What IS the Solution?

There are a few stories in the news tonight we could write about. We could do our usual arrest analysis on all the suspects. We could point out that many are serial offenders who have been steadily and consistently set free to prey upon the citizens of the Lowcountry by bond judges, solicitors and circuit judges. We could discuss the ridiculously low bonds and the pathetic plea deals. We could do the same thing we do almost every day. To what purpose?

We would bet the farm when an arrest is made in the murder of Marley Lion the suspect will be a serial offender with page after page of arrests as an adult and as a juvenile. The suspect will be the recipient of repeated plea agreements in which most of their charges were not prosecuted. He will also have been sentenced by some of our "hanging judges" to multiple prison terms, to be served concurrently and suspended in favor of probation.

What is painfully obvious to most folks is that the Lowcountry has a thug problem. Although we have profiled all races it is also painfully obvious the bulk of the violent crime in our community is perpetrated by black males under the age of thirty. These black males are protected and sanctified by a significant portion of the black community. "Free my nigga!" is a refrain so common it is sickening.

Read the comments on this site or the media sites. The black supporters of these black criminals tell us we shouldn't be critical of them for 'making a mistake' and 'they were turning their lives around'. The phrase we see every time one of the thugs is arrested is, "A minor setback for a major comeback." After spending the past few months reviewing court records we can see why they say this. Very few ever end up doing any significant amount of time behind bars.

The obvious starting point in dealing with this epidemic is what should be the first line of defense for the public - the bond judges. The Constitution states you are entitled to have a bond set if you are arrested. It does not state the bond has to be something you can afford. Why is that 'white-hispanics' are thrown back in jail when it is discovered they CAN afford a bond, but our bond judges continue to set bonds so low they might as well just release the defendant outright.

The second stage must involve electing solicitors who won't offer sweet plea deals as an expedient way of clearing case loads. If we can get the bond judges to play ball it doesn't really matter how long it takes a case to go to trial. The suspect can sit in jail under a high bond until then.

The third stage involves having your legislators appoint no-nonsense judges who will slam these offenders with hard sentences and leave out all of that 'concurrent' and probation bullshit.

Those three things are long term solutions.

Short of all of the above happening we can only suggest that each and every decent citizen arm themselves and be firm in their motivation to protect themselves and others. The police can't protect you. According to the Supreme Court the police don't even have an obligation to protect you. How many of you knew that?

In light of that little tidbit  we find it curious that the leadership of the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police support the efforts of certain groups to restrict your right to keep and bear a firearm for your own protection. Most real police officers, however, want you to be able to protect yourself because they know they can't do it for you.

Your local police officers are fighting a losing battle. They are too busy running from call to call to call to engage in much proactive policing anyway. Ask one of them and they will tell you that ten percent of the population eats up ninety percent of the police resources. And we all know that ten percent doesn't contribute a damn thing toward paying for those resources.

If you want to see what your local police are dealing with, download Tune-In Radio for your computer or smartphone. Under "local" stations you will see feeds for the various departments in your area. The Charleston County feed has disappeared for some reason, but we hope it returns. We have monitored all of them and found North Charleston to be the busiest, followed by Charleston and Charleston County S.O. The calls for NCPD and CPD run almost non-stop most of the day. The bulk of those calls are in the 'ghetto' areas like Ardmore, Chicora, Rosemont and Charleston Farms.

Someone in another forum suggested that citizens organize, work on obtaining an armored vehicle, rig it with still and video cameras and keep it running through those crap neighborhoods featured here and in the news. It wouldn't be the first time citizens have stepped up to document criminal activity and assist the police.

We don't recommend any sort of armed citizen patrol at this point. We have recent evidence showing what would happen if something did go sideways during one of those patrols. The day is coming, though, when citizens will have to band together in order to adequately protect their neighborhoods.

None of this will do Marley Lion or his family and friends any good. The only thing that will provide a small measure of satisfaction is the arrest and imprisonment of the piece of shit that killed Marley in cold blood. Those of you in Ardmore who are protecting this person and posting on your Facebook pages advising everyone to keep their mouths shut are complicit and you are just as guilty as the shooter.

Those of you who don't step up because you are afraid have to make a decision to take a stand. If you don't, your silence also makes you complicit. Fear mitigates that complicity, but it doesn't change the fact that you have knowledge of an atrocious violation of human life and won't come forward. The community will stand with you. The police will stand with you. If they don't, the community will take steps to ensure they change their tune.

We are sick and tired of hearing, "Why was Lion in that area in the first place?" At this point, it doesn't matter very much. This writer has traveled in several countries during a long life and remembers a time when a teenager sleeping in a vehicle wasn't in danger of being awakened and shot five times.

Based on our analysis of that video it appears the suspect was initially run off by the car alarm. It is our belief he then got mad because he didn't get what he wanted and decided to make Marley pay for that measure of disrespect. And that, friends, is the definition of the phrase you see on these pages so frequently - "Real Nigga Shit".