Posted on 12/21/2014 3:41:14 PM PST by Libloather
A veteran Florida police officer was shot and killed while on duty early Sunday.
Officer Charles Kondek, 45, was gunned down in Tarpon Springs, about 30 miles northwest of Tampa, after responding to a call for service around 2 am., local police said.
He was at Glen's Eureka Apartments responding to a noise complaint involving a suspect banging on residential doors — when the man allegedly shot him and fled in a car, WTSP reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
ODD...will have to search for more info tomorrow as details emerge more.
This shooting was Friday afternoon. There should be more info available by now. It seems somebody opened fire on him from a car driving parallel, which doesn’t sound random.
He may have been in uniform on way to or from work, or somebody may have tailed him from the cop shop.
Or he may have been targeted as a random white guy (assuming he’s white) or for some other reason.
But it does seem reporting on this shooting is being played down. To be fair, he isn’t dead, so the NYC case is bigger news.
I found one other article that said he was having surgery after an altercation with occupents of another car...who shot him in lower extremities. I think they shot through car door to hit his legs too.
He had bumper stickers or personalized license plate and or frame
a perpetrator could have known by these being on a personal vehicle!!!!
You would think somebody wouldn’t aim at the car door. But maybe they’re just really bad shots. You’d expect going thru the door to cause the bullets to lose considerable velocity.
You would think, but that isn’t an option for these thugs, it’s action first and think ...no I doubt that.
On Saturday, December 6, 2014
From a police officer in Maryland:
CDS enforcement by patrol is on life support as it is and total arrests have dropped by about 90% where I work. There were guys on my shift who used to go out and get 17 legitimate lock ups per shift, the majority of them felonies. Now, the department is lucky if the whole shift gets 17 lock ups for the month. The hand writing is on the wall: do nothing and save your job. Folks on the street are acting accordingly. I asked one guy I work with why he stopped making arrests. His answer “I can’t risk getting fired.” This is by no means a brutal or corrupt Officer. Very polite, very professional and at one time a very hard worker. Not anymore. The same goes for everyone to his left and right. They’ve all shut down. Police work is effectively over for them and that means that police services are effectively non-existent for the thousands of people who live and work where they patrol.
Occasionally someone will ask me why we don’t Police the way we used to. I tell them why in explicit detail and suggest that they write their elected representatives.
A lot of guys refuse to run code anymore. They won’t activate their lights or siren for anything other than a call to Assist the Officer. Assault in progress? Drive the speed limit. A shooting or a cutting? Drive the speed limit and make sure to stop for at least three seconds at every traffic control device. Why? Because every accident where the Officer runs code is now the Officer’s fault regardless of the transportation articles. So be it. Patrol will adjust accordingly. EMS will not enter the scene where someone is injured as a result of armed criminal action if we are not present. The longer it takes for the Police to arrive the longer that victim bleeds. The problem is that you can’t be fired for getting there a minute late even if the victim dies but you can and will be fired if you crash trying to get there in time, even if you didn’t violate the law or department policy.
Cameras will only make the situation worse. We have already been told that if we get cameras they will have to be turned off when we enter private property to avoid running afoul of the current wiretapping statute. That right there knocks their effectiveness down by about fifty percent. Domestics, EPs/mental cases and investigate the trouble calls account for a good many uses of force. You can ignore a drug dealer on the sidewalk. You can’t ignore a knife wielding schizophrenic who refuses to take his medication. If the Officer thinks that entering that house or apartment to deal with said EP will result in the loss of his job he’s going to pull back and wait for SWAT. Why? Because if he forms a perimeter and everyone in the house is murdered he cannot be disciplined. If he enters the house and kills said EP when attacked with said knife and the family claims racism/brutality/murder he’s looking at termination.
When the cameras come arrests for loitering, disorderly, CDS possession and distribution as a well as a host of other offenses will all but cease. A use of force can be justified but look ugly at the same time. High ranking Police Executives and Mayors don’t like ugly - even if ugly is both lawful and necessary. The result is that Officers will be fired or suspended until the message is received that ugly will not be tolerated. At that point active police work will cease - the process has already started.
A lot of folks want body cameras. They’re not going to like what they get namely Police who will arrive slowly and will simply go through the motions when they arrive - if they come at all. The only thing that Officer is required to do is show up for work on time and get to his call for service eventually (which could be hours). If the Police go into hibernation they are untouchable. No one can be fired or prosecuted for doing the bare minimum. Sadly, that’s the future. It’s unfolding right now.
$harpton bears some responsibility for every cop killing now.
Very well said Mr. Giuliani
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Ditto.
There is a lot about Giuliani that I do not like, but his comments about this situation are spot on.
Most cars have a formed beam in them to protect you from a side collision. Heavy gauge steel, like a guard rail.
True, but it doesn’t fill the whole door. I’ve seen video of even relatively small caliber ammo punching right thru the door.
Must have been through the sides of the vehicle rather than the engine block
Someone shot at the cab my brother was in in Oklahoma once in the 80s, went right through the door like it wasn’t there and out the other side, fortunately he just felt it whizz past him. That was random, though.
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