Letter to the Editor,

While doing research for an article, I came upon a book which has been in my personal library since 1987. The following was written by the author, Dean Grennell, and may be found on Pages 81 and 82 of his book, Handgun Digest; A complete overview of hand gunning today.

“Like an upheld mirror, police service guns reflect the conditions of society. Cops are not warriors; they are the representatives of the public and public support is their real weapon. If such a public becomes so selfish and indifferent it places all responsibility on police officers, it is doomed to chaos and destruction.

“The secret of an orderly society is adherence to and support of sane, just law and the open, unhesitating condemnation of those who break it. To send any such individuals, the police officer, to enforce the prevailing law by force of arms alone is utter folly, no matter how skilled or well-armed. When the general public has a perception that the law is something to be evaded, hated and opposed, the police establishment is doomed to failure, regardless of their numbers.

“The point is we have now reached a plateau where the police officer feels he must adopt what amounts to an offensive weapon to cope with criminals. He wants a high capacity 9mm autoloader or something better. It may be that the next step is to bypass handguns altogether and go directly to submachine guns slung on the shoulder. We wouldn’t like to see that in America, but then we are already seeing many things we don’t like.”

Keep in mind that Grinnell wrote this piece 32 years ago (1987). After an agonizingly long period of debate, it took the politicians until 1998 to authorize autoloaders for police and still longer for many jurisdictions to allow law enforcers to carry carbines in patrol cars. A more important question is, “How did the writer see so clearly what kind of life police officers would live in 2019?” For the past two or three years, we have been forced to read about numerous policemen being shot and killed on the job. We all know about the gun carnage in the city of Chicago. It has made national news when citizens of Harlem doused police with buckets of water, while the police did nothing to defend themselves. We see on a too regular basis how police are treated in self-defense/deadly force situations like what occurred in Ferguson Missouri. Our police deserve much better.

Has the general public formed “a perception that the law is something to be evaded, hated and opposed”? Do we understand that “Cops are not warriors; they are the representatives of the public and public support is their real weapon” and has “the public support” disappeared? Are we that “selfish and indifferent”? I believe that it is time for our community to make a pro-law enforcement statement.

A group of concerned citizens supported by the Sentinel is trying to raise funds for state-of-the-art body armor for the Custer County Sheriff’s Office deputies. About $23,000 is needed. While I believe that this is the responsibility of the CC Board of Commissioners, like other policy making bodies, they seem to have plenty of money for all kinds of pet projects, but never the Sheriff’s Office street personnel. Here are two suggestions:

• Support the Sentinel’s money raising campaign with a $100 or $500 donation.
• Get 50 or 60 of your family, friends and neighbors to attend the next County Commissioners meeting and demand that they find the money for the body armor. After all, it is your money.

Face it, if we withhold “public support” from those who protect our community, the least we can do is give them the equipment they need to stay alive while doing their jobs.

Sincerely,
Joe Cascarelli
Cody Park

Note: Dean A. Grennell: Born in Humboldt, Kansas, The United States; November 01, 1923-April 10, 2004

Dean A. Grennell was an American firearms expert, writer/editor… He was the managing editor of Gun World magazine… Grennell was born near Humboldt, Kansas, in 1923. His family moved to rural Wisconsin three years later, and he grew up on a dairy farm. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps, where he served as an aerial gunnery instructor during World War II.

After the war… he became interested in handloading cartridges for firearms. He eventually became a recognized expert in the firearms field.