Posted on 05/06/2011 7:43:43 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
Police surrounded a mans house after one of his friends warned the cops that he might be suicidal. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective) the guy was down the street at a bar watching the whole thing on TV.
The mayor is calling it a very expensive ($75,000) hoax, but the cops are still investigating:
Cops are referring to this operation as a well-being check. They apparently take these well-being checks pretty seriously:
(Excerpt) Read more at theagitator.com ...
Such pranks/hoaxes are not funny and can cost lives, like a volunteer fire fighter getting killed in an intersection responding to a fire alarm at a local high school.
I travel to Europe alot and its not uncommon to see both military as well as police patrolling high traffic areas such as airports, train stations, etc... but you can always tell the military personnel from the police.
Here the line is blurred unless the guy is right on top of you pointing his weapon at you screaming “police”, “police”...
That’s why common sense dictates you send a couple or three of marked units to perform the “welfare check”.
If they find out its for real and need help then call in the calvary... you don’t send in the SWAT units from 16, yes 16 different agencies based on an semi-anonymous 911 call... that’s just all covered with stupid right there.
Common sense I guess, is optional in law enforcement these days.
“Did they bother to ask him if he was OK or if he needed any help? “
Apparently not.
Officers were called in from 16 *other* districts. Plus the Oak Forest district. Seventeen.
The only people who are positively affected by these SWAT team overreactions are the criminals themselves.
Houston, we have a problem.
Unless those are the cops who were looking for Eric Rudolph, that’s inexcusable. That’s not police, that’s military with police badges, which ostensibly circumvents Posse Comitatus. The only thing that *might* convince me they’re not actually military is that they’re wearing a grab-bag of differently-colored TA-50, and desert boots with woodland camouflage, and even then there’s no legitimate reason for the police to be wearing uniforms that so closely resemble military ones.
Why do we waste time rushing to prevent suicides? I understand feeling responsible if you already have someone in your hands, especially if they’re not in their right minds. But why go out seeking people to protect against themselves? Let them die if they want.
Or is it the Public Health tobacco/fatty-fatty-fat-fat rationale? We have to kick in their doors to save money on psychiatrist bills and stitching up his wrists. I offer the same solution to that conundrum as any socialized medicine conundrum: cut him off. If doctors’ bills are too much of a burden, he can always finish himself off.
“The chief said he never told investigators he was not inside his house.
Which begs the question: what *did* he say? If it wasn’t along the lines of “Goodbye cruel world,” maybe they could’ve taken it a bit slower.
lol...See 27.
But why go out seeking people to protect against themselves?
My guess is, the big shots got together sometime before this call and decided to put on a raid like this at the first opportunity. They were just waiting for an “appropriate” situation to occur. If this particular call hadn’t come in, it would have been some pot smoker or some drunk yelling at his wife. Someone was gonna get raided.
I think it’s somewhere between the subconscious need to grand stand and the misguided desire to do something even If it’s wrong.
That’s really not funny!
Here in San Ramon, CA a few years ago “a concerned friend” called SRPD to check on a resident whom the caller believed was suicldal. They showed up, she opened the door, saw who it was, ran to the kitchen and got a knife for protection, and was promptly shot to death. The prolog was that the PD “investigators” ruled it was a “justified” shooting.
When he didn't call me by a hour after he left, I called him home and got no answer. These is the calls I made.
Every hospital between his house and mine...
The police departments in the suburbs he pass through asking about any accidents...
Called him again and no answer..
Called the Detroit police to find out what precinct he lived in...
Called the precinct and talked with the Sargent...told them the story and who I had already call...
Told them he was a retired cop and after dark might answer the door with a gun in his hand..they said they would check...
Called my father and this time he answered the phone, I told him to expect a call from the cops and why. While we were still on the phone I heard him cuss and say they were in front of the house now...(with their lights going).
I could hear him talking with the cops and thanking them for checking on him.....Lesson for my dad.
If you don't call when your are suppose to expect your daughter to call the cops....he never forgot to call me after that....but I think he was pleased that his daughter didn't just forget about him when he left the house....
Lots of bad crap from swat, but cops do good work that no one knows about....
PS my father would not tolerate the crap that goes on now when he was in command...but there have always been some cops that are crappy. We just didn't always hear about them and they didn't last long if they screwed up...go up the chain of command and find the idiot in charge of such actions. The ultimate responsibility lie's with the commander...
He’s very lucky to be alive, guy needs to buy a lottery ticket ASAP so he can move away from that particular clan of ninjas.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.