[marajade]

"No, you are so clueless it hurts."

I'm proud to have been in such good company as those among the San Diego Co. SWAT team and many more fine LE agencies... I'm proud to say that I share their views as well...

[FormerLurker]

I'm proud to have been in such good company as those among the San Diego Co. SWAT team and many more fine LE agencies... I'm proud to say that I share their views as well...

So you're saying that you represent the views of the San Diego SWAT team when you say;

1. It is better for a civilian to be put in harms way rather than an officer
2. If an undercover officer had replaced the clerk, it would have been close to impossible to obtain a conviction for armed robbery
3. If said undercover officer had shot the robber if necessary, the officer would have been prosecuted for murder
4. It is better to have an entire SWAT team wait outside the store in a sting operation with a civilian as bait than have an officer inside posing as a clerk
5. It is necessary to use a SWAT team for this sort of thing
6. This entire operation was a great idea and should be used as a model of fine police work
7. There wasn't enough manpower to send in a undercover detective to replace the clerk inside the store

Those ARE your views, and as such represent the views of the San Diego Co. SWAT team, right?

[hoosierham]

Many members of the Waffen SS were quite proud of themselves and their teams ; after all the Nazis developed the "SWAT" concept to deal with troublemaking Jews and Resistance members.

I'd rather be proud of peace officers who don't feel the need to hide behind masks, shoot people in the backs as in several well-known raids gone awry.From what I have observed, all too many SWAT officers are wannabee Rambos, just itching for the chance to "show their stuff".

I know of a local candidate or two , one pulled a gun on a woman armed with a baby and another routinely approached cars at traffic stoops with drawn gun behind his back.(In low-crime cities, no less.)

[Diddle E. Squat]

Your doing a fine job on this thread, and I agree with your stance. Don't let the rabid malcontentents or those with a perennial chisp on their shoulders get you down.

[SarahW]

What I think you were was some low-level support staff who wouldn't understand the law if it bit them on the butt.

I wouldn't pretend to speak for law enforcement if I were you. You aren't doing them any favors by your display of stupidity, ignorance and rationalization of reckless disregard of the safety of the public.

The cops had hours advance notice. If they decided not to prevent the crime they were informed, a crime they knew who would commit, how and where it would be committed, they had a duty to get the clerk out of harms way.
An undercover officer should have been substituted for the clerk, who could have been killed seriously injured, disfigured, paralyzed, etc.

If that was not workable an arrest based on the unlawful possession of a deadly weapon could have been made on the spot.