2017: VIRGINIA SCHOOL SHOOTINGS ANNIVERSARIES

Spending millions of dollars on security systems in Virginia cannot hide the fact the state is woefully lacking in measures necessary to make the Virginia’s schools as safe as they need to be—Virginia does not hold politicians, school leaders, law enforcement personnel, and mental health care workers accountable for incompetence; incompetence that results in death and injury.

People in positions of authority need to be answerable for their actions or inactions resulting in the murder of students and faculty. But that has not happened here in The Old Dominion. In fact, quite the opposite has taken place. There have been massive cover-ups involving the power of the state, the legal system all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court, some members of law enforcement, and mental health providers. People we put our trust in have come together in an unholy alliance to conceal the truth.

Virginia’s power elite moved heaven earth to conceal the truth and protect individuals and their careers—even if it has meant out-and-out lying to the public.

Here is the problem: safety boils down to the human factor. A king’s ransom can be spent on consultants as well alarms and warnings, but it takes a human being to activate the warning or turn on the alarm. When the human does not act, million-dollar systems are worthless.

In both school shootings in Virginia—the Appalachian School of Law (three killed and three wounded), and Virginia Tech (31 killed and 17 wounded), inept and mediocre leaders doomed innocent students, faculty, and staff to death and injury through their unwillingness to heed the killers’ warning signs before and during the rampages.

 January 16, 2017 will mark the 15^th anniversary of the shooting at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia; April 16, 2017 will be the 10^th anniversary of the Virginia Tech rampage.

This posting is the first of a series I will post between now and the end of April 2017. I plan on reviewing the deceit, the cover-ups, the hypocrisy, and the lies that have surrounded both Virginia school shootings. I also will also look at the gun violence crisis this nation faces.

One of the best ways to honor the memory of those who were lost to gun violence and those who were wounded, is to keep fighting to keep guns out of the hands of those who are dangerously mentally ill as well as individuals who are a threat to themselves and others. Don’t give up the fight. (To be continued)

RADIO INTERVIEW ON MONDAY

I will be interviewed on Monday, November 14th at 0810 on the Neal Steele show--99.1 FM Gloucester, Va. Neal will be interviewing me about my new book, "A Handbook for Intelligence and Crime Analysis."

SPEAKING AT SHEPHERD'S CENTER

I will be the featured speaker at today's Shepard's Center lunch in Richmond, Virginia. I am talking about my new book, "The America We All Want." I am looking forward to it, always enjoy working with these folks. The meeting is being held at the Presbyterian Church on West Cary 

SPEAKING AT U. OF RICHMOND OSHER INSTITUTE

I will be discussing my new book, The America We All Want, at the University of Richmond’s Osher Institute on Monday, September 24^th from 10:00 a.m. until noon. The book examines the successful steps taken at the local level to help curb the growing gun violence in our country. To register, call (804) 287-6608. There is a $20.00 charge to attend.

NEW BOOK, THE AMERICA WE ALL WANT, PUBLISHED

Press Release on New Book

The America We All Want is the culmination of over a decade of research and writing on gun violence in the United States. The book is brutally honest in addressing the causes of the gun violence epidemic in the United States. Cariens believes the public shootings are a direct result of the past failures of our national and state leaders to address the root causes of violence. The author also factors in the growth of terrorism, racially motivated violence, and the horrendous targeting and murder of our police.

The America We All Want suggests actions can be taken at the local level to begin to curb these shooting rampages. The book does not have all the answers, but is a clarion call for people to think about what can be done and then follow up with actions.

The book challenges those who, when presented with ideas to curb gun violence say, “That won’t work.” He believes we are individually responsible for developing ideas to curb gun deaths. Cariens presents a clear-cut argument for working at the local level for change; attending town hall or council meetings; and to put forth ideas to stop the killings. And most important – to listen to each other’s ideas. If you are conservative, listen to progressives; if you are progressive, listen to conservatives.

The book draws on research as well as David Cariens’ extensive writings including his books on the shooting at the Appalachian School of Law and Virginia Tech. The author brings to the problem more than 50 years of working in intelligence and crime analysis. He also has the added dimension of having lost a family member in a school shooting.

David Cariens believes the road to curbing gun violence will be long, and painful. If the current trend continues, many innocent people will lose their lives because of our failure to act. We need to take action now.

THE BIG CON GAME

When it comes to gun violence, perhaps the most insidious deception played on the public is by state and federal legislatures deals with superficial laws. The Virginia House of Delegates excels at pulling the wool over the eyes of the public when it comes to domestic abuse and gun violence.

After the Virginia Tech rampage, the Virginia Senate unanimously passed a law making security plans a requirement for all colleges and universities in the state. The plan specified that college and university presidents had to certify that they had read and understand the plan.

The Virginia lower house, however, refused to pass the bill until the language stating school presidents understood the law was taken out.  Striking those words means no school president can be held accountable for failing to follow the security plan. They can always say they did not understand it.

On a cynical note, Virginians must be proud of the fact they have a law stating college and university presidents don’t have to understand what they read.

Now, Richmond has done it again. On July 16, 2016 a new provision of the law prohibits a person who is subject to a family abuse protection order (the respondent) from possessing a firearm. Sounds good, but is it?

 Looks and sounds good, right? Well, let’s take a close look.

The law states that after the respondent is served with the protective order, he or she has 24 hours to lawfully possess the weapon solely for the purpose of transferring or selling the firearm to a person who may legally own it. The law does not give the police the power to see that the person being restrained complies with the order. If the respondent says he or she turned in the gun, sold it, or gave it to someone who can possess the gun, law enforcement has to believe him or her. There is no mechanism for ensuring that the person being restrained has truly complied.

Furthermore, if an individual is so violent that the courts have to step in, what makes the legislature think the respondent will suddenly cool off and meekly comply?

And, the law only applies to subjects of family abuse protective orders pursuant to Virginia Code Section 16.1-279.1 and does not apply to individuals subject to an emergency, temporary or other protective order.

The law is nothing more than window dressing; it is in fact, next to worthless. It adds to the growing list of laws in the Old Dominion designed to hoodwink the public into thinking politicians are moving to prevent gun violence.

NEW BOOK PUBLISHED

            My new book, A Handbook For Intelligence And Crime Analysis, was published July 14^th.

            It was a long time in the making but was worth it. There are 18 chapters in the book, but it contains two important chapters I am especially proud of—one on the Corruption of Intelligence and the other on Deception Analysis.

            The first should be of interest to everyone because the attempts to manipulate and distort intelligence by our elected officials have reached epidemic proportions. Unfortunately, a significant number of elected Republicans, Democrats, and Tea Party members do not think twice about trying to skew intelligence. I believe the objectivity, integrity, and honesty of intelligence products are vital keys to the preservation of our form of representative government.

            Indeed, perhaps the most valuable service intelligence analysts can perform is to tell policymakers what they don’t want to hear—analysis that differs from their bias, prejudices and, in some cases, their policies.

            The second should also be of interest to a large number of readers because it looks at deception in all its forms as developed and practiced by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Terrorists, human and drug traffickers, and a wide variety of enemies of this country have adopted the principles of Soviet-style deception. And remember, Vladimir Putin is a former KGB intelligence officer, so I am sure deception is a major tool in the arsenal. 

Deception comes in many forms and is an every day problem intelligence and crime analysts face. Most texts on deception concentrate on deception as carried out in a military or political context, failing to recognize self-deception is a major cause of intelligence failures. A friend of mine, with over 40 years experience in intelligence, tells his classes that no analyst can come to a problem or situation with a clean slate. He or she will always have preconceptions or assumptions.  The assumptions may be correct, but the analyst often does not step back and reevaluate when dealing with a new problem. Judgments, he says, tend to get firmer in analysts minds and they rarely revisit them.

Sometimes self-deception and deceptive practices of the opposition come together and result in devastating consequences. This textbook reminds, and in some cases, alerts analysts (and interested non-professionals) to the pitfalls of deception in all forms.