Police are tasked with keeping the peace (preventing crime). The Waco Police were at Twin Peaks before the bikers. Did they just sit there watching multiple felonies being committed before they got out of their patrol cars with guns a-blazin'? That is what it looks like.
Whatever reason the Waco Police were at Twin Peaks, they lost control of the situation. They failed in their task to keep the peace.
“Did they just sit there watching multiple felonies being committed...”
What multiple felonies do you think that they saw happening BEFORE the violent shootout?
After all, once they saw the violent shootout they did act to stop it, so you can’t possibly be complaining about that...
According to Waco Chief of Police, his men were, indeed sitting in their cars when the first shots were fired.
I have to disagree the job of the police is to prevent crime. They do come when called and when they can get there in time, which isn’t often, they can possibly stop the crime in action. They also carry guns to protect themselves for the most part.
More often than not their job is to document as much as they can and preserve the crime scene so others can come in and document it for proof later.
No one deserved to get mowed down unless they were actively attempting to kill someone else but I still think it was felony stupid to fight in front of uniformed LE there en mass. Even dumber to shoot someone in front of them.
This was not a planned fight even though potential was there. I do believe there were a few, probably Cossacks, who showed up with the intent of getting into it with the Bandidos. The Bandidos are not the type to take disrespect lying down. Testosterone, false pride, and reputations were the fuel for this fight.
The problem, as I see it, is how the police, judge, and DA handled this after a fight in the parking lot.