Many Questions
There certainly are a number of questions about the recent shooting of Cheri Moore after the standoff in Eureka, as the Times- Standard writes in today's editorial.
I'll forego any comments on what appeared to have happened, at least for now. There's more than enough Monday morning quarterbacking going on already, I'm sure.
One thing I found of interest, though, is the suggestion one person made about police getting better training in dealing with the mentally ill. Whatever.
Seems kind of strange to suggest that when it was supposedly an employee of Humboldt County Mental Health that asked the police to do a welfare check on Moore in the first place.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 8:04 AM
27 comments
27 Comments:
Nobody is asking - what about the officer?
What goes through police officers’ minds when they are involved in shootings? Many officers involved in shootings suffer from “postshooting trauma”—a form of posttraumatic stress disorder that may include guilt, depression, and even suicidal thoughts.
Many never recover from being involved in an incident like this. This is a tragedy on every level.
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theres a vigil today, 6pm at city hall
This whole thing pisses me off. I am married to an officer, and that officer will have to live the rest of his life knowing that he was the one that shot her. (I do not know any officers involved personally).
EPD is not trigger happy. NO Officer wants to go to work and shoot someone. They do this job every day knowing that it could come down to a choice that has to be made instantly. I may sound very un-PC, but I would rather my husband came home to me alive.
These things happen in spurts. An agency can go for quite awhile without any incidents and then all of a sudden things just happen. The officers do get training on how to deal and de-escalate a situation involving people with mental illnesses. What people forget or just don't care about, is that the mentally ill person DOES NOT see the officer as someone to help them and they tend to escalate a situation to the point of no return. It makes me angry that people will bitch and moan about how evil officers are and how "trigger happy" they are, yet as soon as someone threatens their well being, the first person they call is an officer. There are two sides to this job, the good and the very ugly. And you get more coverage when something ugly happens. It's always been that way.
Please remember that the officer has to deal with this every day. That's a huge load on someone's shoulders. No officer applies for the job thinking that they will end up ever killing someone. Yes, they know it's a possibility but they hope to GOD that thier training is enough to get them through a situation like that without a bad ending (loss of life).
It's funny how the reporters are all jumping on this one, but completely leaving other major events uncovered. Was talking to some people at College of the Redwoods and it seems they are so far out from complying with the Clery act it isn't funny.
http://www.securityoncampus.org/schools/cleryact/
One of them laughed at said "Yeah, bet you didn't know about our drive-by shooting"
Thank you Kat. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
I'm with Kat, too. I'm concerned that this is being made into a political football and no one is thinking about exactly what Kat just said.
what are you talking about anon.r? the cr stats are on the site you listed.
I usually call a mentally ill person when someone threatens my well being.
My heart goes out to that officer - or officers. Like Kat says, they go out every day not knowing if they will come home. It's a tragedy all the way around. We're with you, Kat.
police could have used tear gas, rubber bullets, anything other than going in there Gung Ho. What Humboldt has is not an elit SWAT team but a rag tag bunch of snot nosed thugs hungry for action. They're the ones to cowardly to join the military but still bloodthirsty for battle. Sure they may see themselves as Badass Muthaf***ers butthe reality is that they are just as dangerous and thuglike as some gang down in L.A.
Fred, what's your view on the need for a police review commitee??
I believe I addressed that here some time ago. I don't have too much of a problem with it. The question is, how much power should a police review committee have?
Nick,
None of the officers I know and see on a daily basis are "bloodthirsty for battle" or consider them selves "badass mofo's"
It's people with attitudes like yours that make their job a lot harder than it has to be. It's easy to stand on a soap box and preach when you don't have to do their job and confront the same issues that they do every day.
The cops just went through Homeland Security training and needed to practice.
Did they try to evacuate the building if she was such a threat?And what is someone in a neighboring apartment had a gun,and starting firing back against the police?Not a real smart move.
mresquan, you are not listening.
I'd rather be shot by a 22 than a flare gun. The 22 would go right through. A flare gun is designed to burn at what 1000 degrees? And not to go out when it hits the water, so my blood wouldn't even put it out. Don't pretend this wasn't a weapon, or a threat.
And the EPD does have a history of waiting things out, so something must have been diffrent this time. Remember the guy above the Art Center with the cats? Wasn't that a week long thing? It was a few years ago, I don't remember the details.
Seems they forgot how to wait this time.
Nick Bravo said...
police could have used tear gas, rubber bullets, anything other than going in there Gung Ho. What Humboldt has is not an elit SWAT team but a rag tag bunch of snot nosed thugs hungry for action. They're the ones to cowardly to join the military but still bloodthirsty for battle. Sure they may see themselves as Badass Muthaf***ers butthe reality is that they are just as dangerous and thuglike as some gang down in L.A.
I'm sure your degree in acting allows you to be a field commander in battle ops. Go play in the street little man.
It's not a movie, Nick. Real Life. We don't know what happened, why they went in. Why they didn't wait. But there is probably a reason.
We dont need a police review board. Especially one run by citizens.
Your average citizen, myself included, doesn't understand Police training, procedures, and policies. They do not understand what it is like to be in their shoes. So something that many, many officers would consider a justified shooting, a regular citizen would not. For instance, my husband and I have gotten into arguments about whether a clip shown on the news (various "police brutality ones") was right or wrong. I looked at it from a citizen's point of view and I missed things that an officer would see. Once pointed out to me, it made sense and I could see what was going on and how the officers were reacting in a proper manner. He has also pointed out to me very poor police procedure and reactions on other video clips on the news.
There is a review board made up of all the departments. EPD is not investigating the shooting, another agency within the county is. I see no conflict of interest here. An officer with training is more qualified to investigate this than a normal person off the street is.
Contrary to popular belief, a majority of officers and agencies do not cover each other's asses. They are very aware of the public's perception and go out of their way to avoid doing anything that can be taken as such. Yes, a few people do cover each other's asses, but I haven't seen much of it here.
The police really aren't the enemy. They do want to help, but people have so many wrong impressions that no matter what they do, they are damned. And the people convinced that all cops are bloodthirsty and on power trips, quit calling 911 when you need them if you hate them so much. You obviously don't trust them and have a preconceived notion about them, so why even bother making them waste their time on your problems? Deal with it yourself.
no, we dont need juries, prosecutors and judges should just get to find guilty whoever they want without any citizen input.
What do you think a Coroner's Inquest is? A JURY. And that is fine, but a separate review board? I don't think so.
Not when such a proposed review board can be loaded up with local solutions folks - people with an agenda and an ax to grind, with no regard for understanding teh reality of the situation.
Bless you - and your husband, Kat. We do appreciate what he does, and what you go through.
A jury is one thing - an out of control group of people with an axe to grind is not only unfair, but it is dangerous.
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