baronn 111 #51 March 5, 2014 So these Bullies with a Badge bang thru this guys door without ID'ing themselves and actually wonder why they got shot? This guy and his girl were extremely lucky to have not gotten killed in the return fire. Of course, THAT wuda been justified by the cops. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boomerdog 0 #52 March 5, 2014 There's been some reporting that Det Sowders may have gotten out front from the rest of the team and kicked in the door and entered the residence by himself. After the shots were fired and all parties realized what had just happened, perhaps cooler heads prevailed and things quickly deescalated. It's tough to speak ill of the dead and for one person who has posted on this subject, knew the deceased and spoke well of him. Det Sowders was well liked by many in the community and I'm sure he will be missed. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say but from the start, this was going to end bad and no one in the loop had the guts to come forward with a little more scrutiny and say "STOP! Is there a better way to do this!" Intelligence from the CI was not checked out. We have a saying in military operations, "First intelligence reports are usually mixed!"...which means a mixture of fact and bullshit, patience and cool heads must prevail. While the suspect had priors, they were of the non-violent nature. Spending a little bit of time in surveillance to understand the suspects habits and routine would have enabled the LEO's to effect an arrest with much less violence. Instead, Sowders and his back up chooses to act like a bunch of Spec Ops wannabes and it is glaringly apparent they were NOT properly trained. To the contrary, real Spec Ops would have NEVER considered this scenario with such tactics and timing. Finally, Sowders is dead due in part to attitude. The use of SWAT teams has exceeded the intended use for which they were designed. For the majority of cops who are very good and very professional, they have among them some real dirtbags who just love to use force to an excess and too many people (including cops) are getting killed. And I hear the bromides of "officer safety" and "you weren't there how could you know!", "we have to reduce risk to our officers," etc etc. I have two responses to that. 1) The police are public servants where both words are operative...they are NOT masters. Their salary comes form tax dollars the public pays and even the criminals they arrest pay taxes. 2) The job has its risks. I spent 22 years in the military. I was not drafted, I volunteered and so I accepted the risk of being deployed out to a war zone and possibly come home in a body bag. We don't draft police officers, they volunteer and I don't think anyone forced their hand in signing the contract defining the terms of their employment. If each individual police officer cannot accept the inherent risks of their job, perhaps they are in the wrong profession and need to find a new gig. Risk is reduced through training and instilling common sense. "To win without fighting is best" "Smarter is the commander who can win without fighting." Those are the words of Sun-Tzu, they are words of wisdom...wisdom that was woefully lacking in this case. I have no doubt Det Sowders was a nice guy, liked in his community and loved by his family but his foolishness and very poor judgement got him killed. The Grand Jury got it right and that is some very tough medicine going down the throat. Perhaps that police department will have the courage to take a few steps back and look at their training deficits. Perhaps...but the way things are going these days...I'm not holding my breath. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #53 March 5, 2014 ^^^^^^^ THIS Personally I do not mind living in a civilized society and the police are certainly a civilizing force for good. Sadly... the abuses from some.. scare the fuck out of me and don't allow for warm fuzzy feelings for what looks like a very steep iced slope.. we have passed slippery long ago.The old addage of if you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about no longer applies. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rick 67 #54 March 5, 2014 Amazon ^^^^^^^ THIS Personally I do not mind living in a civilized society and the police are certainly a civilizing force for good. Sadly... the abuses from some.. scare the fuck out of me and don't allow for warm fuzzy feelings for what looks like a very steep iced slope.. we have passed slippery long ago.The old addage of if you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about no longer applies. sad but true also would like to add if you are in the clique you can do "anything wrong" and be protected look at this freakin pedophile protected by his good ol boy buddy luckily they got busted for itYou can't be drunk all day if you don't start early! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites