I need to vent about the pathetic coverage of this event. Some of the commentators Fox News are using are simply pathetic.
The WVA retired state trooper is telling people how they need to keep too many CHP Officers from going to this incident because they are needed for responding to burglaries and robberies. Huhhhh???? In California, CHP handles freeway and highway problems. They do not respond to burglaries or robberies unless requested to do so by another agency. They routinely assist other agencies in vehicle pursuits on freeways and highways (just like this one) and are very good at it.
Some of the facts already known are this guy has 2 guns, one of which is a semi-automatic. He's pointing one or both guns at his head and is apparently suicidal or at least threatening it by his actions. This guy is driving a van with false license plates so it may be a stolen van. The guy tried to abduct or kidnap a lady who says he is a stranger so he may be a serial type rapist or killer. This guy is obviously a severe danger to the public because he is willing to commit violent and dangerous felony crimes against apparent strangers.
Now this WVA retired trooper is telling Fox News and its' viewers about his ignorance in thinking these CHP Officers should be someplace else for some lower grade crime. What a moron!! The CHP was handling the situation perfectly with just the right amount of people and the LA Sheriff's Dept brought in armored vehicles to surround the suspect and his vehicle and further prevent him from endangering the public. This was a textbook operation on how to safely contain a dangerous suspect and reduce as much as possible any danger to the public. This trooper should stick to what he knows which is obviously how they do things in WVA.
Then Fox News puts on Judge Napolitano, another moron. He knows his stuff about prosecuting cases and judging cases byut he doesn't know shyte about police work. He should close his trap and not offer more ignorant opinions about what he thinks is being done. His big intellectual contributions to the story this morning is that the police are free to lie, cheat or BS the suspect and do anything short of a crime to get him to give up. Judge Napolitano also said that due to the dangerous situation, the police have the right to shoot to kill the suspect at any time the suspect presents a dangerous motion towards them.
WTF!!! Let's see now. Have the police LIE to the suspect when this whole thing is constantly displayed on Fox News and the suspect is apparently talking to people he knows on his cell phone. No worries there judge, the suspect will never figure out the cops are lying to him and thus won't be tempted to go from peaceful to postal. Yeah, that's a good strategy--NOT. Thank God you were never a cop because you are a moron.
And let's just shoot to kill the suspect instead of shooting to stop the threat (like every sane cop does). Yeah, we just want to kill these people because they made a wrong move. Forget trying to shoot the suspect and hope he's able to survive, just execute the dude right there cause we're authorized to shoot to kill by the judge. Again, what a moron. %#@*%^$#%^@$%^
Thankfully, Fox put on a CHP Officer who made some enlightened, intelligent and sane comments. Like, they want to prevent the suspect from getting away and further endangering the public with his guns or vehicle, they are waiting him out so he'll calm down and make better decisions and there's no need to rush the subject. Note to CHP--If Judge Napolitano ever tries to join, tell him no way. He's a walking liability.
I don't fault the Fox Newscaster as she doesn't know police tactics or strategy and was simply asking questions of the "experts" that Fox News provided. The problem Fox has is they need way better experts. Or maybe just use the better ones they have, like Mark Furrman who knows what he's talking about.
Sorry to vent but sometimes Fox Nwews drives me crazy with their idiotic experts who should just shut their pieholes.
[:@]
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The reason I say this is that I saw an armed hostage situation outside my old watering hole about 3 years ago.
A guy kidnapped his daughter (divorced) and tried to race off in a van, he got as far as in front of the bar when the MPD had him boxed in. He sat there with what they perceived as a rifle to her head (it turned out to be a pellet gun) and threatened to shoot her.
The MPD were classic, they just waited by their squads and tried to talk the guy out. Someone from the tactical squad came into the bar and told everyone to leave -- he was told "no" (you have to understand Milwaukeeans, you don't leave a glass of beer, thats a cardinal no no).
He just told everyone to stay in the bar. They didn't listen, some filtered out the back door for late night munchies at home, others simply had to leave.
Eventually he gave up when he had a rifle pointed at him at relatively close range.
turns out, we knew the idiot, he was a local violent felon that everyone hated.
Now that is classic.
(not to cut in on your thunder, but the MPD generally can handle stuff like that pretty well -- granted it's not the size of kookafornia, nor do we have your problems)
These are reasonable questions and I'll try to answer them as best I can.
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tardfarmer
to a "non cop" (and you have to take this for what it's worth) -- an ARMORED VEHICLE ????
The "armored vehicle" refers to one that has armor plating and is designed to prevent bad guys from shooting through the vehicle and killing cops. It's not like a military armored vehicle that usually has machine guns and/or cannons mounted on it. These armored vehicles make it far safer for cops to contain bad guys in their vehicles and prevent them from driving off and endangering other citizens with their reckless and often times homicidal driving behavior. It also enables cops to safely get close enough to break a vehicle window and put a flashbang and teargas into a car, like they did on the LA freeway.
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It was one guy? You probably have 100 swat on staff 24/7. Once told to exit and you know he's armed, can't you just pop 'em ?
Actually, no. Cops are not executioners and they must give the bad guy a chance to surrender when it's safe to do so. Our job is to arrest and capture bad guys, not run around executing them on the spot just because they're armed with guns. A bad guy with a gun to his head means we wait and try to talk him out of suicide, like what happened on the freeway. A bad guy points his gun at a cop or citizen and we shoot to stop the threat. This means we shoot the bad guy until he's no longer a danger and not necessarily dead. For instance, we shoot the guy and he drops his gun. He's no longer a deadly threat and we should not be emptying the rest of our magazine into him just to be on the safe side. Judge Napolitano is still a moron, thinking we run around shooting to kill everybody. As a judge, he definitely should know better.
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Like I said, i'm not a cop but it does sound like a bit of overkill. Sort of like me calling in a riot squad for a chippie.
Actually, this response tactic has been learned the hard way with cops and citizens getting killed. You always bring enough cops to completely contain the situation and suspect, protect the public and then wait the suspect out. The vast majority of suspects get over their initial mad minute, eventually listen to reason and surrender without killing or injuring anybody else. Rushing in when the suspect is still mad or frightened (or both) means you have just pushed his buttons and he's highly likely to start shooting. That's how cops and citizens get killed and is something cops try to avoid at all costs. Who cares if we have to wait an extra 5-10 hours for the bad guy to surrender peacefully. Nobody gets hurt or killed and we get paid by the hour anyway. And our job is actually to save lives, not take them.
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(don't get crappy with me cal or i'll leave one in your squad when we tour)
Oh the threats of violent teargas agents in an enclosed environment. I have a buddy who likes to eat 3-day-old chilibeans just so he always wins those wars.
__________________
Jesus Christ--The reason for the season!
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran.
If you're certain you know everything, there's little opportunity to learn anything.
At first I thought you were talking about that one incident that happened just outside Los Angeles several years ago. Just in case you don't remember which one. Its the one where the guy parked his truck on an overpass, set his truck on fire but jumped out, walked over to the edge, didn't jump, then went back to his truck, got a shotgun and finally killed himself, all while on live TV. I remember both the cameraman and reporter were fired because of not turning off the camera despite they knew the guy was going to blow his head off (which he did)
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