The SWAT Cmdr answers questions in the affirmative by saying “uh huh” and “yeah”? Now, I understand that this isn’t court, but the LEOs I know had training to answer official questions (such as would be in a debriefing) with a very clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’, not grunts or slang.
This is not a defense of the informality of the SWAT leader/commander/whatever who answered uh huh and yeah all the time, but I have noticed that things are a bit more informal in Tucson than they are elsewhere. Or maybe my mother drilled it into my head so much that “yeah” has an “s” at the end and should usually be followed by a “ma’am” or a “sir.” Imprecision is ok in the schools here. It drives one of our OCD children crazy because she works very hard to do things a certain way in order to receive the best grade possible. And then other people turn in inferior work and receive the same grade. When she turns in work of similar quality to her peers, she is marked down. My point is that a good portion of the population here functions at a lower standard. Why wouldn’t the police? In most cases, it is ok to be that way. But in life and death matters and with guns involved, shouldn’t we expect the best?
This tragedy and travesty has allowed us to drive home with some of our children that precision is important and half-assed is unacceptable. There can be terrible consequences to half-assed.