I think it was fairly common 'back in the day'. I did one summer in college as a 'green hornet' (parking enforcement) out of 14 Division and later, working for Eaton's, we dealt with 52 Division. The 52 Division Detective Office was noted for its 'creativity'. Probably the most legendary was the team of Lou Nicolucci and Frank Barbetta of the Hold-Up Squad. Back in the day, bank robberies were fairly common and most were committed by Montreal thugs coming down the 401 and were tending to become quite violent. N & B were allegedly given free rein so long as the problem was solved. It was.
I heard of N & B. They were dealing with gunmen, and were apparently pretty "effective".
Something I read about LAPD, but might apply elsewhere,
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Starting in 1973, affirmative action & consent decrees changed LAPD culture from aggressively pursuing criminals to laying back in police cars, taking careful and lengthy reports, while gangs ran wild in the streets and portions of L.A. were terrorized by thugs.
When I was in the field in the 1960s, our 3,400 policemen (our Civil Service rank) arrested 100,000 more criminals than do today's 10,000 affirmative action wonders. (Attorney GARY INGEMUNSON in "Warning Bells," Thin Blue Line, July 2005, p. 13—Also L.A. Times of 13 March 1996, pp. B-1 & 3): A “distressed Mayor Richard Riordan…said it was vexing to learn that LAPD is now making 100,000 fewer arrests, issuing over 200,000 fewer citations, and conducting over 20,000 fewer field interviews per year.”
There is no “nice” way to arrest a dangerous and combative suspect. Officers today are more concerned about getting burned and labeled as a rogue officer than being aggressive at confronting suspects. When were you safer, taxpayers, then or now…?
Police work can be violent and unpleasant to view. The California Government Code, sections 821, 845, & 846 state public employees cannot be sued for “failure to provide adequate police protection or service, to prevent the commission of crimes and failure to apprehend criminals.”
The “Protect and to Serve” motto is a statement, not a promise.
When the community fails to support its police in its proper and reasonable enforcement efforts, the police become demoralized and cease proactive enforcement. Doing nothing or devoting inordinate attention to minor incidents and thus being unavailable to handle more serious calls has few consequences…..
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