Oakland police shootings
Mar. 26th, 2009 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyIf you haven't been under a rock recently, you know that four Oakland police officers and a convicted felon died from gunfire last Saturday. Notice how I put that. Notice carefully. Because that's all I can be sure of at this point.
This particular incident is sparse on details. I want it known that I have the greatest respect for what police do. Oakland PD has an especially difficult job to do because of the racist history and because of the continued disintegration of their community.
I have heard the following rumors:
1) A few weeks ago, the deceased suspect was released by another agency after being caught with a gun in the vehicle, causing his PO to ask the court to issue the no-bail warrant. If true, there is much egg on that agency's face. Interesting to see if anyone won't be at the funeral on Friday . . .
2) One or more of the officers killed in the apartment raid may have been the result of friendly fire. Details are very sparse on the dynamics of the entry. This makes their death no less the fault of the suspect, but is bad form.
3) Good entry tactics took a back seat to "let's get that SOB." Allied rumor: where were the shields?
4) Oakland traffic units rarely run plates for officer safety reasons. But they ran this guy's plates. Hmmm. Interesting.
5) Neither motorcycle officer cleared leather. That is really bad situational awareness or awfully good luck by the suspect.
6) The rape allegation against the suspect may be spin. I haven't been able to track a primary source for this allegation yet.
If any of these is even partially true, there needs to be some real deep housecleaning. This is a dangerous business without spotting the bad guys points.
This particular incident is sparse on details. I want it known that I have the greatest respect for what police do. Oakland PD has an especially difficult job to do because of the racist history and because of the continued disintegration of their community.
I have heard the following rumors:
1) A few weeks ago, the deceased suspect was released by another agency after being caught with a gun in the vehicle, causing his PO to ask the court to issue the no-bail warrant. If true, there is much egg on that agency's face. Interesting to see if anyone won't be at the funeral on Friday . . .
2) One or more of the officers killed in the apartment raid may have been the result of friendly fire. Details are very sparse on the dynamics of the entry. This makes their death no less the fault of the suspect, but is bad form.
3) Good entry tactics took a back seat to "let's get that SOB." Allied rumor: where were the shields?
4) Oakland traffic units rarely run plates for officer safety reasons. But they ran this guy's plates. Hmmm. Interesting.
5) Neither motorcycle officer cleared leather. That is really bad situational awareness or awfully good luck by the suspect.
6) The rape allegation against the suspect may be spin. I haven't been able to track a primary source for this allegation yet.
If any of these is even partially true, there needs to be some real deep housecleaning. This is a dangerous business without spotting the bad guys points.
