my bad, all the pics i saw were in daytime... but he was already waved through by other LEO's yes???
Posted on 02/22/2013 3:37:46 PM PST by neverdem
Police typically say that their top mission is to protect “public safety.” That’s the lingo. But the recently concluded manhunt for former Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner, accused of murdering four people after releasing a manifesto decrying his 2008 firing from the force, suggests that concern about the public’s actual safety sometimes is fairly low on the list of police priorities.
Last weekend, police opened fire on a 71-year-old newspaper carrier and her 47-year-old daughter who had the misfortune of driving a pick-up truck police thought might be Dorner’s. The Los Angeles police detectives who opened fire on them, putting two bullets in the older woman’s back, didn’t do much double checking. The carriers' truck was a different make and color from Dorner’s.
As the women’s attorney told the Los Angeles Times: “The problem with the situation is it looked like the police had the goal of administering street justice and in so doing, didn't take the time to notice that these two older, small Latina women don't look like a large black man.” This could be written off as a sad fluke, except that 25 minutes later different officers opened fire on a different truck—once again getting key details wrong. Can’t officers at least check the license plate, and issue a warning, before opening fire?
“Nobody trains police officers to look for one of their own,” said Maria Haberfeld, a police-training professor at John Jay College in New York, according to the Web site News One. “I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes and I don’t think anybody else would.” We all understand the situation. But saying that we wouldn’t want to be “in their shoes” is no excuse for such dangerous behavior. The police wouldn’t excuse a member of the public for misusing a firearm, regardless of how stressed out that person felt.
News One also published the photograph of a gray Ford truck in the Los Angeles area with a hand-made “Don’t Shoot, Not Dorner, Thank You” poster on the back window. T-shirts and bumper stickers have popped up to similar effect. Those are funny in a dark way, but police ought to recognize how poorly this reflects on them and their strategies. It’s sad when people are more worried about the police than they are about a murderer on the loose.
“Simply put, the police culture in our country has changed,” argued former San Jose Police Chief Joe McNamara, a Hoover Institution scholar, in a Wall Street Journal article in 2006. “An emphasis on ‘officer safety’ and paramilitary training pervades today’s policing, in contrast to the older culture, which held that cops didn’t shoot until they were about to be shot or stabbed.”
Murders are sadly routine in the Los Angeles area. The massive police presence was the result of the killer targeting their own, thus leading to the reasonable conclusion that police pulled out the stops not because the public was in danger but because they were in danger. I don’t blame police for their efforts, but I also understand why residents in, say, South Los Angeles, wondered why killings in their community don’t rate the same attention.
With crime rates at 40-year lows, this is an opportune time for a debate about such police-priority issues free from excess emotionalism.
Media reports have focused on the rantings within Dorner’s manifesto. But a lot of it is about bureaucratic indifference—about police officials who, in his mind, didn't care about the communities they are sworn to protect. Nothing justifies such violence and I'm sickened by people who are celebrating Dorner, but even the LAPD is re-opening the case of Dorner’s firing. Perhaps the department will try to glean some broader lessons from this tragedy.
Currently, a case before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is evaluating the lengths to which police are required to go to protect innocent bystanders. The case involves Sacramento police who were trailing a suspect who had run from his car and then hid in a tree in a family’s backyard. A police helicopter spotted him. So an officer released a police dog into the yard even though people were having a gathering in the backyard.
Police dogs are trained to bite and hold suspects, but they can’t distinguish between law-abiding citizens relaxing with friends and police suspects. So Bandit attacked the first person it saw. Instead of instituting reform and settling with the family, Sacramento PD has been arguing that “officer safety” would be endangered by requiring a reasonable warning before releasing a vicious dog on private property.
It’s frightening to think that police can use deadly force without taking even the most modest steps to protect innocent bystanders. It’s even more frightening to hear people defend this approach. Yes, officer safety is important. But so is the public’s safety. It's time to grapple with the proper balance.
True. And this percentage must be brought back under control by those in charge or the guilt will be at all levels.
Well mannered adults are reciprocated.
Reading comprehension problems? Projection? What?
One morning a few years ago I was leaving my house early before sunrise and saw a pickup truck down the street in my residential neighborhood. I didn’t leave my driveway because I was afraid he would run into me. I was thinking what was this guy looking for. The truck was going down the middle of the street weaving from side to side with it’s lights off. There are enough streets lights do this. As it got closer I could tell they were delivering papers. I assumed they had their lights off to avoid bothering people sleeping?
When I heard the story about the police shooting up the truck I remember what I saw. The reports I heard on the radio were saying Dorner was in a grey or blue pick-up. I thought this was odd because if it was his pick-up registered to him they should know from DMV records. The story I heard that morning was a different patrol spotted the pick-up exiting the freeway and told the officer guarding the house of one persons Dorner had threaten to kill in his manifesto. They were driving toward the house with the person on the list when the shooting happen.
Earlier that morning in Corona, Dorner fired at Los Angeles police officers who were assigned to protect a person connected to Dorner’s threats,
In Riverside police said two of its officers were shot in an ambush at an intersection. One died, and the other was taken to a hospital.
Still before sunrise the same morning is when the Torrance shooting happen. Twice in the last few hours Dorner was believed to shoot at police in the area. I could see why they were hyper-paranoid.
I still think they will loose their jobs, even if it is just to protect the image of the LAPD. They might find some way to take care of them with an other job but not in LAPD.
What I don’t understand is how the truck got pass them so they had to shoot at it from the rear?
my bad, all the pics i saw were in daytime... but he was already waved through by other LEO's yes???
Sunrise was about 7:00 AM How could it be broad daylight at 4:30 to 5:00 AM?
From the article: The police wouldn’t excuse a member of the public for misusing a firearm, regardless of how stressed out that person felt.
Ordinary peasant (as Officer Porkins slaps the cuffs on him): Gosh, officer - it was just too dark to see if I was REALLY being attacked, so I just shot anyway.
Alaska Troll: "Four legs good, Blue legs better!!!""
I’ve had relatives on the job continuously since 1952. I’ve rarely encountered the us v them you speak of. I have run into that in Nassau County. What I have seen and what I do not excuse is the belief among cops that their first job is to get home to their family every day. If that’s what they believe they should go sell shirts in Macy’s. Firemen,particularly big city guys like FDNYs don’t have the same mindset. Cops should understand that doing their job in a way that works and is safe requires a different mindset than getting home safely.
I didn't see you complaining. Were you?
Were any of the adults you were raised around well mannered?
I only ask because I don’t see much of you modeling that particular behavior.
I’m open to you pointing out an example where you actually were well mannered.
Go look again.
Where did you see that?
Look up the definition of reciprocate. I don't take sh*t off of anyone, but particularly bullies and liars.
Post it if you have it.
He was told to turn around by one group of cops and was shortly thereafter rammed and shot at by a second group.
Take, perhaps not. Give abundantly, certainly.
RECIPROCATE
To: Alaska WolfI think you are the only person on earth who would defend our “betters” being trained by shooting at photorealistic targets of children as “not very lifelike”.
Can’t say I’m surprised, though.
Aim small, miss small.
36 posted on Fri Feb 22 00:55:28 2013 by null and void (Gun confiscation enables tyranny. Don't enable tyranny.)
Your post, not mine. Prove your allegation. I despise liars.
You asked for me to show you when I was complaining, I did.
I’m sorry to hear about your self-loathing.
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.