So Much for "Police Protection"

Don M.

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
Recent news reports show that there WAS an armed police officer present when this latest school shooting took place.....BUT, he chose to stay safely outdoors for several minutes while the chaos was taking place.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/scot-peterson-florida-deputy-went-102503719.html

I certainly don't have any answers on how to stop this pandemic of school shootings, but it seems to me that we have several laws, rules, and procedures already in place...MOST of which are either ignored or seldom enforced. It seems to me that "Political Correctness" has replaced Common Sense when it comes to dealing with disturbed individuals who have a high potential of committing such acts. There is certainly room for tighter restrictions on certain firearms, but unless the "HUMAN" issues are addressed, these kinds of things will continue to happen.
 

Did he give any explanation for his lack of action? Was he following orders, or was this just his own bad judgement?
 

A 30 year sheriffs department veteran making $75,000 a year. In 2016 he made $101,000 with overtime, hoped he worked harder for the money than he did saving lives. 30 years means he was there for plenty of training & practice. He was clock punching until he could collect his pension. He doesn't even seem to care about his community living in another town/county.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/b...g/fl-florida-shooting-sro-20180222-story.html

All he had to do was confront & engage the shooter and it probably would've stopped. Heck, most of these shooters shoot from a standing position which would've made him an easy target. Just a 15-30 second fire fight would've allowed many more to escape.
 
Sunny said:
Did he give any explanation for his lack of action? Was he following orders, or was this just his own bad judgement?
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His superior officers are absolutely furious with him. He has since left the police force. As to why he failed to act, the answer is simple. He was unwilling to put his life in jeopardy to protect the kids. Compare that cops lack of action, to that of the coach. The cop stayed outside, safe from any harm. The coach used his own body as a human shield the protect the kids and paid the ultimate price.
 
I trained for a number of years for "Active Shooter" situations. Columbine was the catalyst for my Department to proactively train to deal with these situations. I can still recall the first day of training when our instructor said, "This is the time to reflect if you should be a cop. If you are the first to arrive at an active shooter call and your backup is still a couple of minutes away, your team for entering, confronting and eliminating that threat is now ONE. If you can't or you hesitate then lives will be lost. Now is the time to search your soul for that answer because when seconds or minutes count there is no room for cowardice".

This is very disturbing to say the least.
 
Shameful, I guess he wanted to protect the students as long as his safety wasn't in jeopardy. That coach who had no weapon and gave his life had a heart and a backbone, too bad he didn't live to be thanked. :(
 
I have to wonder how much the recent non-support for police in general, influenced his hesitation? If they are too aggressive , and they take the life...their actions are questioned, they are even prosecuted on what seems like the 'finer' points of the situation.

Here it seems he wasn't aggressive enough.

We can 'second-guess' him all we want but...........
 
rgp said:
I have to wonder how much the recent non-support for police in general, influenced his hesitation? If they are too aggressive , and they take the life...their actions are questioned, they are even prosecuted on what seems like the 'finer' points of the situation.

Here it seems he wasn't aggressive enough.

We can 'second-guess' him all we want but...........
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Oh I certainly will second guess him. He bid a cake walk job to pad his pension for a few more years. He never figured he would have to do any more than show up and collect a check!
 
As a sworn police officer to uphold the law and protect the people, I must enter the building. That does not mean that I can't take a moment to put on my vest. Some body armor is better than none. As I enter the building, I will attempt to locate the shooter (s) and slowly make my way towards where the shooting is coming from. Once I locate the shooter, my goal then will be to take him down. All the while, I will remain in touch with my back ups that are on the way, so that they have some idea of the situation upon their arrival.

As for my weapon, that all depends. More than likely, I will have my .45 caliber Glock and also an H&K MP5A3 submachine gun. (Just in case there is more than one shooter.)
 
The latest FBI studies show that approx 67% of active shooter incidents end before Police arrival. We are now in a position to armchair quarterback this one, albeit all of the facts are not public yet.

1) At the time of the incident their was already an armed and apparently trained officer on scene.

2) The shooter was actively slaughtering students and teachers. The officer didn't know if this was going to last seconds, minutes or hours.

3) He failed to enter, search for and engage the shooter. Even 5, or 10 seconds could've made the difference for someone's life.

Doing nothing is not an option in these situations.
 
Perhaps I'm wrong but....I just think {I} need a little more information before I smear the guy @ this point. If after investigation it proves out that he was incompetent ? Then he should be dealt with accordingly. Too easy to arm-chair quarterback @ this point.

Pretty safe bet he didn't want to die that day either...perhaps he spent too much time being cautious ? Perhaps he just failed his duty ?...I just don't think we know yet......jmo
 
WhatInThe said:
A 30 year sheriffs department veteran making $75,000 a year. In 2016 he made $101,000 with overtime, hoped he worked harder for the money than he did saving lives. 30 years means he was there for plenty of training & practice. He was clock punching until he could collect his pension. He doesn't even seem to care about his community living in another town/county.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/b...g/fl-florida-shooting-sro-20180222-story.html

All he had to do was confront & engage the shooter and it probably would've stopped. Heck, most of these shooters shoot from a standing position which would've made him an easy target. Just a 15-30 second fire fight would've allowed many more to escape.
Click to expand...

It certainly shows the school's protection was low priority for the police department, probably around Job 98 or 99.
 
rgp said:
Perhaps I'm wrong but....I just think {I} need a little more information before I smear the guy @ this point. If after investigation it proves out that he was incompetent ? Then he should be dealt with accordingly. Too easy to arm-chair quarterback @ this point.

Pretty safe bet he didn't want to die that day either...perhaps he spent too much time being cautious ? Perhaps he just failed his duty ?...I just don't think we know yet......jmo
Click to expand...

And perhaps he was poorly trained and just froze.
 
Have you walked a mile in his moccasins?

What happened to "wait for backup"?
What was his weapon and how much ammunition did he have?

There are a lot of questions that should be answered before rushing to judgement.
 
rgp said:
Perhaps I'm wrong but....I just think {I} need a little more information before I smear the guy @ this point. If after investigation it proves out that he was incompetent ? Then he should be dealt with accordingly. Too easy to arm-chair quarterback @ this point.

Pretty safe bet he didn't want to die that day either...perhaps he spent too much time being cautious ? Perhaps he just failed his duty ?...I just don't think we know yet......jmo
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Well, excuse me but his boss, the Sheriff calls it as it is. He was a coward and did not do his duty.
 
Warrigal said:
Have you walked a mile in his moccasins?

What happened to "wait for backup"?
What was his weapon and how much ammunition did he have?

There are a lot of questions that should be answered before rushing to judgement.
Click to expand...

Waiting for backup is not an option. In an Active Shooter situation if you are the first officer on scene and your backup hasn't arrived you go in with what you have and engage. You're goal is to take that person out or in the very least, distract them from their slaughter. That's how every LEO is trained. Freezing & Taking up a defensive position outside while the shooter is actively killing inside is doing nothing. That is not how we're trained. Why he froze, who knows. He's the only one that can answer that part.
 
Latest is that other county deputies got there and they didn't go in. Waited for another police department to go in. I saw a twitter account for Scot Peterson the deputy. Full of pictures of guns and how tough he was.
 
What concerns me is that the deputy is being scapegoated for the murders and attempted murders.
That lets all of the negligent lawmakers off the hook.
And the lobbyists for the arms and munitions industry.
 
AZ Jim said:
Well, excuse me but his boss, the Sheriff calls it as it is. He was a coward and did not do his duty.
Click to expand...

Well....maybe, but maybe his boss is just covering his own ass right now ? I just don't think we know enough to say for sure @ this point ? These things , often seem to 'compile' more & more information as they roll along it seems....I just choose to wait for it to quit rolling so-to-speak.

Just a scenario...He the [copper] steps through the door , quickly...sees the shooter, and kills him. I'm willing to bet, by now...some would be saying, well he could have / should have just shot him in the leg....he [shooter] was only 19 !

Kiln fired brick & steel door locker hallways...are echo chambers...did he [copper] know for sure how many shooters there were ? / where the shooter was ? He does no-one any good stepping in and getting himself slaughtered either.

I am not making excuses for the officer, I just have some questions that {I} can see passing through his mind @ the time.
 
There are no excuses for an armed trained policeman whose task was to protect the students to go outside and hide behind a building.
 

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