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Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
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Topic: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action (Read 258211 times)
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #400 on:
October 05, 2011, 01:32:10 AM »
Why? I don't know the facts of the case, just as you do not know the facts of the case.
Media reporting is not the same as reading the discovery file.
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #401 on:
October 05, 2011, 06:44:01 AM »
Let's just call it that intuitive sense that one develops, kind of like the one that you have that let's you know something isn't "quite" right.
You know what I'm talking about.
True, the homeless guy had problems. I'm not disputing that.
I'm not disputing that Ramos was not well within his rights taking him in.
What I'm disputing is that several officers couldn't take in one unarmed man (it will be difficult to argue in court that the suspect presented a danger when he was laying there on the ground shaking uncontrollably, screaming and pleading for help).
There isn't a prosecutor alive that wouldn't have a field day with this.
Have you ever been tased GM? I think that you have. Now tell me how much of a threat he was.
Friendly wager. I'm saying that they're going to convict him. I'm also saying the pro law enforcement people will blame his conviction on the media, instead of Ramos' actions.
That's all that I'm saying, not that police are "bad" or anything else, just that (right or wrong), police are extremely reluctant to call "foul" on the misdeeds of another officer.
Do you remember the case in NYC where several officers were sodomizing someone they had in custody with a plunger? Several GM...several stood by and watched/participated and did nothing. It's a culture. It exists. It's rampant and leo's do NOT like being called on it.
In truth (not that anyone especially cares what I have to say, but nonetheless) I do not blame you. I blame the people that are to cowardly to step up and defend themselves because they're afraid they'll get hurt; therefore, creating a need for leo's to exist.
In truth, if I had a badge, I'd probably act the same exact way. It doesn't make it right though.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #402 on:
October 05, 2011, 07:35:14 AM »
Oh god, more fantasy from DF.
Tasers are not the phasers from Star Trek. There is no magic use of force tool/method that instantly stops a subject from resisting. If you actually had any real world experience/training, you'd understand this.
"What I'm disputing is that several officers couldn't take in one unarmed man."
Ok, I'm not sure what you are reading, but he was taken into custody, he died, however. Do you understand the mechanism of death in this case?
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #403 on:
October 05, 2011, 08:08:51 AM »
Watch the videos.
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #404 on:
October 05, 2011, 08:21:14 AM »
I've been tased GM. I'll admit, I didn't know he died while in custody. Shoot me.
I like how you completely dismiss the guy being sodomized in New York and all the officers that stood by and watched that happen. Real world training? So he was tased and was brought into custody, and then he died... I guess tasing him was sufficient to bring him under control then, wasn't it. Yep..m3eal world training, full of fantasy.
You and I have been down this road before when we first met. Better off just to agree to disagree.
The guy died GM, and because you have a badge, you want people to ust dismiss it.
You have a badge and superior firepower and weapons to keep yourself safe, at the expense of the safety of others that now aren't allowed to have them because you have to "win every time" and you want people to treat you like heroes, yet you jeopardize everyone that should have the same armament and armor that you all have because even the police can't be sued for not being the first line of defense.
Tell me, how's the disarming of the people in Mexico or any inner city working out thus far? Those criminals are really listening aren't they? And who suffers? The citizens that the politicians and police forces disarm in order to justify their existence because people just aren't willing to take responsibility for themselves, so those that would, are left standing with their puds in their hand anytime someone wants to mug them because others don't want them having a "permit" to carry.
Ramos will still pull a guilty verdict and when he does, I won't bother to say "I told you so."
I'm not without my own amount of intellect GM, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. You just don't like what I have to say because it is a position 120 degrees apart from yours (not 180).
Your a psychological analyst. Do you know how the Germans got the rest of the Germans to kill the Jews? I think you do.
They got the German public to look at the Jews as untermenschen, that way they wouldn't actually be killing a fellow "human".
We see the same thing in society today (and there is a broader point here), police are always protected, even when they are wrong, suspects who haven't even been found guilty are beaten and killed, and it is accepted because they are looked at the same ways the Jews were, criminals are definitely beyond redemption (even decades after the fact), and the broader point is that the founding fathers of this country never meant for the government or police to be better armed than the citizens of the country, lest the citizens be put at risk from the very government that they are governed by, kind of like what happened in this case.
Go ahead. Tell me that's fantasy. Maybe that guy didn't feel like being murdered that night, just like the police didn't.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but right is right, wrong is wrong, and contemporary society as we see it, isn't what the founders of this country had in mind.
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #405 on:
October 05, 2011, 08:27:42 AM »
For the record GM, why don't you tell us why law abiding citizens shouldn't be allowed to walk down the street with body armor and firearms as allowed by the Constitution (nifty that the USSC decided not to rule as to whether that right is carried over from the home into the public), but do tell, why we all shouldn't be able to walk down the street in public with everything LE has? Are your lives somehow more at risk being armed or unarmed? Why are your lives MORE worthy of protecting than say, a young woman that is about to be raped and murdered in Central Park. I'd love to know.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #406 on:
October 05, 2011, 08:29:35 AM »
"I've been tased GM. I'll admit, I didn't know he died while in custody. Shoot me."
Well, If you'd bothered to read what was posted in the thread earlier, you'd know. But that would interfere with your internet chest-thumping/Walter Mitty-esque attention-seeking, which I think is your real agenda here.
Last Edit: October 05, 2011, 09:09:47 AM by G M
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #407 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:19:37 AM »
Actually GM, the attention is counterproductive.
The point however is valid.
Sodomy and why people shouldn't be armed, i.e., rape in the park, better yet, the police officer who pulled a woman over, then proceeded to rape and kill her? I'd love to see how you justify police being better armed than the citizens.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #408 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:24:56 AM »
Quote from: DF on October 05, 2011, 09:19:37 AM
Actually GM, the attention is counterproductive.
The point however is valid.
Sodomy and why people shouldn't be armed, i.e., rape in the park, better yet, the police officer who pulled a woman over, then proceeded to rape and kill her? I'd love to see how you justify police being better armed than the citizens.
No, the attention is what you feed on. It's what motivates your pathological behavior. Let's discuss why you are no longer welcome in other places.
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #409 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:28:22 AM »
"Internet chest thumping - Walter Mittyesque tactics"
You know what they say about people that have to resport to personal insults don't you?
I'm done with this quip. When Ramos's guilty conviction comes in, you may buy me dinner if you want.
You and your ilk foster an atmosphere of distrust for the police and for authority every time you fail to "police your own." As for me, I'll go on doing my thing, not seeking to much attention because attention is almost always counterproductive.
This world is going downhill fast.
Thanks for addressing the points you knew you there was no sufficient response to chum.
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #410 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:29:54 AM »
No longer welcome in other places? Because I'm an a hole? I don't know. Thrill me.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #411 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:33:17 AM »
Thanks for derailing a discussion on law enforcement because of your inability to distiguish fantasy from reality or subordinate your need for attention and approval as a compensitory mechanism for your inadiquate personality.
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #412 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:34:14 AM »
Personal attacks... Nice. At least I don't hide behind my initials GM. Pathological? What sort? Work? Supporting a family? You've got me pegged don't you. Funny enough, I've been relatively upfront and open with you, yet, I still know very little about you. Hurl your insults. I'm done. I think I've made a valid point. I'll let others decide. As far as wanting what is best for my country, I'll never apologize for that. By the way, even then, I couldn't own firearms, but I want them to. Yes, pathological indeed.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #413 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:35:57 AM »
Be sure to get back to me after your next secret mission to Africa, after you clash with Los Zetas.
Martini, shaken, not stirred.
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #414 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:53:55 AM »
Nothing secret about me GM.
It doesn't matter what you do or don't think.
I've furnished what I've been up to, and have been attempting to the people I will. I'll not be your object of ridicule simply because you don't like the points I bring to the table, I've even asked you personally for help in bringing bad people to justice, and you laugh at me.
I won't even tell you off. I'll have more class.
Thanks buddy.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #415 on:
October 05, 2011, 09:58:42 AM »
I want a cool theme song too!
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #416 on:
October 05, 2011, 10:01:03 AM »
Go ahead GM. Laugh.
Anything else?
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #417 on:
October 05, 2011, 10:04:43 AM »
Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #418 on:
October 05, 2011, 10:09:38 AM »
So, did the shower scene in "American History X" bring back happy or sad memories for you?
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #419 on:
October 05, 2011, 10:10:26 AM »
Don't bother. Thanks for helping me see that I'm just wasting my time even asking you two for help.
Shame too, people want to help, armed or not, and you laugh at them.
Laugh all you want. I'll find another way to help.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #420 on:
October 05, 2011, 10:11:13 AM »
Oh, I'm sure you will.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Back to In-custody deaths
Reply #421 on:
October 05, 2011, 10:28:31 AM »
Watch the videos.
Power User
Posts: 42559
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #422 on:
October 05, 2011, 10:38:42 AM »
This sort of exchange is NOT what we aspire to on this forum
Power User
Posts: 15536
Officer Brad Jones
Reply #423 on:
October 29, 2011, 06:13:04 PM »
GLENDALE, Ariz. The Glendale Police Department sadly announces the line of duty death of one of our own, Officer Brad Jones. Last night at about 8:30 pm, Glendale Police Officer Brad Jones responded to an apartment complex the area of 7500 W. Glendale Avenue to assist Adult Probation with contacting a probationer. At some point during the contact, a physical struggle ensued. Officer Jones was able to use his portable radio and several officers responded to assist him. The suspect produced a weapon and fired at Officer Jones, seriously wounding him.
Arriving Officers saw the probationer drive westbound on Glendale Avenue in the officers patrol vehicle. Several officers gave chase as the suspect became involved in a single vehicle collision in the 8100 block of West Glendale Avenue. Officers were close behind as the suspect fled on foot from the vehicle. When confronted by officers, he pointed a weapon at them. Three officers responded to the threat with gunfire and the suspect was struck.
The suspect has been identified as Ryan Heisler, a 20 year old white male. He is in critical condition at Good Samaritan Hospital. No further information about the suspect is available for release at this time. Officer Jones received emergency first aid from fellow officers and the Glendale Fire Department. He was transported to St Josephs Hospital.
Surrounded by family, fellow officers and friends, Officer Brad Jones died a little after midnight. Officer Jones has served the community as a Glendale Police Officer for four years. He has been assigned to Patrol, working out of the Gateway Division. He became interested in a career in law enforcement after High School and went on several ride alongs with officers in the Glendale and Phoenix Police Departments. He had a passion for the work and helping people. He will be deeply missed by every member of our department.
Officer Jones is a devoted husband and father. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers. Officer Jones is survived by his wife Cindy and two young children. Information on memorial services will be provided in the coming days. Attached is a photograph of Officer Brad Jones.
The investigation is still ongoing, and Glendale Police Detectives are still on the scene. We are asking the public to avoid the 7400 to the 8200 block of Glendale Avenue. There will be a hard closure for approximately 10 hours.
**Rest in peace. Payers for the friends and family.
prentice crawford
Tactical Rappelling
Reply #424 on:
December 21, 2011, 02:26:43 AM »
Short clip on a new device.
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Last Edit: December 21, 2011, 02:37:18 AM by prentice crawford
prentice crawford
Police becoming too militaristic?
Reply #425 on:
December 21, 2011, 07:07:52 PM »
Cops Ready for War
By Andrew Becker | The Daily Beast 15 hrs ago
Cops Ready for War
Nestled amid plains so flat the locals joke you can watch your dog run away for miles, Fargo treasures its placid lifestyle, seldom pierced by the mayhem and violence common in other urban communities. North Dakotas largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and theres not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade.
But that hasnt stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.
Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition. And for that epic confrontationif it ever occursofficers can now summon a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. For now, though, the menacing truck is used mostly for training and appearances at the annual city picnic, where its been parked near the childrens bounce house.
Most people are so fascinated by it, because nothing happens here, says Carol Archbold, a Fargo resident and criminal justice professor at North Dakota State University. Theres no terrorism here.
Like Fargo, thousands of other local police departments nationwide have been amassing stockpiles of military-style equipment in the name of homeland security, aided by more than $34 billion in federal grants since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a Daily Beast investigation conducted by the Center for Investigative Reporting has found.
Interactive Map: States Spend Billions on Homeland Security
The buying spree has transformed local police departments into small, army-like forces, and put intimidating equipment into the hands of civilian officers. And that is raising questions about whether the strategy has gone too far, creating a culture and capability that jeopardizes public safety and civil rights while creating an expensive false sense of security.
The argument for up-armoring is always based on the least likely of terrorist scenarios, says Mark Randol, a former terrorism expert at the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress. Anyone can get a gun and shoot up stuff. No amount of SWAT equipment can stop that.
Local police bristle at the suggestion that theyve become militarized, arguing the upgrade in firepower and other equipment is necessary to combat criminals with more lethal capabilities. They point to the 1997 Los Angeles-area bank robbers who pinned police for hours with assault weapons, the gun-wielding student who perpetrated the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, and the terrorists who waged a bloody rampage in Mumbai, India, that left 164 people dead and 300 wounded in 2008.
The new weaponry and battle gear, they insist, helps save lives in the face of such threats. I dont see us as militarizing police; I see us as keeping abreast with society, former Los Angeles Police chief William Bratton says. And we are a gun-crazy society.
Adds Fargo Police Lt. Ross Renner, who commands the regional SWAT team: Its foolish to not be cognizant of the threats out there, whether its New York, Los Angeles, or Fargo. Our residents have the right to be protected. We dont have everyday threats here when it comes to terrorism, but we are asked to be prepared.
The skepticism about the Homeland spending spree is less severe for Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York, which are presumed to be likelier targets. But questions persist about whether money was handed out elsewhere with any regard for risk assessment or need. And the gap in accounting for the decade-long spending spree is undeniable. The U.S. Homeland Security Department says it doesnt closely track whats been bought with its tax dollars or how the equipment is used. State and local governments dont maintain uniform records either.
To assess the changes in law enforcement for The Daily Beast, the Center for Investigative Reporting conducted interviews and reviewed grant spending records obtained through open records requests in 41 states. The probe found stockpiles of weaponry and military-style protective equipment worthy of a defense contractors sales catalog.
In Montgomery County, Texas, the sheriffs department owns a $300,000 pilotless surveillance drone, like those used to hunt down al Qaeda terrorists in the remote tribal regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Augusta, Maine, with fewer than 20,000 people and where an officer hasnt died from gunfire in the line of duty in more than 125 years, police bought eight $1,500 tactical vests. Police in Des Moines, Iowa, bought two $180,000 bomb-disarming robots, while an Arizona sheriff is now the proud owner of a surplus Army tank.
The flood of money opened to local police after 9/11, but slowed slightly in recent years. Still, the Department of Homeland Security awarded more than $2 billion in grants to local police in 2011, and President Obamas 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contributed an additional half-billion dollars.
Law enforcement officials say the armored vehicles, assault weapons, and combat uniforms used by their officers provide a public safety benefit beyond their advertised capabilities, creating a sort of shock and awe experience they hope will encourage suspects to surrender more quickly.
The only time I hear the complaint of God, you guys look scary is if the incident turns out to be nothing, says West Hartford, Conn., Police Lt. Jeremy Clark, who organizes an annual SWAT competition.
A grainy YouTube video from one of Clarks recent competitions shows just how far the police transformation has come, displaying officers in battle fatigues, helmets, and multi-pocketed vests storming a hostile scene. One with a pistol strapped to his hip swings a battering ram into a door. A colleague lobs a flash-bang grenade into a field. Another officer, holding a pistol and wearing a rifle strapped to his back, peeks cautiously inside a bus.
The images unfold to the pulsing, ominous soundtrack of a popular videogame, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Though resembling soldiers in a far-flung war zone, the stars of this video are Massachusetts State Police troopers.
The number of SWAT teams participating in Clarks event doubled to 40 between 2004 and 2009 as Homelands police funding swelled. The competition provides real-life scenarios for training, and Clark believes it is essential, because he fears many SWAT teams are falling below the 16 hours of minimum monthly training recommended by the National Tactical Officers Association.
Luck is not for cops. Luck is for drunks and fools, Clark said, explaining his devotion to training.
One beneficiary of Homelands largesse are military contractors, who have found a new market for their wares and sponsor training events like the one Clark oversees in Connecticut or a similar Urban Shield event held in California.
Special ops supplier Blackhawk Industries, founded by a former Navy SEAL, was among several Urban Shield sponsors this year. Other sponsors for such training peddle wares like ThunderSledge breaching tools for smashing open locked or chained doors, Lenco Armored Vehicles bulletproof box trucks, and KDH Defense Systemss body armor.
As criminal organizations are increasingly armed with military-style weapons, law enforcement operations require the same level of field-tested and combat-proven protection used by soldiers and Marines in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other high-risk locations, boasts an Oshkosh Corp. brochure at a recent police seminar, where the company pitched its tactical protector vehicle.
The trend shows no sign of abating. The homeland security market for state and local agencies is projected to reach $19.2 billion by 2014, up from an estimated $15.8 billion in fiscal 2009, according to the Homeland Security Research Corp.
The rise of equipment purchases has paralleled an apparent increase in local SWAT teams, but reliable numbers are hard to come by. The National Tactical Officers Association, which provides training and develops SWAT standards, says it currently has about 1,650 team memberships, up from 1,026 in 2000.
Many of Americas newly armed officers are ex-military veterans from the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan. Charles Ramsey, who was police chief in Washington, D.C., on 9/11, upgraded the weaponry when he moved to Philadelphia in 2008. Today, some 1,500 Philly beat cops are trained to use AR-15 assault rifles.
We have a lot of people here, like most departments, who are ex-military, Ramsey says. Some people are very much into guns and so forth. So it wasnt hard to find volunteers.
Some real-life episodes, however, are sparking a debate about whether all that gear also creates a more militarized mind-set for local police that exceeds their mission or risks public safety.
In one case, dozens of officers in combat-style gear raided a youth rave in Utah as a police helicopter buzzed overhead. An online video shows the battle-ready team wearing masks and brandishing rifles as they holler for the music to be shut off and pin partygoers to the ground.
And Arizona tactical officers this year sprayed the home of ex-Marine Jose Guerena with gunfire as he stood in a hallway with a rifle that he did not fire. He was hit 22 times and died. Police had targeted the mans older brother in a narcotics-trafficking probe, but nothing illegal was found in the younger Guerenas home, and no related arrests had been made months after the raid.
In Maryland, officials finally began collecting data on tactical raids after police in 2008 burst into the home of a local mayor and killed his two dogs in a case in which the mayors home was used as a dropoff for drug deal. The mayors family had nothing to do with criminal activity.
Such episodes and the sheer magnitude of the expenditures over the last decade raise legitimate questions about whether taxpayers have gotten their moneys worth and whether police might have assumed more might and capability than is necessary for civilian forces.
With local law enforcement, their mission is to solve crimes after theyve happened, and to ensure that peoples constitutional rights are protected in the process, says Jesselyn McCurdy, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. The military obviously has a mission where they are fighting an enemy. When you use military tactics in the context of law enforcement, the missions dont match, and thats when you see trouble with the overmilitarization of police.
The upgrading of local police nonetheless continues. Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio now claims to operate his own air armada of private pilotsdubbed Operation Desert Skyto monitor illegal border crossings, and he recently added a full-size surplus Army tank. New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly boasted this fall he had a secret capability to shoot down an airliner if one threatened the city again. And the city of Ogden, Utah, is launching a 54-foot, remote-controlled crime-fighting blimp with a powerful surveillance camera.
Back in Fargo, nearby corn and soybean farmer Tim Kozojed supports the local police but questions whether the Homeland grants have been spent wisely. Im very reluctant to get anxious about a terrorist attack in North Dakota, Kozojed, 31, said. Why would they bother?
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #426 on:
December 21, 2011, 07:23:31 PM »
But that hasnt stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.
Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition.
**Oh god, what ignorant hype. If you are lucky, the kevlar helmets might keep a 9mm out of your grey matter. If a patrol officer has to respond to an "active shooter" at your kid's school, do you want him/her armed with a rifle that they can use to engage the shooter with some degree of precision or a shotgun spreading buckshot amongst the students?
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #427 on:
December 21, 2011, 07:43:08 PM »
Active Shooter Response Training:
by By Frank Borelli
© 2005 Borelli Consulting, Inc.
With the advent of Active Shooter training that has developed in response to incidents like the Columbine High School shootings, the law enforcement community has come full circle
.In response to critical incidents that the average cop was once called on to handle, Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams were developed.Alongside that development, police doctrine and training changed so that the patrol officer wasnt required to handle hostage and barricade situations.Surround and contain became the patrol doctrine norm so that SWAT could be called out to work with negotiators in resolving the situation.With regard to incidents like the one at Columbine High School, the law enforcement community has had to evolve again to depend on patrol officers to take aggressive action to resolve deadly situations
.Lets take a look at some of the incidents that spawned SWAT teams and then those that have mandated a more aggressive response from patrol officers.
August 1, 1966: In Austin, Texas Charles Whitman, posing as a maintenance worker, rolls a footlocker into the clock tower building on the campus of the University of Texas.Whitmans first victim (at the tower) was a maintenance worker that he murdered before taking up his position near the top of the tower.Trained to shoot by the United States Marine Corps and armed with a small arsenal which contained three rifles, a sawed off shotgun, two handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Whitman had planned a long siege as displayed by his also carrying up a five-gallon container of water and some sandwiches.
Whitmans planning and execution actually started well before his arrival at the tower.He had murdered his mother by shooting her in the back of her head in her house and then he returned to his own residence where he stabbed his wife to death.At the clock tower Whitman showed no mercy as he killed 15 people, including an unborn child, and wounded another 31, some of which were as far as two blocks away.The incident was resolved by just two officers who entered the building via an underground passage and then climbed to Whitmans position.As they advanced on Whitman he turned and fired at the officers both of which returned fire one with a handgun, the other with a shotgun killing Whitman and ending his murderous spree.
The Texas Tower incident served as the catalyst that spurred many police departments to begin the development of special teams to deal with these critical out of the ordinary incidents.Within a few years, the Watts Riot in Los Angeles would cause the LAPD leadership to realize that they needed a specialized response to uniquely dangerous situations.By 1971, LAPD had officers assigned full time to the SWAT detail.Across the country, agencies with enough personnel were performing similar actions.In the late sixties and early seventies, the police departments had a pool of recently discharged Vietnam Veterans combat tested troops that would form the core of some of the most effective SWAT teams as they grew.
The need for SWAT was proven time and again.In 1984 in San Ysidro, California, James Huberty went into a McDonalds restaurant where he killed twenty-one people and injured eleven more.He was neutralized by a police sniper.In 1997 in North Hollywood, California, two suspects working together went on a robbery and shooting spree that wounded thirteen people.One of the suspects committed suicide while the SWAT team neutralized the other.
In April of 1999, two high school students went on a killing rampage in Littleton, Colorado at Columbine High School.Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people and injured another 35.Using four guns and more than 30 homemade explosive devices, the two students walked the school shooting freely until they committed suicide together.At approximately 12:30, about an hour after they had started, the killers were dead and the SWAT teams outside still didnt even know how many shooters were involved.
The patrol officers who had responded did exactly what they were trained to do: they surrounded the building and maintained a perimeter to wait for command authority and SWAT teams to arrive to handle the situation.
Columbine High School incident, eventually to be called the Pearl Harbor of Active Shooters brought to the forefront the fact that police departments could no longer depend on the special skills, weapons and tactics of SWAT teams in resolving some incidents.The emotional and analytical aftermath of the Columbine High School killings has driven police departments across the nation to take a new approach: training patrol officers to specifically and efficiently deal with the Active Shooter scenario.
In the Columbine High School situation, and quite understandably so, some of the victims parents were upset that the first responding patrol officers waited outside while the shooting continued inside.From the parents point of view the police officers stood around in relative safety while the children were being killed and one teacher was bleeding to death.
The truth was that those officers were doing exactly what they had been trained to do, and most probably exactly what their departmental policies dictated they do.No parent who has lost a child wants to hear about training and policy.They want to know what the police are going to different; what is going to be changed to stop this from happening again?
The answer is new training and policy sweeping across the nation to deal with Active Shooters.Active Shooter is defined as: Suspect(s) activity is immediately causing death and serious bodily injury.The activity is not contained and there is immediate risk of death or serious injury to potential victims.The Active Shooter scenario is dynamic, evolving very rapidly, and demands an immediate deployment of law enforcement resources to terminate the life threatening situation. Immediate deployment doesnt usually apply to SWAT teams unless they are on the scene as the situation unfolds.
Immediate deployment is more likely going to involve the first officers on the scene taking aggressive action to find and neutralize the Active Shooter(s).
That is not to say that all Active Shooter situations have to be resolved by the first responding officers.An Active Shooter can decide at any point to take a few hostages and hole up to try and negotiate for freedom or even simple survival.Once this transition to a static barricaded situation occurs, then a perimeter can be set up and SWAT deployment awaited.This is exactly what happened in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania in March of 2000.Ronald Taylor began as an Active Shooter in a restaurant, killing three and wounding three more, before he barricaded himself with five hostages in a senior center.At that point the situation became a static hostage situation and it was appropriate for the police on scene to secure a perimeter and let the negotiators and SWAT teams resolve the situation.
So, prior to 1966 and the basic birth of the SWAT concept, all situations were handled by whichever officers got there first and could formulate/execute a plan to deal with the incident.After the era of SWAT began, patrol officers werent required to be as aggressive and to assume such immediate risks as pursuing armed active gunmen into whatever environment theyd chosen to hunt that day.Almost forty years later weve reached a point where we now have to teach the average patrol officer that aggressive high-risk find-and-neutralize mission again.Not taking anything away from the value of SWAT, weve recognized that to wait for their deployment amounts to negligence in some circumstances.
Active Shooter programs have cropped up all over the country.They are being taught to agencies with as few as five members, and by agencies whose sworn members number in the thousands.Commercial training entities offer Active Shooter Instructor programs and they probably cant schedule them often enough.What is making the demand so high for this training?
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.When foreign terrorists declared war on our country and killed thousands of our citizens, a new ugly reality slapped America in the face: there are people in the world willing to come to our shores and kill innocent citizens for reasons we will never understand or comprehend.Who are the most innocent? Our children.
As first responders to virtually every violent 911 call, our patrol officers might very well find themselves facing an Active Shooter who is a foreign terrorist armed with several weapons and more than willing to die for his/her cause.As those responsible to protect and serve, the first responders wont be able to set up a perimeter and wait for the SWAT teams to arrive and resolve the situation.The first responders will have to aggressively close on the Active Shooter and neutralize him/her by arrest or termination.
While Columbine High School brought the need for Active Shooter training and policies to the forefront of the countrys consciousness, we have to recognize that
the Active Shooter scenario can occur in any public place: malls, parks, business offices, schools, restaurants, etc.All of these places, where great numbers of people congregate, are targets for the Active Shooter: with that many people walking around, the Active Shooter has plenty to shoot at.Once he starts hes not likely to stop until he is forced to cease by actions of the first responding police officers.
For these very reasons,
all patrol officers should be receiving Active Shooter Resolution training even in the entrance level police-training curriculum.The training will be applicable to shooting situations such as the one at Columbine and in the event of terrorist attacks that take on this mode of operation.Further, as they play a role in Homeland Security, members of the National Guard and Coast Guard should also be receiving this Active Shooter training.While its similar to the shoot and move concepts taught in basic training to most soldiers, the mindset one must have is entirely different when you consider having to take these actions in public places on our own soil places youve often visited and always considered relatively safe. Its one thing to be taught to act this way during a war or foreign peacekeeping mission: its entirely different to think about doing it at your local mall.
So, as was said at the beginning, the law enforcement community has come full circle.The critical skills and special weapons of SWAT teams were developed to address unique challenges and they play a vital roll in crime fighting today.Now, with events such as the Columbine High School shootings and the terrorist attacks of Nine-Eleven part of our history,
the police officers who patrol our streets are having to take on a new attitude and be willing to assume even greater risk to protect our citizens, our public places and our homeland
For more information about available Active Shooter training, you can contact the National Tactical Officers Association (
) or Strategos International (
) to receive schedules of the training programs as they come available.What you can no longer afford to do is turn a blind eye to the need for this training and the policies necessary for officers to execute their duties as they respond to this challenge.
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #428 on:
December 22, 2011, 09:00:14 AM »
I'm with you on this DF. Personally, if they find him guilty, I hope they strip the bastard of everything they can. It would feel good to send a message to law enforcement that they can't trample people. This is self preservation.
Of course, nothing good is going to come out of this. More cops will probably become nastier and more hostile in the hopes of scaring people rather than fix their behavior.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #429 on:
December 22, 2011, 10:44:15 AM »
A little upset at the arrests of the occu-rapists, CW?
Power User
Posts: 42559
8 LEOs, 1 OWS, 10 minutes
Reply #430 on:
December 23, 2011, 09:48:10 AM »
A well-seasoned LEO friend comments:
Whenever I read one of these stories I cannot help but wonder if the problem has to do with one of the following observations I have made over the years as regards these types of incidents:
Too many officers in the fray prevents any of the officers from getting in good, solid, debilitating strikes
The smaller stature of many of todays police officers precludes them from striking with any meaningful authority whatsoever
The fat, out of shape cops we all see far too often simply dont have the body mechanics and striking power conducive to decisive physical actions
Cops are afraid of hitting a suspect because they are afraid they will get in trouble
A U.S. Park Police officer was taken to George Washington University Hospital on Thursday after a violent clash between police and a man at the Occupy D.C. camp in McPherson Square .
A Washington Post reporter witnessed eight Park Police officers struggling to restrain the man on 15th Street near the intersection with K Street.At one point, officers used a stun gun to try to restrain the man, authorities said. Several Occupy DC demonstrators became angry, resulting in some heated exchanges between them and the officers.
After struggling with the man for more than 10 minutes on the street , while curious lunchtime passersby watched, police hoisted him into the back of a police cruiser.
Power User
Posts: 42559
A curious case
Reply #431 on:
December 31, 2011, 09:47:37 AM »
Last Edit: December 31, 2011, 09:51:39 AM by Crafty_Dog
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: A curious case
Reply #432 on:
December 31, 2011, 10:02:58 AM »
Quote from: Crafty_Dog on December 31, 2011, 09:47:37 AM
It would be nice to have more background aside from the letter. If he was shot at close range, his uniform/vest should clearly show it, or not.
Hello Kitty
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #433 on:
January 11, 2012, 02:29:29 PM »
Quote from: Cranewings on December 22, 2011, 09:00:14 AM
Of course, nothing good is going to come out of this. More cops will probably become nastier and more hostile in the hopes of scaring people rather than fix their behavior.
They can become as nasty as they want. Any person with a brain will study their training, and train in counter measures just in case we ever see a repeat of Nazi Germany.
Afghanistan and Viet Nam make wonderful examples of what to do with people that are power mad.
Not every one believes in the Constitution. I do, but not every one does, including many that are armed by society.
Power User
Posts: 42559
Punished for covering name tag
Reply #434 on:
January 12, 2012, 05:30:09 PM »
Power User
Posts: 15536
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #435 on:
January 15, 2012, 10:12:33 PM »
Quote from: DF on January 11, 2012, 02:29:29 PM
Quote from: Cranewings on December 22, 2011, 09:00:14 AM
Of course, nothing good is going to come out of this. More cops will probably become nastier and more hostile in the hopes of scaring people rather than fix their behavior.
They can become as nasty as they want. Any person with a brain will study their training, and train in counter measures just in case we ever see a repeat of Nazi Germany.
Afghanistan and Viet Nam make wonderful examples of what to do with people that are power mad.
Not every one believes in the Constitution. I do, but not every one does, including many that are armed by society.
Whatever, felon.
You miss your celly/boyfriend?
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #436 on:
January 15, 2012, 11:22:04 PM »
Quote from: DF on January 11, 2012, 02:29:29 PM
Quote from: Cranewings on December 22, 2011, 09:00:14 AM
Of course, nothing good is going to come out of this. More cops will probably become nastier and more hostile in the hopes of scaring people rather than fix their behavior.
They can become as nasty as they want. Any person with a brain will study their training, and train in counter measures just in case we ever see a repeat of Nazi Germany.
le sigh.
Last Edit: January 15, 2012, 11:25:34 PM by Cranewings
Power User
Posts: 2268
Evolution of police cars
Reply #437 on:
January 24, 2012, 05:43:08 PM »
Evolution of police cars:
Last Edit: January 25, 2012, 01:21:39 AM by Crafty_Dog
Power User
Posts: 42559
Wanna be a US Marshal?
Reply #438 on:
February 08, 2012, 10:38:36 AM »
Power User
Posts: 2004
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #439 on:
February 08, 2012, 10:53:57 AM »
Quote from: Crafty_Dog on February 08, 2012, 10:38:36 AM
No, I'm too old.
I always found it interesting that government agencies can discriminate on the basis of age, but private employers cannot. Imagine if I posted
an ad for a secretary and said you must be between the ages of 21 and 37? Or Doug advertised saying he will only accepted rental applications from females between the ages of 21 and 37?
Why not simply choose the most qualified person?
Power User
Posts: 9484
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #440 on:
February 09, 2012, 12:00:12 PM »
"Or D*** advertised saying he will only accepted rental applications from females between the ages of 21 and 37?"
I think we should not go hypothetical on actual, traceable posters committing federal crimes they did not commit. Thank you. I've been wrongfully investigated and rightfully exonerated before. The main difference between that experience and being accused of being a Jew in Nazi Germany was that at the end of my long, intrusive, humiliating ordeal, they let me live.
Power User
Posts: 2004
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #441 on:
February 09, 2012, 04:03:40 PM »
Sorry..... It was said strictly in jest; tongue in check. It never occurred to me that anyone would take my comment about advertising for tenants or employees between the ages of 21-37. Nor was I imply in any way that you ever had or would even consider doing so.
Although, when flying, I long for the good old days.
ps It's different in other countries. I have a cute friend who was hired by Sony Entertainment HQ in Tokyo to be their receptionist. The ad directly said things like "cute" no more than 110lbs, and under age 23. The previous receptionist, also cute, was let go because she turned 26; "too old" they said.
pps I'm still a little upset that government agencies are able to impose rules like this but private employers are forbidden by law. Hire the best available; if the 40 year old applicant can pass all the tests equal or better than the 37 year old, why not hire him/her?
prentice crawford
Be On The Lookout
Reply #442 on:
March 02, 2012, 03:36:53 AM »
Fugitive charged in $2 million armored vehicle heist
By Margaret Harding and Jason Cato, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 1, 2012
click to enlarge
How it happened
J.C. Schisler | Tribune-Review
Kenneth John Konias Jr.
Related Articles
Suspect's family suggested for reality TV show in 2005
About the writer
Margaret Harding is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-380-8519 or via e-mail.
A Dravosburg man killed his fellow security guard, stole more than $2 million from their armored vehicle after picking up money at a casino, visited his parents' home, then took off, authorities said on Wednesday.
"Our belief is that he planned to rob the company, and if he had to kill a guard, he planned to do that," said Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. "He shot the guy from close range in the back of the head. That's pretty cold-blooded."
As the manhunt continued, Pittsburgh police charged Kenneth J. Konias Jr., 22, with homicide, robbery and theft in the heist and killing of armored truck guard Michael Haines, 31, of East McKeesport.
Shortly after the slaying, Konias phoned a friend and admitted he killed someone, saying he had enough money so they could both live the rest of their lives without working, the criminal complaint states.
"Konias made statements such as, 'My life is over.'... Witness No. 1 then said to Konias, 'What? Did you kill someone?' ... Konias was silent for several seconds and then he answered, 'Yes,' " according to the complaint.
Konias tried to persuade the friend to run off with him and asked about the extradition laws of Mexico and Canada, the complaint states. The person refused to go with Konias, and the conversation ended.
Detectives pieced together a timeline of the whereabouts of the Garda Cash Logistics truck using video surveillance, Zappala said during a news conference with police. The truck left the Garda facility on 33rd Street in the Strip District at 7:52 a.m. Tuesday and stopped at Rivers Casino on the North Shore to pick up money at 8:47 a.m.
A spokesman for Rivers would not say how much money was transferred.
The truck made several stops before video surveillance put the vehicle at the Home Depot in Ross between 12:51 p.m. and 12:55 p.m.
A witness saw the truck stopped along the mall driveway, heard what appeared to be a gunshot coming from inside and saw the truck speed away toward McKnight Road, the complaint states.
The truck was captured on video near 31st Street about 1:23 p.m. Konias appeared on video at 1:26 p.m., running near the Garda facility, where his Ford Explorer with a Pennsylvania license plate of GZW-4572 was parked.
Because he was empty-handed in the video, police are trying to figure out whether he stopped and stashed the money somewhere. One investigator estimated the money would fill two trash bags.
Police and Garda employees found Haines' body in the locked truck parked beneath the 31st Street Bridge at 3:44 p.m.
City auto squad detectives were driving along 31st Street on an unrelated investigation and observed several Garda employees near the truck. When they stopped to see if anything was wrong and identified themselves as police officers, a Garda manager asked for help.
The detectives saw blood dripping from a truck door to the ground and found Haines' body slumped in the cargo area with his duty handgun missing.
Detectives are reviewing the videos to see whether they can determine when Haines was last seen alive, city police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said.
The FBI is doing an audit to learn how much money is missing, but investigators put it at more than $2 million.
Police found Konias' uniform jacket with blood on it hanging on a coat hook when they searched the home he shares with his parents. Kenneth Konias Sr. told police his son walked in, hung up the jacket, went upstairs for about three minutes and then left, the complaint states.
"We don't know anything," said Konias' mother, Renee. She declined further comment.
Police recovered Konias' cell phone when a "Good Samaritan" heard it ringing while stopped along Route 51 and picked it up with the intention of returning it to police. Detectives were on the other end of the line.
Konias could be armed with three semi-automatic guns, including one he took from Haines, police said.
"Mr. Konias is considered to be armed and dangerous," Zappala said, adding that this could be a death penalty case.
Police do not believe Haines, who worked for Garda for about three months, was in on the plan, Zappala said.
"All the evidence indicates the deceased is a straight-arrow guy," he said.
There was no answer at Haines' home. A neighbor said the victim lived with roommates.
Garda has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of Konias, who worked for the company for about a year, Zappala said. The company declined comment, and police would not discuss the company's security procedures.
Industry "best practices" call for crews on the street to report back to headquarters, said Jim McGuffey, an armored car and security management expert in Bluffton, S.C. The frequency can depend on company policy, the amount of money being collected and road distance traveled, he said.
Generally, on a two-man crew, the driver remains inside the vehicle at each stop while the "guard" or "messenger" in the back goes inside to make the pick-up, said McGuffey, who operates A.C.E. Security Consultants.
Nationwide, there were 47 armored car robberies in 2010, and 21 such robberies through June 30, 2011, according to FBI statistics. Both Zappala and Stangrecki said they couldn't recall a previous armored vehicle heist in Pittsburgh.
"You never know what could happen," McGuffey said. "But their largest concern is on the street with unknown variables," not with their partners.
Notable armored vehicle robberies
March 11, 1927
Six members of Pittsburgh's infamous Flatheads Gang, led by Paul Jaworski, committed the first U.S. armored car robbery. The crew used dynamite to blow up a road in what now is Bethel Park to knock off two armored cars from the Brink's Express Co., which were delivering payroll for the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co. The gang stole more than $103,000.
March 7, 1979
Two men robbed a Purolator armored truck outside Pittsburgh National Bank in New Kensington and made off with nearly $700,000. A New Kensington man was convicted, while federal authorities said a Swissvale man believed to be involved in the crime was killed by an organized crime member.
March 17, 1982
A Purolator armored truck carrying $2.5 million was robbed in Brentwood. An FBI agent testified in a separate trial that two men associated with the Pittsburgh mafia bragged to an associate about being involved in the heist.
Oct. 4, 2007
A gunman shot and killed two retired city police officers working for Loomis armored truck company as they removed deposits from a Wachovia Bank ATM in northeast Philadelphia. The gunman shot at another armored truck guard before fleeing with a bag of checks and cash deposits.
March 15, 2011
A gunman fatally shot a Garda armored truck guard during a robbery outside an Atlanta grocery store. FBI agents in Georgia linked the suspects in that case to more than a half-dozen other armored car robberies there.
Source: Tribune-Review research
Staff writers Michael Hasch and Eric Slagle contributed to this report.
If you go to this page there is a photo of the suspect with the article.
Power User
Posts: 15536
Excited Delirium
Reply #443 on:
April 10, 2012, 11:02:58 AM »
Training note: Please note that registrations ARE still being taken for the Force Science Certification Course scheduled for May 21-25, 2012 in Hillsboro, OR. We will be accepting an increased number of students to this course location. Click here for registration instructions and course details. You can also e-mail us at
for the class location and discounted hotel arrangements.
Special protocol for ExDS response is valuable liability shield
With the symptoms and dangers of excited delirium now well-publicized and solidly confirmed by numerous research studies, agencies that fail to have a response protocol in place are inviting needless liability problems, according to a day-long presentation recently at a training seminar sponsored by the Illinois Tactical Officers Assn.
"Usually administrators start to take notice of this problem when they have a sudden in-custody death," said the featured speaker, Lt. Michael Paulus, a certified Force Science Analyst and 25-year veteran of the Champaign (IL) PD. "But that's too late. Agencies need to change their approach and get ahead of this problem in order to have different results.
"It doesn't cost big bucks to put an effective protocol in place, it doesn't require new equipment, and it's much more cost-effective than settling or losing a lawsuit. As education about excited delirium spreads, it gets harder for agencies to say they didn't know about the problem and the need to address it."
To illustrate how a "model" program might be developed and put into practice, Paulus drew on the experience of his own department and surrounding agencies, whose procedures he also described during a panel on excited delirium syndrome (ExDS) at the annual conference of the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police last fall. He credits Force Science instructor Chris Lawrence, a recognized authority on ExDS, with helping to craft those policies.
As is often true in law enforcement, the measures were reactive to unfortunate controversy, Paulus explains. In a series of violent encounters across a 7-year period, 2 "extremely agitated subjects" died in custody in Champaign and neighboring Urbana and others were "near-misses" for fatal outcomes after intense struggles with police, not uncommon occurrences in the history of documented ExDS cases.
After whip lashings by the media and, in one case, a significant payout to settle a lawsuit, Paulus persuaded his administration to let him organize planning and training on the ExDS issue before another "HSM" (Holy Shit Moment), as he terms it, rained blame on the department.
It took him 9 months to complete the assignment, but since the countywide protocol was instituted, Paulus said there have been 27 "incident responses" in the area--with no subject deaths occurring. Here are what he considers the system's key components:
Multidisciplinary involvement. "Would you send the fire department to handle a burglary in progress or EMS to a bank robbery? No!" Paulus declares. "But what on a cop's belt lets him handle metabolic acidosis, hyperventilation, or hyperthermia, conditions believed to be common to extremely agitated subjects?
"We are not sending the right resources to deal with a life-threatening medical emergency that presents itself as a law enforcement problem and we wonder why these subjects end up dead?"
An effective protocol requires multidisciplinary input, training, and support--"a paradigm shift in thinking," Paulus says, "because the police alone can't likely get the best results."
To win essential stakeholder buy-in for a new, coordinated approach, Paulus recruited more than 40 decision-makers from a panoply of interest groups throughout his county for briefing sessions on the nature of ExDS and "best practices" for managing these challenging events.
Included were representatives of law enforcement, corrections, EMS, fire/rescue, telecommunications, hospital ER staffs, mental health/behavioral services providers and consumers, the local state's attorney, the coroner, the medical examiner--even, eventually, the media so that procedures could be explained to the general public.
"Everyone was encouraged to offer input to the ultimate plan," Paulus says. "Then these leaders spearheaded training for their own constituencies to instill the skills they needed to make the 'big picture' work, and to understand everyone else's role as well." All LEOs in the county, for example, received 2 hours of classroom instruction and 2 hours of hands-on exercises, with dispatchers getting 2 hours' training of their own.
Simultaneous dispatch. Dispatchers are critical to the success of the protocol. They are trained on when it's appropriate to probe 911 callers for indications of possible ExDS at a trouble scene, such as subjects shedding clothing; breaking glass; raving incoherently or seeming delusional; displaying "superhuman" strength; acting highly agitated, aggressive, paranoid, or confused.
"EMS needs to be dispatched at the same time as law enforcement, preferably with an advanced life-support ambulance," Paulus says. (In some communities by law, a fire/rescue truck must also be sent on any EMS dispatch.)
If officers call in from a scene having encountered a suspected ExDS situation without prior warning, dispatchers get EMS en route immediately.
Police role defined. "Ideally, everyone should get to the scene at the same time," Paulus says. "If police arrive first, they should try to contain the situation, talk to the subject in an effort to calm him, and--if possible--wait for EMS before laying hands on. This is a medical crisis and the medics should be regarded as the primary responders."
The role of the police will be to "capture, control, and restrain" so that medical attention can begin, Paulus says. If they unnecessarily intervene too soon, "they may make the problem worse."
Restraint cooperation. At the scene, officers and EMS confer briefly to develop a plan. The medical team needs to park where they can observe the subject, to assess his level of agitation. If paramedics are authorized to inject a sedative (they aren't in all jurisdictions), they decide whether they are willing to do so once the subject is restrained.
There's little to no chance that ExDS subjects can be talked into cooperating, Paulus says; "they're unresponsive to language and logic." The effectiveness of OC, given their imperviousness to pain, is dubious. Weighing results vs risk of injury for all involved, Tasering is probably the best choice, Paulus believes. But if physical force is the only option, it needs to be fast and overwhelming, with a vascular neck restraint possibly considered as part of the package.
"The struggle needs to end ASAP," Paulus explains. "The longer it lasts, the more intensely the subject will fight back, perceiving that he's fighting for his life, and the worse his medical risk will become."
However the subject is brought to the ground, Paulus favors an MOTC (Multi-Officer Control Tactic) taught by Chris Lawrence and his fellow DT instructors at Canada's Ontario Police College for restraint. Optimally, it involves the coordinated effort of 5 officers, all trained in the technique to use their weight and leverage to tightly control the subject's limbs and head. "The tactic can be adapted to work even with 3 officers, with a lot of communication and coordination," Paulus says.
"If there aren't enough cops, our protocol calls for firemen or EMS personnel to get involved." Given the usual, well-known reluctance of EMS personnel even to get close to any police action, Paulus says, "when we showed them what we needed them to do to help, I was shocked at the cooperation we got. They understood that this is a dire medical emergency and that police can't resolve it alone."
Fast sedation. Once the struggling has been minimized, that's when field sedation may occur. The sedative is injected, through the subject's clothing, into the butt or thigh.
"Rapid sedation is the field treatment for excited delirium," says Dr. Thomas Scaggs, EMS medical director for Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana who shared the IACP panel with Paulus. Tranquilizing the subject will stop the adverse effects of struggling and "will start to reverse acidosis, muscle breakdown, and hyperthermia. It's one key thing that may save the subject."
The sedative selected needs to be "effective, reliable, safe, deliverable intramuscularly, and produce a fast onset (within 3-4 minutes)," he said. His choice is ketamine, which he described as "the drug for this syndrome." First used as a field anesthetic during the Vietnam War, "it has no contraindications--does not suppress breathing, for example--and if it turns out the subject is not experiencing excited delirium, there's no harm done."
(If sedation is not administered at the scene, it certainly will be in the ER, to make treatment possible.)
Special handcuffing. While the subject's positioning is not important for the field injection, EMS ultimately wants him supine for treatment during ambulance transport, Paulus explains. However, he's handcuffed on the ground while prone. At least 3 sets of swivel-style cuffs are linked in a daisy chain behind his back, so he can lie with his arms at his side when he's face up. His legs are bound with a hobble to prevent him from kicking.
Once he's hooked up, the subject is turned on his side, a backboard is placed so he can be rolled back down onto it, he's strapped down and then loaded into the ambulance. "An officer rides along and takes notes to document any procedures EMS administers or changes that occur with the suspect en route to the hospital," Paulus advises.
Medical follow-through. In their training to support the protocol, medical professionals are thoroughly briefed on the challenges they'll likely confront with ExDS, from the extraordinarily high body temperature to the strong probability of cocaine intoxication.
Yet even with the broadest knowledge and the best efforts of all involved, the subject may still die at any point without warning. About 200 suspected ExDS deaths occur each year, Scaggs estimates. "The first sign of impending death in such cases is death itself," he says. "And these subjects can never be resuscitated."
The medical examiner's staff needs to be trained in the special autopsies that are required after these fatalities, in order to discover the findings most relevant to cause of death, Paulus explains. "They need to look for much more subtle cues than just the obvious physical damage that may have occurred during a struggle with the police."
Among other things, he says, pathologists need to know the purpose and value of promptly forwarding brain samples to the University of Miami's Brain Program, under the direction of Dr. Deborah Mash (see:
), where submissions can be examined for evidence of ExDS.
Investigators will also want to conduct what Paulus calls a "psychological autopsy," which includes rebuilding the subject's life back to a minimum of 72 hours before the incident to reconstruct what led up to the confrontation at the scene.
Legal understanding. When the outcome of an ExDS encounter isn't favorable, having prosecutors also educated in excited delirium characteristics and the complexity of a proper response will help guard against the convenient but treacherous assumption that "whoever last touched a stricken subject is the one who killed him," Paulus believes. And an in-place protocol can also help an agency's defense in civil suits.
Another of Paulus's copanelists at IACP was Force Science Analyst Laura Scarry, a popular police attorney from Chicago and Wheaton (IL). Scarry told the chiefs:
"The vast majority of excited delirium cases will result in litigation. By putting a protocol in place, you're getting ahead of potential disaster. Jurors want to hear that you have policy and procedure on this subject. They favor education and training. They will appreciate the fact that you respond to people in medical crisis as patients rather than as criminal suspects.
"You can't always respond as you'd want in a perfect world, but jurors will appreciate communication and cooperation among groups toward a common goal. They won't appreciate a disconnect among agencies."
Toward that end, Paulus told Force Science News he is willing to help agencies formulate a protocol tailored toward their particular needs. "Wherever you are in the world, if you have people in your jurisdiction who are abusing drugs and/or have mental health issues, you have a near-certainty of this problem arising," he says. "The time to plan how to deal with it is not when you're standing face to face with an out-of-control subject who's on a freight train to death."
Just 4 days after the finished protocol "went live," it was put to the test in Champaign, he recalls. "We got a call of a mentally ill female...sweating profusely...breaking a glass coffee table...rolling around in shards of glass.
"True to their training, the responding players performed as we had hoped and in this case the stricken subject did survive."
For more information, Paulus can be reached at: email@example.com; Chris Lawrence at: firstname.lastname@example.com; and Laura Scarry at:
For a recent report on ExDS, see the article "Stop the Madness" by Sgt. Joel Johnston in Blue Line magazine, which can be accessed free on the Force Science site by clicking here or visiting
Johnston, a 27-year veteran of Vancouver (BC) PD, a certified Force Science Analyst, and a member of an international panel of experts on ExDS convened by the U.S. NIJ, corrects 6 persistent myths about the syndrome that have resulted in law enforcement being unjustly blamed for high-profile in-custody deaths.
[Our thanks to the president of the Illinois Tactical Officers Assn., Chief Jeff Chudwin, for facilitating our attendance at Lt. Paulus's seminar.]
Power User
Posts: 2268
insteresting study and video!
Reply #444 on:
April 26, 2012, 11:08:21 AM »
Power User
Posts: 2004
Follow up to previous post re UC Davis Protest Report - The Police messed up.
Reply #445 on:
May 04, 2012, 04:27:06 PM »
Hopefully, the Officer's will be reprimanded and/or fired, especially Lt. Pike.
"The incident that propelled this police operation into national headlines was the use of pepper spray by Lt. John Pike against seated protesters on Nov. 18 as police cleared an encampment from the college quad. Videos and photos of Pike spraying the protesters went viral on the Internet and created a flurry of protests.
Regarding the spraying incident itself, police officers have argued that during the operation they "were surrounded by a hostile mob and that the use of pepper spray was necessary to create a path for officers and arrestees to leave the quad," according to the report. However, the report notes a number of facts that undermine this argument, including that officers were able to walk arrestees through the crowd for transport without escalation and an officer was able to step over protesters to meet with the officers from the Davis Police Department when they arrived. The task force agreed with the Kroll report, which concluded that "the deployment of pepper spray does not appear to have been an objectively reasonable use of force."
Furthermore, the Kroll report discovered that the large pepper-spray canister, the MK-9, that Pike used to spray protesters "was not an authorized weapon under UCDPD guidelines and that UCDPD officers were not trained in its use." The MK-9 is larger than the MK-4, which officers normally wear on their utility belts, and has a recommended minimum distance of application of 6 feet. As the video evidence supports, Pike "appeared to be spraying protesters at a much closer distance than 6 feet," the task force concluded. Pike declined to be interviewed by Kroll investigators."
Power User
Posts: 2268
Re: Law Enforcement issues and LE in action
Reply #446 on:
May 08, 2012, 12:55:48 PM »
Quote from: G M on August 03, 2011, 08:35:03 PM
Quote from: Cranewings on August 03, 2011, 08:27:59 PM
Here is a link with some video of the recent Fullerton California killing of a homeless man by their police. This is sickening.
I sent them a letter for their pile. I hope they bring these clowns to justice.
Oh, were you there? Or did the voices tell you what happpened like what they told you about the 9/11 conspiracy?
Hmmm... could it be that Cranewings was right all those months ago...
The city surveillance video that shows a group of Fullerton police officers beating a homeless mentally ill man to death last year was finally released today, laying to rest any argument that Kelly Thomas was a threat to officers.
The shocking video, which was combined with an audio recorder worn by one of the police officers on the night of July 5, 2011, was shown in court today, then later released to the media.
Now you see my fists? Fullerton police officer Manny Ramos asked Thomas while slipping on a pair of latex gloves.
Yeah, what about them? Thomas responded.
They are getting ready to fuck you up, said Ramos, a burly cop who appears to outweigh Thomas by 100 pounds.
Power User
Posts: 2004
Bully Cops should go to jail just like anyone else
Reply #447 on:
May 10, 2012, 09:47:44 AM »
The City of Fullerton offered $1million to Thomas's family and they turned it down. The amount is only rising. No city can afford bad cops.
In private industry these individual cops/employees would have been fired a long time ago and left on their own.
Power User
Posts: 42559
Lessons from the BART case
Reply #448 on:
July 14, 2012, 11:46:16 AM »
I. What Force Science still teaches about BART case, despite court ruling
In the nation's highest-profile case of weapons confusion, the California Court of Appeal has ruled that a jury verdict of involuntary manslaughter was reasonable and a two-year prison sentence was warranted for former officer Johannes Mehserle, who swore that he thought he was deploying his Taser when he actually drew his pistol and fatally shot a struggling suspect.
Mehserle's defense team, including Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Institute, had hoped the conviction would be overturned on grounds that the shooting was a profound but innocent mistake. Lewinski had testified at trial that compelling psychological stress phenomena well known in the world of behavioral science had driven the officer's unfortunate action, not recklessness.
But the three-judge appellate panel saw the matter differently, unanimously affirming last month that the jury was justified in concluding that Mehserle's fatal deed constituted "criminal negligence" and "conscious indifference to the consequences"--"not a mere mistake." [The decision can be read in full by clicking here]
"I am disappointed that the human performance dynamics of this case, which play a critical role in thoroughly and accurately understanding what happened during this incident, were not taken strongly enough into account" Lewinski told Force Science News. "There is still much work to be done to help judges and jurors comprehend the huge gap between the deliberative way decisions are made in a courtroom and the way officers often must make them on the street, in split-seconds and under extraordinary stress."
Since Mehserle's trial in 2010, Lewinski has been dissecting the shooting from a behavioral science standpoint as part of FSI's popular five-day certification course in Force Science Analysis.
That presentation will continue essentially unaltered despite the appellate decision, he says, because "this case is a classic illustration of how psychological and physiological factors can impact decision-making, creating results that are very different from what people judging an officer's actions might expect and the officer intended."
Lewinski's analysis takes some 90 minutes in class. Here, in condensed form, are some of the core concepts he discusses.
SHOT FIRED. At the time of the shooting, Mehserle was a young officer with the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District, patrolling public transportation lines in the greater San Francisco region. In the early minutes of 2009, he and other officers responded to a fistfight involving at least 10 males on a BART train. At a stop in Oakland, one of the alleged combatants (and a frequent lawbreaker), 22-year-old Oscar Grant III, was extracted from one of the cars and proned out on the station platform.
While several transit officers tried to control a raucous and hostile crowd of some 300 New Year's Eve celebrants on the train and platform, including rival gang members shouting threats to kill each other, Mehserle and one other officer struggled to handcuff Grant.
The suspect stubbornly resisted Mehserle pulling his right hand out from under his chest. Mehserle later testified that he decided to tase Grant to get compliance. He announced aloud his intention. As he released Grant's arm and started to rise, Grant lifted up slightly, turned to his right and moved his hand, first down toward his waistband then toward his front pocket, "as if he were grabbing for something."
Earlier in his shift, Mehserle had witnessed the arrest of another offender who had a gun concealed in a front pocket. He himself on two other occasions had taken guns from suspects' pockets. Grant later proved to be unarmed, "but in context Mehserle instantly perceived Grant's movement as potentially life-threatening, requiring an urgent response," says Lewinski.
Under this pressure, instead of pulling his X26 Taser, Mehserle grabbed his .40-cal. Sig Sauer 226 and mortally wounded the suspect with one round to the back.
SLIP & CAPTURE. A variety of "compelling elements" drove Mehserle's mistaken action, Lewinski contends. "A sense of urgency, time compression, narrowed focus of attention, an automatic programmed response--all conspired to create and reinforce a dominant, fateful phenomenon called a 'slip-and-capture error,' " he says.
"This is a mistake that's made when your intended behavior, in effect, 'slips off' the path you wanted it to go because it is 'captured' by a stronger response and sent in a different direction."
In Mehserle's case, he'd carried a Taser only rarely on duty and had drawn it perhaps a dozen times or so, including practice in training and never under stressful, time-pressured circumstances. In contrast, he'd been drawing his sidearm an estimated 50 times a week as practice since graduating from the academy about two years earlier, building up through repetition what Lewinski calls "a strong automatic motor program" so he could draw quickly without having to consciously think about each mechanical step in the process--usually a highly desirable skill in threatening circumstances.
Under extreme time pressure to manage the perceived threat from Oscar Grant, Mehserle's intention to draw his Taser "slipped off his agenda, so to speak," Lewinski believes, "and was captured and completed by the more well-rehearsed motor program of going to the location of his gun."
There is no doubt, Lewinski insists, that Mehserle was unaware that he'd grabbed the wrong weapon until after the shot was fired. Enhanced on-scene video played and critiqued in the certification class shows Mehserle tugging to release his gun from its holster with the kind of cant he'd use to draw his Taser; his gun didn't have an external safety but his thumb can be seen moving as if to activate a Taser switch; his eyes are focused on Grant's back where he'd want to place the darts; he rises to get a better spread before pulling the trigger; he's visibly startled when the gunshot goes off, exclaiming "Oh shit!" or "Oh God, I shot him!"; and so on.
"At least eight different cameras, including civilian cell phones, recorded different phases of the incident," Lewinski says, "and the video is very supportive of the interpretation that the shooting was an honest mistake."
Aberrational errors akin to Mehserle's are well-documented in other professions, as well as in everyday civilian life, Lewinski points out. He cites examples of experienced, highly trained pilots who inadvertently activate the wrong controls or initiate the wrong maneuvers at critical moments and crash airplanes and drivers who floorboard their accelerator when they think they're tromping on the brake.
"In law enforcement," he says, "we had instances of officers dying in squad car crashes after antilock brakes were introduced. In the crisis of an unexpected skid, they'd revert to pumping the brakes instead of steadily engaging them, and thereby fail to regain control of the car. Under stress, they unconsciously resorted to their old and more practiced programming."
He recalls a minor slip-and-capture of his own that occurred, ironically, shortly after he left a conference with attorneys on the Mehserle case. A sudden cloudburst hit, but instead of reaching for the windshield wiper controls where they were located on the rental car he was driving he instinctively reached for where they would be on his personal vehicle, a different make and model.
"I had time to realize my mistake and correct it," he says, "but in Mehserle's situation, he didn't have that luxury of time. The fact that errors of the magnitude of his are relatively rare does not mean they can't occur. They can and do. In fact, they are very common in law enforcement and in our everyday life but usually have minimal consequences and rarely have any substantive or lasting impact."
INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS. The appellate court declared that Mehserle had ample reason to recognize that he had deployed the wrong weapon: His handgun was three times heavier than his Taser, a different color, with no on/off or safety switch, no laser sight, and a holster located in a different place and with a different release mechanism. "A reasonable jury could conclude that a reasonably prudent person could distinguish between the two weapons," the jurists wrote.
If Mehserle had had more time, under less urgent circumstances, he may well have recognized his mistake, Lewinski argues. "But only approximately two seconds elapsed between the time he rose up to draw and the time his fatal shot hit Oscar Grant."
In that tiny timeframe, his sole focus would have been on the threat he felt the suspect posed. His brain's reception of other stimuli, like the feel, the color, and the details of the weapon in his hand, would have been blocked out by what behavioral scientists call "inattentional blindness" or "selective attention," Lewinski explains. This would be assisted by what is called the "Colavita Effect", which is the brain's primary reliance on visual cues under this level of threat and time compression.
"In a very brief, very intense, very high-consequence encounter like Mehserle was in, the brain doesn't have the capacity to be aware of everything in the surrounding environment. It narrows its focus to concentrate only on what it perceives as necessary for surviving--in this case, resolving the threat. The rest, it simply doesn't--can't--pay immediate attention to. Mehserle's behavior would have been unconscious and automatic."
The appellate court dismissed inattentional blindness as "not something suffered by a reasonably prudent person." That, Lewinski declares, is blatantly inaccurate. "This performance issue is well-understood and thoroughly documented in scientific literature," he says, "and has been repeatedly confirmed in research by the Force Science Institute and other reliable sources. Attentional narrowing, a primary reliance on visual cues and inattentional blindness are human reactions that occur under stress and can affect anyone beyond their immediate control."
DIFFERENT DECISION-MAKING. A major problem with educating judges, jurors, and prosecutors about cases like Mehserle's is that few of them have likely ever been forced into decision-making like his, Lewinski says. "They simply don't experience this type of incident, so they don't instinctively identify with the dynamics involved.
"The expectation in the judicial system is that decisions are made and actions are taken coolly, logically, and rationally. The Mehserle ruling assumes he was consciously aware of and processing everything going on. But under stress, the brain operates in an entirely different fashion and consequently, at times performance will be different than expected."
TASER POSITIONING. At the time of the shooting, BART officers were not permanently assigned a particular Taser. Indeed, the agency had four different holster configurations and belt placement for the weapon and an officer could end up with any version on a given shift--a fact that Lewinski believes may have contributed to Mehserle's slip-and-capture error.
Mehserle's rig on that night was positioned just to the front left of center on his waist, requiring a dominant-hand cross-draw. It was perhaps a foot away from his sidearm.
Now BART mandates that its Tasers be carried on the nondominant side and drawn with the nondominant hand, an arrangement Lewinski supports. "That may not eliminate the risk of a slip-and-capture error entirely," he says, "but it should lessen the possibility."
Once drawn, the Taser can be switched to the dominant side. "However as good trainers point out, officers should be competent in using their defensive weapons with either hand under any circumstances," he says.
THE FUTURE. "Through modern training, investigators of officer-involved shootings are coming to better understand the behavioral dynamics of force encounters that are not always obvious or easily explained," Lewinski says. "But as the Mehserle case shows, we still face a formidable challenge of how to better bring the science of human performance into the courtroom to more realistically guide people who are judging officers' actions."
After the appellate decision last month, Mehserle's attorney, Michael Rains, said he would appeal the case to California's Supreme Court. Mehserle, meanwhile, has been paroled after serving 11 months of his sentence. He fights now to clear his name and professional reputation.
[For more information on the BART case, see an excellent PowerPoint presentation on that and other weapons-confusion incidents created by Force Science Analyst Greg Meyer and posted by Americans for Effective Law Enforcement. Click here for a copy of the presentation.]
[Also see two previous Force Science News transmissions, #154 and #166.]
Power User
Posts: 2268
Capitol Police Issue New Tattoo Rules
Reply #449 on:
July 18, 2012, 07:02:56 AM »
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Gov.'s arts award honors local artists and Windham County
BRATTLEBORO -- Bathed in the glow of a spotlight they had earned for themselves, the four Windham County artists chosen for the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts spent Monday night trying to redirect as much of that light as they could.
Spouses, children, friends, family members, collaborators, partners, neighbors in Brattleboro, the people of Vermont -- in fact everything about Vermont -- all caught the rays originally sent toward the four honorees -- Karen Hesse, Archer Mayor, Sharon Robinson and Stephen Stearns -- at the 2012 Vermont Arts Award Gala at the Latchis Theatre.
"Down-home comfort-food good" was a phrase Hesse used to describe how her life in Vermont makes her feel, but those words could apply to the whole evening, which began as a love letter to four extraordinary creative souls but became a love letter to the arts and to life here in the southeast corner of Vermont.
"They finally figured out in the rest of Vermont that the center of culture, the center of taste, the center of virtue and the center of creativity is right here in Windham County," said Gov. Peter Shumlin, showing his hometown pride. "If you want to be hip, if you want to make it in the arts, you gotta come to Windham County."
Certainly the Vermont Arts Council, which presents the award, got the message. Typically given to one or two people in a ceremony in Montpelier, the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts went to four people for the first time in its 45-year history. Since all four were closely linked to Brattleboro, the Vermont Arts Council held the ceremony in the Latchis Theatre -- and was rewarded with a crowd of roughly 400 people, who enjoyed a night that mixed the serious business of honoring four deserving people for their staggering accomplishments with a whole lot of fun.
Stephen Stearns, dressed for success in a bright yellow shirt, rainbow-striped pants, rainbow-striped socks, clown shoes and a trademark hat, even got Shumlin to try on a red clown nose. The governor did for a second or two, then removed it. "It's just so small," the governor quipped.
Alex Aldrich, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council, recounted to the crowd a trip he made to Brattleboro shortly after Tropical Storm Irene devastated the area. Encountering a group of men in HazMat suits cleaning the muddy mess in the Latchis basement, he discovered they were from Texas -- and that they liked it in Brattleboro very much.
"'We love it here. The spirit is just wonderful. ... 'Before you can spit, this place will be back,'" Aldrich recalled them saying.
"We celebrate the recovery of Brattleboro. We celebrate the four world class artists we are honoring. We are also celebrating what the arts mean to our local communities," said Aldrich.
Picking up on that theme, Shumlin said the arts are integral to strong, healthy downtowns and to communities where people care for one another. The arts, he said, are also "a vital part of the economy."
The four honorees are united not only by high achievement in their artistic endeavors, but also by the fact that they all moved to Vermont in adulthood, making the intentional choice to live here. All four delivered paeans to the state.
In a video aired before she spoke, Hesse described how she and her husband drove around the country looking for a place to put down roots, then crossed the bridge from New Hampshire into Brattleboro and immediately felt at home.
"We discovered such a level of decency in everyone we met," said Hesse, author of more than 20 novels for young people and winner of a National Jewish Book Award, the Newbery Medal, the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, two Christopher Awards and the Kerlan Award.
Sharing with the crowd that a house she and her husband once owned in Williamsville was swept away by Irene, Hesse recounted how she had met FEMA workers who were astounded by how much work had already been done and by how willing Vermonters were to roll up their sleeves and help one another.
"It is that spirit that sustains me as a writer and as a Vermonter," she said.
Mayor said he chose Vermont after rejecting the idea of moving to his parents' house in New Hampshire because he didn't want to live in a state whose motto was "Live, Freeze, or Die" -- a remark which brought down the house.
Feeling at home in Windham County, Mayor honed the skills as a writer which have allowed him to produce 23 Vermont-based crime novels featuring Detective Joe Gunther. He also works as a death investigator for the Vermont State Medical Examiner's Office and as a deputy for the Windham County Sheriff's Department. He has 25 years' experience as a firefighter and EMT.
"You have given me my song to sing in this interminable series of books, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart," Mayor told the crowd.
Robinson has done her "singing" as a cellist who has performed with symphony orchestras all over the world and with chamber ensembles, including the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, which has dazzled audiences for 35 years. A passionate teacher, Robinson is a native of Houston, Texas, and moved to Guilford with her husband, renowned violinist and 2006 Governor's Award-winner Jaime Laredo.
In introducing her, Zon Eastes, a fellow cellist and important player in the Brattleboro area arts community, now on staff at the Vermont Arts Council, praised Robinson as a supremely gifted collaborator. He also touted Robinson's "Herculean commitment to the creation of new music."
"She's made a remarkable investment in the future of classical music," Eastes said.
For her part, Robinson effused about how much living in Vermont means to her and spoke with humility about her life in music. "In (my) own small way, I get to serve you all," she said.
Introducing Stearns, Vermont Arts Council board member and local cardiologist and artist Mark Burke praised Stearns for the ways his work -- as clown, teacher and founder of New England Youth Theatre -- has transformed the lives of others.
"For Stephen, waiting for the other shoe to drop is not about fear, it's about anticipation," said Burke.
Pledging his devotion to "the infinite realm of possibilities" and the "ever-changing world of 'interesting,'" Stearns touted the power of partnerships.
"I know that it has to do with so many other people besides myself," said Stearns, who sprinkled gratitude, like clown noses, to his family, the NEYT family and to his longtime partner in clowning, Peter Gould. "Dreaming big is an important thing for all of us to do, but big dreams don't happen without partnership."
Big events don't either. Among the other collaborators in Monday's ceremony were Robert Burch of Brandywine Glassworks of Putney, who made the awards, and Vermont Films videographer Tim Wessell, who produced the short videos.
The four honorees also received letters or proclamations from the Town of Brattleboro, through the Town Arts Committee, and Vermont's Congressional Delegation. Members of the Arts Council of Windham County were on hand to pass out buttons that said "Working Artist" or "I Work in the Arts," so that event-goers could show the state officials just how big a role the arts play in the area.
The event was co-sponsored by Local 300 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (represented by president Jeffrey Wimmette) and by Entergy Vermont Yankee (represented by Mike Twomey, vice president of external affairs).
For more information on the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, visit www.vermontartscouncil.org.
Jon Potter can be reached at email@example.com, or at 802-254-2311, ext. 149. Follow Jon on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ReformerOvation.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.


text:
Originally Posted by CaliSurferDude: I have seen some discussion by several on this forum, who mistakenly seem to believe the "smart money" was on the Ravens in the Super Bowl. That was absolutely NOT the case. The public was on Baltimore from two Sundays ago, shortly after the line was first put out, and continued betting them in large percentages for most of the next two weeks. The majority of smart money took San Francisco - 3 (bought the hook) and took -170 and -175, on the ML. They were waiting to see if the public would possibly drive it all the way down to - 3 (or 3.5 with less juice), but when that never happened, they came in and took more very late, laying the - 3.5 and - 4. To believe the smart money was on Baltimore in this game, is misinformed.Now as to the game, the 49ers came were not very sharp (gotta put much of that on Jim Harbaugh) to start the game and got rattled after falling behind, and then the referees took over the rest of the game. This was one of the most lopsidedly officiated games in NFL history. From the beginning, through the 49ers comeback, and right up to the very end, key calls (and non-calls) repeatedly favored the Baltimore Ravens. The refs repeatedly hampered San Francisco's chances in a close game, by blowing these calls, right up to the blatant non-call on Jimmy Smith riding/holding/mugging (call it whatever you want) Michael Crabtree for an extended time, two full yards into the endzone (7 yards past the line of scrimmage). Say what you want, but there undoubtedly was plenty of blatant holding on that play, that clearly should have been called. It would have been first and goal at the 2 1/2-yard line. The playcalling by Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh on the last four plays was odious also. How you don't give the ball to Gore, or run a couple read-options for Kaepernick, after that drive - against a tired defense missing one of it's key players (Ngota) - will never be properly explained. Then again, that's a whole other story.
Not sure I have seen a more "lopsidedly" bad post from start to finish in recent memory.