[Vision2020] Louisiana Sheriff Organizes Anti-Terrorist Militia

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Shreveport times at:

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20100227/NEWS01/2270314/1060/NEWS01

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The Bossier Parish sheriff's office is launching a program called
"Operation Exodus," a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario
involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber
machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.

"The buck stops with Larry Deen," said Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen.
"The liability stops with Larry Deen. I am the chief law enforcement
officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the
people in it."

Deen said he had been formulating a plan to protect Bossier Parish's vital
resources, like food and gasoline, in the event of a catastrophic event,
such as war or a terrorist attack. Deen said he had been thinking of the
plan since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Local residents may remember then-President George W. Bush's address to
the nation was made out of Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City
immediately after the attacks. At that time, Deen's men and about 100
other patrol cars barricaded entry to the base to protect the president
from what turned out to be the nonexistent threat of an assault on the
base.

Deen's office contacted more than 300 parish residents it thought would be
useful during a similar emergency. Two hundred were chosen. Most of these
people are ex-police officers and sheriff's office deputies that the
sheriff's office was familiar with, Deen said.

Under the plan, these volunteers, supplemented with active public safety
personnel, will be dispatched to vital areas in Bossier to protect them
from looters or rioters. Deen listed as examples food inside grocery
stores and gasoline in gasoline stations, not to mention protecting
hospitals and other public meeting places.

These volunteers will be armed by the sheriff's office, using, among other
things, shotguns, riot shields and batons. The members are mostly white
men. Five are black. Women involved will only be used in "support roles,"
Deen said, which indicated non-combat activity. One of their first
official training sessions was Feb. 20 when they learned basic
hand-to-hand combat techniques.

Deen said he was not creating a militia.

"We run from that word," Deen said. "We're just the opposite that word."

Sheriff's office deputies stressed the program would not cost much.
Because weapons, such as a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on something
the sheriff's office calls "the war wagon," already have been purchased,
the cost associated with the program would only be training and uniforms
volunteers must wear, costing about $4,500 total.

Deen said in a press release last week that he named the program in part
from the Book of Exodus in the Bible. However, on Wednesday, when asked
whether he believed in a true "End of Days" scenario, he declined comment.

"I don't think we need that," Deen said. "These are totally different
deals: there's Exodus in the Bible, but we're talking about Operation
Exodus in Bossier Parish so I wouldn't even want to comment on that."

The sheriff's office is one of the three governmental entities that
regulate Bossier Parish on the local level, the other two being Bossier
City and the Bossier Parish Police Jury, which regulates mostly the rural
areas of the parish.

The sheriff's office can levy taxes without permission from the other two
bodies. Its budget has more than doubled in the past six years, from $15.6
million in 2004 to $35.5 million in 2009, despite an increase of only
about 5,000 people in the parish during that time period, according to the
U.S. Census. The sheriff's budget is on track to eclipse the Police Jury's
operating budget ($45 million in 2010) and, eventually, Bossier City's
($45 million in 2010).

Deen stressed this program was not meant to replace existing emergency
preparation plans, such as those of the local Homeland Security Office.

When asked whether the program would be a useful tool in the event of a
disaster, Sandy Davis, director of the Caddo-Bossier Office of Homeland
Security and Emergency Preparedness, said "I think every public safety
agency should be prepared for disaster response."

Deen said he had contacted other parish officials to inform them of the
plan and coordinate their efforts, and the other officials "were all for
it."

However, few parish officials wanted to give The Times comment about the
program. They included Bossier City Mayor Lorenz "Lo" Walker and Bossier
Parish Administrator Bill Altimus.

For now, Operation Exodus volunteers selected will meet quarterly to hold
refresher training, Deen said.

"It's my job," Deen said. "It's a calling."

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Training Session For Louisiana Sheriff's 'Operation Exodus'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMoJNMbQfjs

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So, what we have here is a Louisiana sheriff who, apparently lacks any/all
confidence in the US military to accomplish what he has organized a bunch
of old, fat, heavily armed white guys to accomplish.

Seeya round town, Moscow,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown