Seems to me that the sheriff may have had good reason to point fingers, because he may have known early on that his office was culpable and that he needed to deflect attention from himself.
Please notice that the Tucson police department have apparently not been involved in the investigation. I’m told that is because Lochner’s home, the crime scene, and Pima County Community College all lie outside the city limits, in the sheriff’s jurisdiction.
In other words, Lochner was likely well-known as a local “crazy” to law enforcement, but rather than documenting his behavior and forcing a mental evaluation, the sheriff’s office looked the other way.
It is very, very hard for families alone to get a mentally ill relative into psychiatric care if the patient is unwilling. But law enforcement can arrest a person and take him before the court for involuntary commitment.
I don’t know what the laws are in Arizona, but the families of the victims may have a good case against the sheriff.
Wonder if the fact that his parents work for the county had anything to do with Lochner not being held accountable for his previous actions?
His jurisdiction is the entire county.
I hope they sue the jackass blind!
“... he may have known early on that his office was culpable...”
He definitely seemed to be scolding everyone else but himself. IMHO, he was the one who really started the whole “political” motive. He should realize that law enforcement is suppose to deal with FACTS not SPECULATION. He has failed on this one, big time.
Arizona allows for family, friends or even acquaintances to petition a local court for a mental evaluation, said Suzanne Hodges, chief compliant officer at the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona, the group that provides mental health treatment for Pima County, where the shooting occurred. The court would have then sent someone to interview Loughner and determine if he needed treatment — even if he was not an imminent danger to himself or others, as most other states require.
Jared Loughner has been making death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local bloggers. When Pima County Sheriff’s Office was informed, Dupnik's deputies assured the victims that he was being well managed by the mental health system.