Back in the 1980’s I had a friend Don Dibble (who wasn’t a cop). He had a favorite saying. It was, “___________ (fill in the blank) could fuck up a box of rocks with a rubber mallet!” This was meant in a negative way. My cop buddies and I soon adopted the slogan. It was used as a term of derision. We applied it to inept crooks, clueless bureaucrats, and cops without a clue. I guess the only variation was the size of the box of rocks and the weight of the mallet.

Forty years later I’m beginning to rethink my stance on that old saying. It can still apply to dumbshits, don’t get me wrong. But in certain contexts, the saying may be paying grudging respect to those who get the job done.

I look back on my time in law enforcement and the resources I had available to me and compare them to today. Actually, there is no comparison. Here are some examples:

These days less lethal has become a buzz word. One tool in today’s law enforcement arsenal is the flash bang grenade. Once deployed it creates a loud bang and a dazzling flash. The effect is to frighten the target and cause momentary disorientation, allowing law enforcement to gain the upper hand.

A neighboring narcotics task force used a flash bang during a search warrant entry. They burned the house down. That didn’t upset my boss. The fact that the house contained a quarter million in cash, that went up in smoke. That upset the boss. No pyrotechnics for us!

We improvised. No explosives. No open flame.

What is the moral of the story?

When your job is to turn a box of big rocks into little rocks any damn fool can get it done with this:

It takes talent and dedication to achieve the same result when all you have is this.

I’m not against technology. In the end, though, all those tools are inanimate objects. It’s the people wielding them that count. Technology helps to make the job easier and get it done. Things go sideways when folks rely on technology to without regard to application.

*Photo via Indiatvnews.com. Not available via US MSM.