field
is salivating over the money these federal security contracts are bringing
in. This is just My 2 cents since I'm retired and out of it. I do really
miss St Bernard, Lexington and my quiet little former place of now lost
memories so, lets not start down this road whatever the best intentions.
Bring back the people that want to be there and not the outside contract
guys who are in it for the paycheck. BTW, most are classified by their
companies as Independent Contractors, at least, they are when I had them
overseas. Why not just increase the pay scale and see if any would join the
force and move there families out of NC or wherever to Chalmette? 

Gary