Make this happen: See to it that EVERY police department in the country is REQUIRED to report officer discharged firearms statistics. It boggles the mind that in 2017, we can only find these imperfect statistics in The Washington Post. Our citizenry has a right to know that the statistics presented them are valid. And once gathered and disseminated, these statistics might directly refute the narrative pushed by the Left and by Black Lives Matter. Without accredited statistics, it begs the question “why?” Make the FBI the collection agency for this data. Create a line item in the budget to finance the analysts required to staff the effort. And when the fake issue of “states’ rights” or “federal meddling” arises, smack them down as dishonest and obstructive. Do what you threatened to do to “sanctuary cities.” Tie federal infrastructure funding to cities and states with their compliance with this necessary data collection. There! Problem solved. Make it happen, Mr. Attorney General.
And yes, our cultures need to change, Black Lives Matter. You need to make it unacceptable to support “stop snitching” edicts in your communities. And I need to work to help bring down the thin blue wall of silence that makes it difficult for cops to turn other cops in for wrongdoing. We all also need to cease with the “us versus them” nonsense and figure this thing out together. But it can’t happen without a commitment to acknowledging those “hard truths” I borrowed and laid out above and then working tirelessly, from within, to fix them. Law enforcement will own up to their part in this complex problem.
I am committed to seeing this happen. I can only affect a few at a time and my opportunities are through written and spoken word. I need your commitment as well. Will you own up to your own responsibilities? Or is it simply more advantageous to draft your manifesto demanding reparations and positioning yourselves as the forever aggrieved? That won’t bring us any closer to a solution, I’m afraid.
Can we talk?
Can we meet in the middle of these “hard truths?”
I’m happy to wait. But we don’t have much time…
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James A. “Jimmy” Gagliano has some three decades’ worth of practical leadership experience, both in traditional military units as a U.S. Army Infantry Officer and in federal law enforcement executive-level assignments with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He spent 25 years as an FBI criminal investigator, SWAT Team Leader, member of the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), Undercover Agent, Task Force Commander, Legal Attaché (Diplomat), and as Chief-of-Staff for the Assistant-Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York Division. He has led tactical and diplomatic operations in Afghanistan and México City, and served tours in parts of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as assignments in combat theaters in Afghanistan, while assigned to the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).
He is a recipient of the FBI’s second-highest award for valor, the Medal for Bravery. Now retired from the FBI, Jimmy serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor, instructing undergraduates in Homeland Security, Criminal Justice, Military History, and Leadership courses at St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens, and is a leadership consultant with the Thayer Leader Development Group (TLDG) located at West Point, NY. He is also a full-time Law Enforcement Analyst and Contributor on CNN and delivers speeches across the country in corporate and university settings.
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