The anti-cop fervor in this country is amazing. The real sad part is that it’s infecting our police departments. For example, in Wednesday’s news reports we had a police officer in Fort Lauderdale under internal investigation for comments he made after a critical incident. These were not some offensive or racially charged comments; they were an honest evaluation of the situation he and his partners faced.
The officers were fighting with a suspect who had reached for a knife during the fight. The officers were able to get the suspect under control without the use of deadly force. When the suspect was controlled and the situation was settling, the officer said he could or should have shot the suspect when he went for the knife. That is a reasonable conclusion in the after action consideration of the incident. The problem the officer has: he made the statement in the immediacy of the event and with witness cameras rolling.
There should be absolutely no investigation of this officer or his comments. There is no allegation of excessive use of force. It was simply the officer’s analysis of the circumstances and what could or should have been done.
But in our increasingly “critical of cops” world along with the ever present video camera, the cop has some answering to do. The department should dismiss this out of hand, but police administrations are falling victim to the PC attitudes of many in the public when it comes to police response. Many in the audience would have no clue as to appropriate action in those circumstances and it just so happens that this officer was right. And that is true even if he made his comments in the wrong place at just the right time!
It’s about time our police administrations remember that they were cops once and consider just what it is we ask these men and women to face every day. And if they weren’t cops once, then we have the wrong administrators.