The author of this post on the Federalist blog (below) makes some reasonable points. Unfortunately cops don’t always deal with reasonable people or situations. According to liberals, Agent Terry was killed by people not otherwise engaged in illegal conduct. They were assisting wetbacks into the country.
The shooters were supplied with weapons under the aegis of United States Attorney General Holder.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/20/police-shouldnt-react-harshly-moms-wont-put-babies/
The Phoenix Police screwed up but they didn’t violate law or policy, just common sense and good taste. The so-called victims were engaged in criminal conduct. I give the kid a by. But daddy also stole some underwear. Just because somebody is black, they are not entitled to commit theft, or disregard lawful police orders.
Oh the language! Seems like I heard F bombs flowing in both directions. The suspects weren’t intimidated by a bunch of screaming assholes with guns. Is it rational to believe the “Miss Manners” approach would be any more successful?
Before the cops can hope to control a situation, they have to control themselves. That means a coordinated approach with one officer in command.
As one crook put it to me forty years ago: “You guys need to get your shit together, one cop told me to freeze, another told me to put my hands up and the third told me to get down on the ground. I knew right then, I was gonna piss two of those assholes off.”
Literal compliance is good. There is no question that this guy understood and complied with the command.
But sometimes cops have to take what they can get. I call it substantial compliance.
Sometimes suspects want to comply but… It’s fucking cold, the ground is wet and icy. This guy probably is not going to prone out. He is not being unreasonable. Take what you can get and move on.
“Put you hands up, Let me see your hands” Yeah it sounds good, all the TV cops shout it, so it must be cool. The object is to take an inventory and see if there is anything in a suspect’s hands that can hurt the officer. I guess she can use the kid as a blunt object. Probably not.
When I was assigned to the narcotics task force, we used to swagger and claim: “Six to sixty, blind cripple or crazy, everybody goes down.” We lied. There was good reason for that policy. It may not look pretty dragging a paraplegic felon out of his wheelchair. But the pistol he was sitting on more than justified the action. I don’t know how many pistols we dragged out of hastily vacated couch cushions.
By the same token we did make allowances for age and infirmities. If a suspect was moving to comply, we saw no reason to brow beat the person. Here is an example of how to make lemonade out of lemons.
The Phoenix police have a problem. It starts at the top. The Chief is ready to throw her cops under the bus. It is the Chief’s responsibility to guide the department and establish and maintain the standards that make up the department culture. Backstabbing, avoiding responsibility, knee jerk reactions, are not the hallmarks of an effective police agency or administrator. Chief, want to know why your guys act the way the do? Find a mirror, take a long hard look.
