Chapter 1

No, they didn’t wear black, long-rider coats down to their ankles, nor cowboy hats, nor a Colt .45 Peacemaker or even Western style boots and gloves. They didn’t even carry a scabbard complete with Winchester .30-30. They looked more like construction guys who were good with tools and trucks and such things. And chain saws. Few people ever saw them anyway. They worked mainly at night under cover of darkness as they say. Were they violent? Yes, when the circumstances demanded it. Were they above the law? No, if the “state” police could catch them they could be tried in your typical courthouse if charges were laid. There were rumours that some of them were police officers turned rogue. Could be. It happened in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Crown prosecutors and district attorneys usually wet their panties going after them. Really wet. Oh yes. Finding them was the problem and then apprehending them was a much bigger problem.

They were vigilantes, defined by Oxford as “a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate”. One of the best things to come out of England was a system of laws that gave a solid framework from which society could operate. It took 600 years to develop. And Sir Robert Peel, the “father” of modern policing provided a means of enforcing those laws – namely, the police.

Things operated very well for awhile (ok, abstracting from the World Wars that humans always seemed to get themselves into and now they have nuclear weapons... ). Police forces kept a lid on the five percent of humanity that just can’t stop robbing, pillaging, raping, murdering the rest of society. Crime seemed to be on a downward trend with each passing decade. Indeed, even cities like New York, Winnipeg, Chicago, Los Angeles and Calgary and Edmonton (perhaps not Detroit) had decreasing rates of crime. So far so good.

So everybody was happy, right? Wrong. The “progressives” felt that the justice system was far too harsh. You could stand back and see it change in the late 1960s. Soon politicians wanted to emphasize rehabilitation of criminals rather than punishment or, say, keeping the perps locked up and away from law abiding people. Soon the perps were given chance after chance after chance. And then more chances. Perps could amass 50 serious criminal code convictions or felonies and still get put out on the street to do it all over again as they saw fit. Pass Go and collect 200 Bux. Soon courts ruled that a perp was not responsible for his crimes because he was an alcoholic or had fetal alcohol syndrome or was addicted to methamphetamine. In some places just being an indian excused the perp from reasonable punishment. Maybe any punishment at all. Does this sound remotely reasonable?

And the victims? Well, the vics weren’t all that important especially to the politicians. What was important was for the pols to be seen doing something, anything, for the public. Didn’t matter if it was useful or not. It’s the optics you see. “The optics aren’t good but I’m going in.” LOL. And what of all the raped girls and women out there? You would think they would “throw the rascals out” as a famous man once said. And make the justice system tough on perps and easy on the vics. And police.

But you’d be wrong. Very wrong. Very, very wrong. Then the pols decided to go after everyone’s guns. It was the optics you see. Take ‘em away. The NRA could argue til it was blue in the face that the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. That didn’t matter. The pols wanted citizen’s guns. Sure, it makes perfect sense. When seconds count, the police are only 30 minutes away. Or worse. So the only people out there who are armed will be the perps and the victim in the street will have nothing to protect themselves with. Yes, makes perfect sense doesn’t it.

So far so good. Or was it? Crime began to rise. Violent crime rose making some areas of many cities no-go zones. For the police or anybody. Then along came “Black Lives Matter”. Well, sure they do but what if they’re perps? “If you can’t do the time. Don’t do the crime”. Right on. Then defund the police came along. What????? Rising crime and societies should reduce what they spend on police? You can see where this is going. And not to a good place. People in some quarters were getting very upset. Something needed to be done. And soon.

Reduced spending on police was strongly correlated with increasing crime. Crime doubled or tripled in some areas. And the police just never showed up. Or 2 days later maybe. Is there something wrong with this picture? But it was not only the police lack of resources. The courts became brain-addled, even brain-dead. Prosecutors refused to prosecute all sorts of crimes from minor or misdemeanors right up to and including serious crime, felonies. The California governor was proud to start emptying jails in that state. Hard-core criminals got back on the street and went right back to doing what they had before – being criminals.

Police could describe what was happening they just couldn’t do much about it. When people were apprehended there was usually a scuffle, a fight or worse with shots fired. No wonder officers became jumpy not knowing what every traffic stop would bring. Officers were very cautious approaching a driver for something as simple as handing out a speeding ticket. And the media were generally on the side of the perp, surprisingly enough. If there was a hint of violence by a police officer the media were right there building a federal case out of it. It wasn’t always like that. Thirty years ago the media seemed to have some concern for the victims of crime but that was then this is now.

Then there was a heinous case involving the disappearance of young women in a certain area. A girl walking home from school never makes it. Sure there are tons of cases like this. Some get solved some don’t. Often the perp will be in jail for something else when the connection is made and he gets made. Then another girl, 18 years old turns up dead and raped. Then another one turns up dead. This is horrible. Everyone is outraged. How do they solve this?

You have to let the police take the reigns and see if they can come up with suspects. But what about the courts and their Club Fed easy furlough plan for serious criminals? Could something be done. Well you can find videos of Brazilian Police helicopters fitted with .50 calibre machine guns laying down fire into fleeing drug pushers cars right in the city. Perhaps a little strong for our needs. Maybe.

They started out small. It was a simple matter to monitor criminals progress thru the court system. One Perp had been convicted of 12 robberies with violence although nobody was killed just shot and injured. The vics even recovered albeit with some life changing affects. So their right arm was never the same again due to the bullet wound. No big deal to the court. This perp had now skipped out on his latest parole appointment with his parole officer. The police were looking for him but the vigilantes found him first.

It was a quick and straightforward ride out to the country with Mr. Perp all duct taped up and blindfolded sitting in the back seat between 2 of the vigilantes. They got to their destination and stopped the truck. Mr. Perp was not politely requested to vacate the truck. He was roughly grabbed by his ankles and pulled out of the truck landing hard on the ground. Oh Boy, he was in for a rough ride. He was strung up to a high branch by hard wire wrapped around his thumbs. He didn’t like that too much.

They ripped the tape off his mouth. Then the baseball bat was produced. Before they used it on him the questions came fast and furious. “What did you think you were doing holding other innocent people hostage? Who the Hell do you think you are you piece of shit?” They cut his clothes off leaving him nude in the chill night air. His legs were wired to a board at the ankles holding them 2 feet apart. “You shot somebody leaving permanent injuries over 50 Bux?” His response? He spit at them. About a nanosecond later the bat slammed full force into his dick and scrotum. You should have heard him scream.

He spit at them again, if you can believe that. He did. The bat slammed into his scrotum again even harder. God that must have hurt. Before he could take yet another breath to scream the bat landed again on his sack and nuts. How much could one punk take? A fourth time the bat slammed his nut sack. Now he wailed like there was no tomorrow. Another shot to the gonads then they started on his right shoulder until it was pulverized. Brutally pulverized. Was it enough? Probably not for the victims of his crimes. But for them tonight it was.

They let him live with a stern warning to behave or next time would be worse. By worse - meaning??????? He guessed what they meant. They backed the truck up and cut him down into the box of it. He was retaped with his hands behind his back. Back into town they went and being the good samaritans they were, stopped at the local hospital. The truck plates were covered and the guy who pulled him out of the truck box was dressed in black with a hoodie on with a face covering. He grabbed the useless sack of shit by the ankles and pulled hard letting him fall to the pavement in front of the emergency doors. Concussion to the head? Yes, maybe. Probably. Then they were gone as quick as they arrived.

Our Perp did survive his punishment but the open question was would he continue on in his life of crime. Of course, he would be out of commission for awhile and as perps get older sometimes they do not have the energy to continue being criminals but really it is a crap shoot.

The vigilantes retired for a few days but kept watching and investigating. Now the local police swung into action once they investigated the attack on Mr. Perp. He wasn’t much help as he did not recognize anyone and truthfully was terrorized by the incident. Poor devil, he’d never father children ever again as the medics had to removed his destroyed testicles. He’d be lucky if he ever got an erection again let alone pleasured a woman. But hey he could always provide back door service when he eventually went back to prison. LOL.