BlueSheepdog
10 Years Experience
Around the Way, FL
Male, 40
Cheating death and fighting communism: that is how a fellow officer once described our job. It was meant to be funny, but as time went on it seemed all too true.
I spent more than ten years in law enforcement, all of it on the street in uniform patrol. I've been a patrol officer, instructor, sergeant and lieutenant.
Do not report crimes here. Nothing here should be considered legal advice. All opinions are my own.
There are too many questions and not enough facts for people to comment much. But a couple of things have been discussed by my fellow officers: 1. The media coverage sucks. The media seems more interested in banning guns than they do in reporting facts about the incident. I'm pretty tired of reading ignorant articles that use terms like "high powered magazine" or refer to four guns as an arsenal. The rush to get the bloodiest photos and information (incorrect is ok) on the air is disgusting. 2. Just one off duty cop or lawfully armed citizen sitting in the theater could have stopped the killing. Sure the guy was wearing body armor, but when he is now taking rounds (which will still REALLY hurt), he is going to stop killing the defenseless to either retreat or focus on whoever is shooting at him. Too bad the theater's no gun policy only applied to people who follow the law - not murderers. 3. The Aurora PD had an extremely fast response time. As far as just how the officers handled the situation - they ran toward the shooting rather than away from it. Not much else needs to be said. As the department debriefs all of the officers involved and evaluates the overall response, we may get a feeling of what could have been done better, but I doubt there is anything different they could have done.
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The short answer is "That's the way the laws are written." If you believe that police officers should not be allowed to exercise discretion, work with your elected representatives to change the law. I think, however, most people want police officers to be able to exercise discretion. For example, if I stop a parent rushing to the hospital after their child was taken to the emergency room, I'm not handing them a speeding ticket. There are a whole host of reasons why I might not issue someone a citation. The point of traffic enforcement is to modify behavior. In other words, it should not be about generating income for the jurisdiction, it should be about encouraging the safe operation of motor vehicles for the purpose of reducing accidents and traffic fatalities. If I can get someone to drive in a more safe manner with an encouraging word, why should I instead drop a $200 fine on them?
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Yes - there is a lot of training that goes into defeating disarming attempts. Should anyone try to take my firearm, they should expect an immediate and extremely violent reaction. Someone trying to take my firearm is a imminent threat to my life and the lives of the citizens around me, and any officer will respond appropriately to that. Also, departments generally issue or require the use of special duty holsters that also have a series of movements, snaps, levers, locks and/or other devices that prevent an unauthorized person from removing the firearm from the holster.
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No. From the information I have gotten from officers who actually responded to that incident, the responding agencies did everything right to stop the killing as quickly as possible. From the time the first 911 call was received to when the first officer was pulling on scene was less than two minutes if I recall correctly. That was an amazingly fast response time. Once on scene, the officers deployed and went straight toward the killer to engage him. The response techniques they used are the same ones we use for these incidents. While the incident will be studied and each officer's performance evaluated, as a whole, the tactics appear to have worked as designed. However, even more children could have been saved had a armed teacher or parent been on scene.
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Yes. This allows time for the agency to investigate the incident and evaluate the officer's fitness for duty. Involvement in a deadly force encounter is extremely draining, emotionally and physically, and even when everything happend "by the book," it can be very hard on the officer.
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Everywhere is different. Some departments have a defined pay advancement plan (sometimes called a step plan), while others do not. My agency does not have such a plan, and we negotiate with the city for annual raises. How promotions are handles also varies. Often, there are minimum standards set for a position, such as X number of years with the department, certain training classes completed, etc. College degrees may be required for some/all advancement positions. Many police officers stay in uniform patrol for their entire career. Patrol is the backbone of an agency, and accounts for the majority of the officers. Only a few can move out of patrol into other positions. For many officers, patrol is what they like, and where they want to be. I prefer patrol over most specialty positions for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the ability to respond to incidents and help people in crisis. By the time a detective shows up to a scene, I've already done a lot to shape the course of the investigation.
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Honesty is an absolute requirement for being a police officer. I'm not sure if you are asking if you should lie on a background application or not, but no...you should always be completely honest. There are any number of reasons why someone might be disqualified, and a history of drug use is one of those things. Methamphetamine is a dangerous drug, and one with a high likelihood of addiction. The public is entitled to be reasonably sure that officers are not using dangerous, illegal drugs. I hope you are clean now, and stay clean for the rest of your life.
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