New Rules of Engagement For Border Patrol Agents (Seriously):
1. Run
2. Hide
3. If 1 and 2 Fail To Work, In Extreme Cases, You Are Permitted to "Throw Things" At Your Attackers

Wow.

Turns out the "only beanbags are approved against perps armed with AK-47's" guidance was too bloodthirsty, and left too much to Border agents' discretion.

Now comes news that a Border Patrol training video is instructing agents that, when confronted by a shooter. they should “run away” and “hide”. Only as a last resort, if they are cornered, should agents get “aggressive” and “throw things” at the perps.

Can these things I throw be hard, or do they have to be made of a Nerf-like sponge material?

I've discussed the paper rule vs. the real rule before. In the case of finding possible jihadist sympathizers in the military, for example: if the paper rule is that you're supposed to report your suspicions, but what actually happens is you get branded "anti-Islamic" and have your career derailed if you do, then the real rule is "do not report suspicions about jihadist sympathizers."

On the Border, the paper rule is to investigate and possibly detain suspected drug smugglers, gun runners, and illegal border crossers. But the guidance on the use of force is Let them kill you, because if you draw a weapon, we'll fire you.

So the real rule is "Do not investigate border crossers."

This works out great for corrupt administrations, who can point to the paper rule as evidence of their desire to secure the border, and of course the media will not confront them with the real rule.

posted by Ace at 04:06 PM

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