Posted on 08/12/2015 9:54:08 PM PDT by rey
When a Sebastopol man locked himself in his house after a family dispute Wednesday and ignored commands to surrender, police there decided a forced entry might “incite a violent response.”
Instead, the officers left. However, they returned with an arrest warrant about four hours later. With the help of another resident of the Juniper Avenue home, they gained entry and arrested Alexander Moser without incident.
Police responded shortly before 1 p.m. to the home after a resident there reported that her grandson, Moser, was making threats to kill his brother, according to a Sebastopol Police news release. Officers later learned that Moser, 33, was on probation after a conviction for causing injury while driving under the influence.
Upon arrival, police saw Moser sitting on the home’s front porch and ordered him to remain. Instead, he fled into the house, locked the door and refused commands to surrender, police said.
“Based on the nature of the violations and the high likelihood that Moser could be apprehended at a later time, the decision was made to clear the scene,” Sebastopol police said in a written statement.
Officers later returned with the warrant and arrested Moser on suspicion of resisting arrest and violation of probation. He remained without bail in the Sonoma County Jail on Wednesday night.
Tough situation.
This is an example of intelligent policing! It's the antithesis of the moron cop over in Rohnert Park last week who drew his pistol on a guy who was taking his picture. This department is to be applauded for deciding that it wasn't necessary to stir the pot. Not every encounter needs to see the "use of force."
Agreed.
No SWAT team? No dead dogs? No dead respondent? Have those officers forgotten their training? What is the world coming to?
Civilized policing requires stalwart and principled sheriffs and police chiefs (and mayors). The pressure from Wasington is for SWAT teams and blazing guns, unless the targets happen to be Negroes, in which case engraved invitations must be issued. It is easy to go along with all that. In my county we have a good sheriff. Local SWAT teams may exist but they are not used. State ATF teams have not seen action in years, not since this sheriff was elected. No dogs have been shot in 2 years since two were shot in two months and the sheriff said, “There’ll be no more of that.”
Too bad the FBI didn’t use this approach on David Koresh.
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