Darren Wilson's Side of the Story

[merrylander]

I guess it is just as well that I did not leave because watching the sophomore class debating is the best laugh I have had in years.

[piece-itpete]

Lol

Pete

[nailer]

Originally Posted by finnbow

I was responding to this idiotic drivel: "Order your wife and children around, if mother nature was idiotic enough to provide you with either" and his proclivity to spew long-distance pyscho-babble along with endless accusations of racism and anti-Semitism.

I thought I went lightly on the chap. I failed to say that all three kids were also more emotionally mature, worldly and nuanced in their worldviews than he is by the time they got out of college. After a few more years, they lapped him.

PS - The world can always use a few more burger flippers.

You're boasting still, and are Ike's bitch for the third time since I joined this form. In the contest to be the smartest guy in the room you've been struck out by a plant trimmer.

"The chap" was very nice though. A good

[sheltiedave]

In a positive note, criminal arrests were down 40% in St. Louis County last year, as most police time in the final quarter of the year was spent watching North County prepare to, and then, burn.

Also, our big push to establish new police criminal tactics is gaining traction.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/c...8b4523b76.html

[Zeke]

Gabe Crocker, president of the St. Louis County Police Association, called the tactical retreat concept “cowardice retreat,” and complained that it is “shameful” to consider.

Doesn't sound like traction to me...

[sheltiedave]

Zeke, you probably were taught "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was a glorious poem honoring a virtuous military charge by valiant British light calvary. The Russian soldiers referred to it as a pig shoot, as they butchered close to 200 enemy soldiers with minimal casualties amongst their troops.

Anyone who considers a retreat a cowardly act cannot recognize that blindly charging ahead without tactical advantage creates a virtual total reliance on a favorable deadly encounter. Tactical advantage is the beneficial edge that can be spent to resolve a physical confrontation favorably.

In the submarine service, we learned that surprise and tactical advantage always worked well when properly applied in measure. It is not something to be ashamed of, or to be viewed as cowardly in any fashion. Come to think of it, a second cooler head and set of eyes could have kept some of these latest police deaths on the living ledger, including Brown.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by sheltiedave

Come to think of it, a second cooler head and set of eyes could have kept some of these latest police deaths on the living ledger, including Brown.

If that set had been Brown.

It wasn't.

1. Wilson had a tactical advantage.
2. He secured a favorable deadly encounter when given no choice.

To say that he should have resigned his advantage via retreat is ludicrous.

[sheltiedave]

OK< I'll post like you.

1. Wilson had a tactical advantage. He was in a vehicle, and was mobile.
2. Wilson had a second tactical advantage. He had a communications radio. He could call for help.
3. Wilson GAVE UP BOTH of these tactical advantages, first by getting out of his vehicle; secondly by not verifying he had a correct channel of communications with his dispatch.
4. Wilson gave up his third tactical advantage by pursuing vigorously, and ensuring that Wilson would overrun his position unless he used deadly force to kill.

To say he did not endanger the people in the housing project by shooting six bullets indiscriminately into the surroundings, striking the walls of two separate apartments, and firing his gun once with his eyes closed, is ludicrous.

To say he was judicious in his judgement by not waiting, and by not controlling a simple situation with minimal escalation, means that you accept ALL of the aftermath as well. Not being able to change tactics LOCKS you into exactly what happened, again...and again...and again. We are human, and it is to be expected that we can assess, analyze, and adapt new and better tactics that minimize these lose-lose situations. Or, we can endlessly repeat them and always look to cast blame.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by sheltiedave

OK< I'll post like you.

1. Wilson had a tactical advantage. He was in a vehicle, and was mobile.
2. Wilson had a second tactical advantage. He had a communications radio. He could call for help.
3. Wilson GAVE UP BOTH of these tactical advantages, first by getting out of his vehicle; secondly by not verifying he had a correct channel of communications with his dispatch.
4. Wilson gave up his third tactical advantage by pursuing vigorously, and ensuring that Wilson would overrun his position unless he used deadly force to kill.

To say he did not endanger the people in the housing project by shooting six bullets indiscriminately into the surroundings, striking the walls of two separate apartments, and firing his gun once with his eyes closed, is ludicrous.

To say he was judicious in his judgement by not waiting, and by not controlling a simple situation with minimal escalation, means that you accept ALL of the aftermath as well. Not being able to change tactics LOCKS you into exactly what happened, again...and again...and again. We are human, and it is to be expected that we can assess, analyze, and adapt new and better tactics that minimize these lose-lose situations. Or, we can endlessly repeat them and always look to cast blame.

Excellent post, full of information and analysis of factors. Zeke will tell you why you're wrong about all of it, step by step, eh?

The second paragraph is really driven by what I prefer to focus on. Cops are trained in the "necessary" (I guess) use of violence. Problem is, those who are drawn to the acceptability of the use of violence as a means for resolving human conflict are attracted to law enforcement. They must be or wouldn't be able to satisfy the job description requirements. And...they get pissed off when their righteous authority is challenged...just like parents do, just like bosses do, just like anybody in a position of authority will.

All that said...the problem with law enforcement is that they don't focus on finding people who have a higher level of self-control and who won't succumb to their own emotion in the decision making required prior to exercising lethal force. If they did, Michael Brown would be scheduled for trial for assaulting a police officer. If they did, Eric Garner would be scheduled for trial for whatever misdemeanor level activities he was involved in. If they did, John Wrana would be living in a setting with a higher level of care where his level of dementia would be addressed appropriately.

They're dead because the individual law enforcement personnel involved got pissed off lost whatever meager self-control they might have had, and over-reacted. Five rounds of 200/MPH lead shot beanbags fired to the gut of a frail 95 year old man for christ's sake.

[Zeke]

Actually, two quality -- if misguided -- posts.

Bottom line? Force was applied as necessary, dictated by citizen behavior. If those individuals had behaved differently, they'd be alive.

The presumptive nature that alternative officer behaviour naturally leads to peaceful arrests is naive.

It leads to dead cops.

FUCK THAT.