Are the Cops Acting Like Cowards, or is it Misguided Policy?

Sure, but it isn't good enough. I'm not prepared to say "oh well."

That's how it should be, as often as possible.

I get that they don't want to die, but those are the situations we pay them for. Any body can hand out a ticket, but the real work is getting paid to handle risk.

Wow. You must be an extreme libertarian. I'm totally fine with self defense, but I still like having effective police. I'm not ready to give up on having cops.

 

`
I'm not disagreeing with you.

 

No, I am an extreme personal responsibility person. You are your own first responder.
When seconds count, LE is only minutes away. Depending on traffic and weather.

 

Oh come on. Obama tells us that peddling drugs is a non-violent crime. That is except when people are killed for their distribution territory, the addicts that kill to get that next fix, or the dealer that messes up in cutting the smack causing OD, or use killer ingredients.

 

Fair enough.

 

That's because you're a criticizer rather than a person who has had to make life or death decisions.

 

People in combat situations put themselves in far more danger on a regular basis. I'm not asking people to do something they aren't capable of, or willing to do. I'm not expecting the average patrol guy to do this, but I do expect large police departments to have some BMF's on hand who are paid well to take risks. I thought those guys were SWAT, but apparently I was wrong.

 

The local police had the Orlando shooter trapped in a bathroom within 3 minutes of receiving the call. They were told to pull out.

The shooter was then given 3 1/2 hours to stroll around kicking bodies to see who was still alive to murder them and finding hiding people to murder. For people hurdled in one bathroom, he would stroll in, shoot them a few more times. Leave. Return again and do it again - over and over.

A .223 is a tiny bullet by which most people shot will die of bleeding to death rather than sudden kill. For 3 1/2 hours the police knowingly allowed people to bleed to death and to allow the shooter to hunt down and murder more people.

The police have stated they were certain there was only 1 shooter and if he had bombs he would have used them already. I believe Federal authorities - FBI, DOJ and White House - had declared they are taking charge - meaning all decisions were now bureaucratic political decisions for which saving lives became 100% irrelevant - just like in Benghazi.

Increasingly, the slogan "to serve and protect" has come to mean only "to serve and protect the police."

When seconds count, the police are only 3 hours away, just outside the door.

 

A person who is absolutely unwilling to take any risk including when knowing people are bleeding to death and being ongoingly murdered have NO business becoming a police officer, any more than a person terrified of heights shouldn't become an electrical lineman or high rise window cleaner.

In fact, being a police officer isn't even close to being the most dangerous profession.

 

A life and death decision was made - and the decision by government was death for those still in the club bleeding to death and being hunted down in their hiding places and shot down.

 

We know people who were in the club. 5 murdered. 2 shot. The rest escaped only terrorized. The shooter, once no longer trapped, strolled about kicking bodies to try to find who was faking being dead or still alive and bleeding, shooting them point-blank. The shooter was allowed freedom of movement AFTER being trapped for over 3 hours..

Afterwards, sickeningly, law enforcement was taking turns congratulating themselves.

 

In this instance, the police decided to release the shooter from being trapped to give him 3 hours more killing time. Those LEs superiors decided the police shouldn't just be minutes away, but hours away.

The local police on patrol had it under control within minutes - but then the feds took over and told them to pull out, taking over authority - and doing NOTHING for 3 hours. This was not cowardice of the local beat cops, it was the total apathy about lives by federal bureaucrats and politicians.

There has been a TOTAL BLACKOUT of ANY information on participation by the White House or any other federal authority. Was Obama told during the 3 1/2 hours? Did the FBI, DOJ or any other federal authority or person become involved? That is 100% secret and all the media has agreed to 100% cover that up entirely. And since most people think that the only relevancy in life is what national media tells them, no one is even asking. A MASSIVE INFORMATION BLACKOUT COVER-UP.

There was an ongoing MASS SHOOTING that lasted over 3 hours in the USA. Was the President informed? Why is it forbidden for media to even ASK what the federal government and president did or didn't do?

This is Benghazi all over again. People begging for help and to be rescued - and the government did NOTHING as those people bleed to death and were hunted down and murdered.

The government doesn't care if you die. They only care about bureaucratic pecking order and figuring out political implications. Your life is irrelevant in those considerations.

 

Generally speaking, most of Freddie Gray's convictions are for possession, not distribution. there was one, maybe two, possession with intent to distribute which basically means that he had enough substance to consider him to distribute. He was more than likely and user and not a pusher given his arrest record.

That being said, regardless of his past, because he died in the custody of the police, questions had to be asked and determined if any wrong doing was committed. I only saw one or two officers that had questionable intentions in this whole affair.

However, what happened in Baltimore was a product that has been brewing long before anyone in the public heard of Freddie Gray. The issue with the police and the lack of communications towards the general public shows that something was at least, amiss. In hindsight, it should have been handled better by all involved, from mayor on down. The police should have at least known about the lack of public support towards the police instead of dismissing it from the get go. And yes, there should not have been riots and destruction of public property. No one is a saint here and everyone has some contribution to the whole mess, including the media.

 

Uh, I suggest you read his abbreviated record, most of his arrests were "intent to distribute" with the odd burglary, assault, and probation violation charges thrown in.

I don't even think that is an all inclusive list of his criminal behavior, which goes back to when he was 17. Who knows how many juvenile charges he managed to rack up.

His past is not a "regardless" situation, his behavior is why he is dead, it was only a matter of time.

Keep blaming the cops for people like this though, it just ensures they won't be there to help you when the next Freddy Gray decides he wants you to be his next victim.

 

The police will be there? Where do you get that from? Other than to fill out a report after-the-fact anyway.

 

However bad it was, it will now be worse.

 

This was something that was discussed recently after Orlando, not here but elsewhere. I think it's down to poor training and irregular use of a firearm, by the police. People forget that police aren't soldiers trained for combat on a regular basis. In this sense, the answer may be both.

 

"Protect and Serve" died a long time ago. Most cops, perhaps all cops, number 1 priority is to go home unharmed and if that means they have to shoot innocent people, then they shoot innocent people. The system so far has protected the cops even when they blatantly murder an innocent person (as in John Crawford shopping in Walmart, and being killed by a cop after a false 911 call).

And growing from that attitude is the sense that cops are superior to everyone else, that cops are the "boss" and you better "obey".

 

Most, not all, police did serve in the military and the local police had him cornered in a bathroom, surrounded by "assault" rifles (according to local police.) They were ordered NOT to take him out and instead to pull out of the club to give the shooter total freedom to shoot as many more as many more times as he wanted to for over 3 hours.

MOST patrol officers are NOT cowards, but they are under orders to act like cowards per departmental policies.

 

Wrong. 99.9 times out of 100 the cops are in the right. The problem is major cities are run by gutless pc democrats who will throw a good cop who made a good decision under the bus rather defend an unfounded law suit.

 

`
I like your statistic; "99.9 times out of 100 the cops are in the right". Very precise for something not based on reality.

 

Many who wear the uniform are good people. If you want to assign blame, start with the problem of lowered standards. Unfortunately some become members of LE, who years ago would not have been hired.

Imho

 

I think JakeJ may be on to something as well. Bad policies seem to be more of a factor. I would like to think that the people who I know in LE would try to do something, given the ability to do so.

It's tough. There are scenarios where more scrutiny needs to be applied, and there are situations like these that shouldn't have so much. When there is a mass shooting in progress, the cops should be able to take more risks, even if the potential for collateral damage is there.

Yeah, I've heard this is a problem as well.

 

It is far closer to reality than your silly cops cheerfully rally around cops that are incompetent or dangerous. Put it this way do you want some one sitting next to a guy that tends to make a bad situation worse?

 

`
A horse a piece.