TheAgitator.com
Memorial for Slain L.A. SWAT Cop
Sunday, February 17th, 2008I’m very critical of the misuse of SWAT teams on this site. But by press accounts, L.A. SWAT member Randal Simmons seems to have been a genuinely good guy. Simmonds died as his SWAT team entered the home of a man who had just killed two members of his family. The suspect then fired on the SWAT officers as they entered his home, killing Simmons and wounding another officer.
This is what SWAT teams are for. And when properly trained, it’s what they excel at–apprehending people who present a clear and immediate threat to others.
Simmons died a hero’s death. Rest in peace.
Officer Simmons, on the evidence of this write-up, does appear to be the epitome of what we look for in a service-oriented police officer. I’d like to know more about him.
Two things about this account leap off the page:
*First, Officer Simmons was 51. He was a veteran officer separated by a generation from today’s over-armored, overbearing, overgrown Cartmans of the sort that frequently show up on YouTube.
*Second, he was “The city’s first SWAT officer slain in the line of duty….” That is, the first in about 41 years. I think that’s significant.
Is there a belief that this SWAT officer has never participated in no-knock violent assault raids on non-violent suspected criminals of consenting-adult activities?
If not are we now saying that “just following orders” makes an ‘only one’ a “genuinely good guy”?
Hell, the fact he was an officer in the state of California calls him into question. California has gone door to door to recover previously legally purchased so-called “assault rifles” because of a tyrants change of definition.
Neal, we don’t know what else the LA SWAT team does. But the story serves to remind that there IS a reason these units exist. Like every tool, there’s an appropriate use for it. If we forget that, we lose a crucial perspective in the fight against the IMPROPER use of these tools.
Wouldn’t a better example have been a situation where a SWAT team actually rescued someone? While this may have been a ‘clean’ incident with perfectly legitimate conduct on the part of the officers, doesn’t it actually demonstrate the lack of utility of a SWAT team? They’re good at kicking in doors of sleeping people who pose no threat, but when you give them a real threat, they botch it.
“They’re good at kicking in doors of sleeping people who pose no threat, but when you give them a real threat, they botch it.”
It does give one pause to think…anyone of us could probably attack sleeping people and arrest them successfully….no big threat there.
Aside from that, Officer Simmons appears to have been a wonderful man and a really good cop. I have no problem with the use of the SWAT team in this incident….this is what it was intended for. I am very sorry this officer had to die at the hands of the creep inside the house. I pray for him, his family and his fellow officers.
While I have sympathy for the officer’s family in this case, in all likelihood this event will be used to further arm the police agents of our government. The result of this will be a continuation of the growing force and new tools against deployed against a disarmed citizenry, both in legitimate SWAT situations and for revenue raising traffic stops.
Police will always die in the line of duty, just as people will always die in traffic accidents. We shouldn’t pretend otherwise, and those who can’t accept those risks shouldn’t become police officers. It is not reasonable to say that the life of a police officer supersedes the value of the life of a citizen, simply because this officer is an agent of the government. Too many police powers have been granted in this way.
Frankly, I agree with ‘Paramilitary Force’ above. There are some who think that the only good cop is a dead cop. I don’t think this [yet], but just because some ‘good guy’ on the enemy side died, one should not feel sad. There are huge numbers of very bad guys on their side, and they have gobs of power, guns, and armaments and, unfortunately, cooperation of the horribly corrupt courts.
Long term, it it imperative that their kind be defunded, which will probably require dismantling the DEA, the BATFE, and similar agencies. Until then, one cannot seriously shed a tear when one of them bites the dust.
” just because some ‘good guy’ on the enemy side died, one should not feel sad.”
Wow.
RIP
I gotta agree with ‘Paramilitary Force’, while this apparently good cop died tragically, the result will be further paramilitarization of a wildly out of control institution.
It’s a shame. We need good cops.
> “We need…”
Please don’t use the word “we” when you mean “I”.
‘We need good cops”.
What then would a good cop be?
Would that be an officer who goes charging into a dangerous situation wearing proven (generally) effective combat gear and tactics and then is killed by a criminal using weapons but in doing so prevents harm falling upon others?
Or.
Would that be an officer who, bereft of any and all types of equipment that can actually be considered useful, in fact, having only a flannel bathrobe and fuzzy-bunny slippers and a harshly worded letter like a living avatar of the UN gets blown away because ‘LibertyPlease’ doesn’t feel comfortable with authority that can fall back on force.
So what is an officer then, please. The yawning void of humanity aches to be filled with your knee jerk, reactionary, stupidity.
Go ahead.
Share.
Of course, because human nature is the way it is, we need police. The police can not fix everything, in fact they are more like streetsweepers, cleaning up the mess after the fact. Having said that, police must be kept under strict control. Like fire, they are useful but dangerous. Using a SWAT team to break into a sleeping person’s house in the middle of the night is inappropriate, and the cop who died recently doing just that earns no sympathy. Using the SWAT team in this instance was probably appropriate use, so this officer does. In both cases, it was not his decision. He was merely the tool of others. It is to their shame when one of these officers dies while being ‘used’ inappropriately.