Fellow Racers,
For the first time I feel that a reply is necessary!
The public has a right to police protection administered by fair and
reasonable officers. Policy produced by
the administrators of the police dept. or those mandated by our elected
officials do not insure competent
police services. Chase policy can help or hurt the community based upon the
nature of the incident which
causes the police to break any traffic regulation inclusive of speed.
A response by police, which merits exceeding the speed limit or
disregarding any traffic law, should be
limited to those incidents in which the risk to human life and limb is
increased by failure to respond urgently.
How fast should an officer respond to the call of an histerical female who
can't explain her problem to the
police dispatcher? On arrival I located her three year old at the bottom of the
pool, yes I drove above the
speed limit, but not fast enough. Nightmares remind me of that day, but the
child's mother is the person who
suffers the most. Things might have been different had my response been faster,
but then again if it was too
fast could another death have occurred? I'm sure only God knows, and only God
makes the final judgement
of my actions.
Police responses can have severe consequences. The security office of
Dadeland Mall reported a gunshot.
The call came during the afternoon rush hour, traffic conditions warranted a
cautious drive to the scene. Five
Columbian drug family associates entered the liquor store armed with machine
guns and destroyed the life of
the store owner and two clerks, the attackers were chased but evaded us in
traffic on Kendall Drive. We
were not willing to risk a rush hour collision. Subsequent investigation
revealed that the store owner owed
money for several kilos of cocaine, but the families of the clerks don't find
closure easy when the killers are
never caught. Neither do the police feel that they have served to the best of
their abilities when someone with
the propensity to kill evades arrest. The need to arrest a violent criminal
sometimes outweighs the general risk
to public safety. Perhaps a motorist who saw me driving to the scene was
offended by my violation of the
speed limit, maybe they felt that I was in a hurry to get to the local Duncan
Donuts. My apologies to anyone
whom I offended.
Many years ago Ed Young was one of my better friends. Ed rode partners with
Al Goodall on the midnight
shift. I was several blocks behind them in a chase of two robbers on Dixie
Highway, there was a lack of
traffic and the weather was clear. No condition exhisted that would have
deterred us from a high speed
chase. The 440 Plymouth cruisers were gaining on the subject when the tire on
Ed's side of the car blew out,
something a new police radial is not supposed to do. Later a review board
found the chase to be justified,
but that did not make it any easier, several hours after the accident, when I
knocked on the door of his house.
When you bring a nurse to baby sit the kids at 2 AM, the wife knows why you are
at her door, you can tell
by the look on her face that she has just discovered her greatest fear, long
before you have found the courage
to speak the words. Ed may be gone, but he left me with a lesson. If you
respect your family, don't place the
person they love the most at risk without just cause.
Some of your comments reflected that police can't use their weapons in
crowds, I have no knowledge of
any such law or regulation. Moreover I have had experiences that dictated the
use of a firearm in a crowd.
One such circumstance took place during the riots in Miami, it saved someones
life. Another involved a knife
weilding robber on a metro rail train platform, shot to save a 70 year old
tourist, who probably could not have
survived another stab wound. For those of you who have never had to kill
another human being up close,
consider that your shot also endangers you. How? well without to much detail,
consider that in a close up shot
blood and bone fragments from the subject spray back on the officer who fired
the shot. Not something you
can treat without fear in these days of AIDS. The risk is something you must
put aside when you swear to
support the Constitution and protect the life of our citizens.
Another racer stated that they would be glad to see the police sued. I must
look at the situation the same
way. The courts are necessary to protect the public from unnecessary and
unwarranted police action. If you
feel the police should not be subject to suits at law, then you should seek to
have a government that supports
that position. There are places you can move to that disallow suitsagainst
police, China and Russia are
examples.Suits in the USA insure the airing of complaints in a public forum to
protect our civil rights.
Police officers who take improper actions or enter into chases which
endanger the public need to be
corrected as soon as possible in their career, before they make an error which
takes a life. Suits require
cause, and if the cause is pain, injury or death a judgement will not undo the
physical damage. Complaints of
reckless actions should be reported to police supervisors. The nature of police
work and the freedom of the
police to patrol the community removes the police officer from direct contact
with his superiors. Therefore a
citizen interested in the well being of the public at large, should report
possible police errors to police
supervisors. If the public fails to take action, bad police become worse.
One of my last internal affairs cases as a detective sergeant was the
"Miami River Cops Case". These
lawless officers caused the death of several persons. They could never have
committed many serious felonies
if they had been reported when they were first driving recklessly after their
victims.
The point is that only the officer involved in a chase knows if the chase
is justified, and even he may not
know all the facts. In my 32 years as a cop, (patrolman to detective to shift
commander), I never knowingly
took an action which placed the public in a higher state of danger. Nor did I
as a supervisor allow any
subordinates to endanger the public without proper justification. As a police
officer one learns reasons to
avoid unnecessary danger. When danger can't be avoided a police officer usually
suffers some pain as a
result. When you look at a police officers decorations (service ribbons)
realize that they have been "paid for"
with pain and blood. If you as an officer have been awarded a silver
commendation it represents a risk or an
injury you had to take for to protect someone else. I fortunately was never
awarded a gold commendation,
the gold award is always presented to your heirs. Before I drove my vehicle at
speed, I considered the fact it
might earn me a gold medal. My observations have lead me to believe that no
intelligent officer will drive or
discharge a weapon without proper cause. In contrast to this viewpoint are the
numerious police video shows
on TV that demonstrate the number of absolute idiots hired as policemen by
various jurisdictions.
Rather than voicing myself on the LSR net, I realize that if I want to
promote proper police actions there
are four easy corrections I can make as a citizen.
1) I can support my police department in their efforts to acquire and train
the best possible new recruits.
2) I can express my feelings on crime, punishment and criminal restitution
to the political leaders of my
government.
3) I can report suspect violations of police ethics and regulations to the
proper police officials for proper
investigation.
4) I can stop bending everyones ear on the land speed net since they are
here to talk about racing, not
police work.
Goodnight, from Bill Mackey
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