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Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Another view?
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I can’t understand why police do not have to participate in coroner’s inquests. Isn’t the oath to serve and protect a good enough reason? Isn’t the reason for these inquests to get the facts first and foremost, no matter what?
I also can’t understand why with so many options — like Tasers, rubber bullets, pepper spray, etc., and just plain old reasoning — there are so many shootings, especially when the suspects don’t have guns.
It also seems to me that having cameras in all the cars, like they do in most other cities, would eliminate many of these problems.
Police do participate in coroner's inquests. Plain clothes police aka detectives.
CarmineD
PART ONE
In reply to John Walsh; first and foremost, the public must understand that situations do occur where there is no other alternative to employing the use of deadly force by a peace officer. In situations such as this, the subject situation must fulfill the following prerequisite; "There must be, without question, the imminent danger and or threat to human life."
I agree with many citizens that something so important has as its main guideline such a vague statement. However, almost every law enforcement agency that I have ever come into contact with has made more specific departmental regulations governing the deployment in use of force. As much as I don't like to say this, Metro might very well be one of those exceptions. The police officers union of Metro has played a big-hand in this.
I've never seen a law enforcement officers union have as much administrative powers as Metro's. Of course, when an officer is involved in the use of deadly force, that particular officer has rights. However, as a sworn public official, when those individual rights excel to the point of withholding and or stalemating official investigations, there is a serious departmental problem. The police officers union for Metro has played a big-hand in this.
It is without any form of contemplation that Metro's police officers has long ago made a mockery out of the Corners' Inquest system. The police officers union has once again, played a big-hand in destroying this particular so-called "fact-finding" process.
Citizens within Metro's jurisdiction must ask themselves, just who has the ultimate authoritative power over its officers? Is it the Sheriff who is elected by the citizens? Clearly, the answer to this is, no. Sheriff Gillespie, the first Sheriff in my memory of Metro elected sheriff's who has desired sweeping changes to the use of deadly force by its officers , has been significantly handcuffed in making these changes, by none other than, you guessed it, Metro's union.
By now, every citizen of Las Vegas knows, the District Attorney, both present and past, are not the ultimate authoritative power over Metro's police officers. If anything, the District Attorney has been the pawn of, and once again, you guessed it, Metro's union.
So, the real question has to be, where do we go from here? One thing is for sure, we cannot allow this outrageous criminal behavior of some of Metro officers to continue.
PART TWO
It needs to be made clear, that most law enforcement officers, like myself, who reached retirement, have never deployed the use of deadly force during their entire careers. It is an absolute that every retired officer have had at least one occasion in their career where they could have used by justified means, deadly use of force, but opted alternative measures. I am certainly one who is in this category. I will honor the agency that employed me, for they became well known for their lengthy investigations, hearings, and prosecutions of those officers involved in excessive use of force. Of course, accused officers were afforded their rights and counsel, but such was not a roadblock to justice being dispensed as a final result.
Metro and their union has yet to reach this level of true public service. But, we had better all decide as Las Vegans how we shall put the power of a police officer in its proper perspective with severe repercussions for truly unjustified shootings.
Rest in peace Mr. Gibson. This is one retired peace officer who will never forget you. However, I am ever hopeful that your untimely passing will result in the necessary changes within Metro's policing policies that is so desperately warranted.
I was involved in several shootings in my 22 years with the Santa Monica Police Department. I don't understand the entire coroners inquest system. The coroner doesn't have the requisite legal mind or the investigative skills to render these types of decisions.
When a shooting takes place in Los Angeles County the District Attorney's Office is notified and sends a rollout team if the shooting is it all questionable. The shooting is also investigated by internal affairs. The shooting is evaluated from the perspective of the officers mind at the time of the shooting, the legal aspects of the shooting, and whether or not that shooting fell within department policy. It's a more equitable and thorough system.
Whether a suspect is armed or not is a secondary issue. The key issue is whether you believe that your life was in danger or somebody else's life was in danger at the time of the shooting.
I am inclined to hold law enforcement to a somewhat higher standard for knowing how to recognize when their own or someone else's life is in danger simply because they have had the training to do so. That is NOT to say I want to give civilians a free pass, they, too, should be held accountable to appropriate standards.
The big problem as I see it is that there have been enough incidents involving Metro that in hindsight have been shown to be not needed (i.e. Gibson) coupled with incidents like Manor (a tragic loss) that mutual trust and respect has been replaced by mutual fear to a great extent. The DA's office has done little, if anything, to help curb this.
It will only get better when the citizenry can once again feel that Metro is performing at the professional level we expect of them and that individuals will be held accountable when they do not.
"I can't understand why police do not have to participate in coroner's inquests. Isn't the oath to serve and protect a good enough reason?"
Walsh -- they don't participate because they don't have to, thanx to their union, and an apathetic body politick. And their oaths aren't "to serve and protect." It's to "support, protect and defend the constitution and government of the United States, and the constitution and government of the State of Nevada, against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, allegiance and loyalty to the same, any ordinance, resolution or law of any state notwithstanding." That would include the promise "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." You can find these @ You can find that @ http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Const/NVConst... and http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Const/NVConst...
Finding the reason they kill us and otherwise prey on us isn't rocket science. It's because there is little if any personal consequence when they do, and they have seemingly infinite public resources on their side. As Erik Scott's parents discovered, when you run out of money you're out of rights.
Until enough citizens are fed up enough to force direct accountability, starting with perjury of oath, they'll keep killing us.
"Makes you feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game." -- Bob Dylan "Hurricane"