FREE e-Newsletter
Important News - Hot Topics
Get them Now!
Subscribe to This Thread

Oakland Tragedy

5/20/2009 1:30 PM
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 102

Oakland Tragedy

How do you feel about Police Magazine's feature story on the Oakland Tragedy? Was it fair to the Oakland Police Department? What do you think is the most important lesson to be learned from this sad day in law enforcement history?
REPLY 1  -  2  of  2
6/6/2009 7:25 PM #1
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 379

RE: Oakland Tragedy

I thought the article was well written and well thought out. The author admitted that we are not sure of everything that happened and that we will not have all of the details until we get the PD after action report. But we can make some educated guesses.

The thought of the police backing off from a contact due to racial unrest is a thought I had not considered until I read the article. I truly think most good cops are aware of how the public feels and would go out of their way to help calm things down. It is entirely possible (and believable to me) that the officers were a little less alert during the stop than they should have been for this reason.

I don't think we will ever know exactly what happened during the initial stop, but the suppositions appear valid. Not necessarily complacency, but not as alert as they should have been.

The final stages during the SWAT team entry should be easier to figure out what happened. The only impossible part will be to know what the shooter was thinking. Did he really know he would hit the target when he shot through the wall at them, or was it blind hope and bad luck? Before I blame video games for teaching him this tactic, I would want proof that he had planned that and not just shot on the spur of the moment. For all we know right now, it might have been a form of suicide where he thought he would draw their fire without hitting any of them. Obviously, I could be wrong and he could have planned the exact angles involved in advance, but I think shooting through the walls and hitting three officers was pure luck.
6/10/2009 9:43 PM #2
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 213

RE: Oakland Tragedy

I think it is impossible to be fair in a story unless you actually DO know all the facts. The author was definately up front with the fact that they didn't have all the information, and he went out of his way not to unduly criticize Oakland PD. However, some of his experts didn't. I remember one speaking of the gunman 'throwing' the door open and 'springing out' with gun in hand. He wasn't there. He doesn't know that's how it happened, he just supposes.

The easiest incident in the world to handle is the one that's already past, hindsight being 20/20. I think we all must remember, though, that Cops are not super men. That the bad guys have a mind, and will, of their own. Some of them have combat training in advance of what the standard Police Academy provides. When you walk up on a traffic stop, all you know is what you see before you, and all you can do is react to what happens. But action is faster then reaction. And that bad guy may very well have already planned his exact actions, may know exactly what he is going to do. Whereas all you can do is respond to what he does.

Now, could these officers have handled the situation differently? Of course. The first officer could have called in a SWAT team before making the stop. Or simply have shot the driver. After all, this man was about to murder two police officers at the stop, then two more officers hours later. Good luck explaining THAT decision to a jury, or the SWAT decision to your supervisor. Unlike us, those officers on the scene did NOT have hindsight. But yes, perhaps if they had used different tactics they would have survived. Or maybe not.
As much as we may try, we can never be ready for everything that can happen.
Police Magazine