The policies of appeasement currently being followed in Ferguson, Missouri have yet again produced tragic, yet wholly predictable results. Shortly after midnight, two police offers were shot while standing in front of the police station and monitoring the ongoing protests. Through some blessing, both officers survived the assassination attempt, but were hospitalized with serious injuries.

Two police officers were hit by gunfire early Thursday outside the Ferguson police department.

The shots were fired just after midnight as police were confronting protesters who had gathered outside the police station.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said one officer was with his department and the other was with the Webster Groves department. Both were being treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where Belmar spoke, and were in serious condition.

The chief said at least three shots were fired. He described the injuries of both men as “very serious wounds.”

The Webster Groves officer was shot in the face. He is 32 and has been on the force seven years.

The county officer was hit in the shoulder. That officer is 41 and has been on the force for 14 years.

As is usual in the Age of Youtube, somebody was on hand filming as the shots were fired. (Warning: Profanity.)

Listening to both the person doing the filming and responses from the crowd, you can tell just how surreal the situation has become. Immediately after the would be assassins fire the shots, somebody in the crowd of protesters yells out, “Acknowledgement nine months ago would have kept that from happening!”

The companion to the person doing the filming (named “Carl”) is apparently cooking on a grill during the protest and is noted to simply continue cooking while two officers are on the ground bleeding. Reporters on the scene all seemed to agree that there were “two protests” going on. One group was complaining that the recent resignations of judges and top cops were not enough, while the other group was “getting ugly” and hurling profanities and threats at the police charged with keeping order through the night.

The point is, this was not some isolated maniac. One cameraman who was on the phone to MSNBC this morning said that the shots were fired “from the crowd” of people in the aforementioned “ugly” group. Rather than organized protests which embrace First Amendment rights, this is chaos. Leaders from the local level all the way up to Eric Holder are pursuing a policy of appeasement in the face of mayhem with tragic results which should not be coming as a surprise. Rather than identifying some specific individuals and incidents of wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement – assuming there was any clear cut proof of such – the state and the feds have essentially delegitimized the law enforcement structure and punished those charged with keeping order. And not just the police, but even the courts as well. Under such a public specter, why should the law abiding have any confidence that they will be protected under the rule of law? And why would those contemplating criminal activity feel any fear of the consequences of their actions? (Yes, “fear” is the correct term, even if you don’t care for it. Criminals should fear the long arm of the law. It’s how deterrence works.)

This has obviously fueled the fire that was already burning in and around Ferguson and now you have people lining up directly across from the police station and shooting cops before disappearing into the night. These attempted assassinations should serve as a wake-up call. The government needs to get serious about reestablishing law and order on the streets of Ferguson rather than trying to appease the reporters from the New York Times and Al Sharpton. If they can’t manage that, they may as well pull out all of the cops and the legitimate workers and business owners and just give the place up.