It IS?!?!?!

or maybe my sarcasm meter is off today

Yeah, yeah, yeah: cops are useless when they’re actually needed. Alright, now we’re beating a dead horse!

No, I’m kidding. Thanks for sharing this. One could write a full thesis on this topic, from the look of things. (I’d never even heard of the Binghamton shootings! I don’t watch cable news and don’t follow pop politics, though, so it’s scattershot what stories I ever hear about. A very, very sad and tragic event. Prayers for the dead.)

The situation at Binghamton was worse. They were on the telephone with a woman who was shot in the stomach, and who knows how many other people bleeding out, while the policemen stood outside. However, the little cop trick they used there was to have a policeman go into the basement of the building. That way they could say they went in right away, even though they really didn’t go in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton_shootings

Because my mother’s nursing home was a couple of blocks down the street I followed the story closely. I think even the delay times in the Wikipedia article (as bad as they make the police look) may have been fudged.

Indeed. Another statistical manipulation:

When crime is low (likely due to under reporting), take credit. When the politicians in charge start to claim the money crisis is over, cherry pick a few months to try to show that there is a disturbing increase, and more money is needed.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/fact/article_1dafba7c-d1fb-11e1-95c7-0019bb2963f4.html

(It’s funny that you pointed out the cops’ cowardice at Columbine, too: most people are unaware of that. There, I remember hearing that the murderers had been dead for, like, hours while the cops were still outside, firing bullets into school windows and things. But how is this reality going to compete with the 1,000 “cops are our tough heroes in constant danger” TV shows and movies airing at any one time. Ah well, people can indulge whatever delusions they want. It’s a free country.)

Someone ought to let Morris Dees and Mark Potok at SPLC know of this. Of course, they’ll never believe it.

Let me help you feel a bit more pissed off.

Back in 1999, there was allegedly a massive gut-check in the law enforcement profession. The cult of officer safety had given birth to the notion that active gun shots = “set up a perimeter and wait for S.W.A.T.” At Columbine, it became all too obvious what this meant: armed and body-armored cops hiding behind their engine blocks while civilians died under fire.

So the profession responded with a new protocol for active shooter incidents that said: active gun shots = “you grab the first 3 guys you can find and start moving toward the sound of the guns.” No waiting for S.W.A.T., no waiting for scoped rifles, or gas masks, or ballistic shields. You hear shooting, you go in. This is what most departments now teach, and for many it is also a matter of policy.

BUT IT NEVER FUCKING HAPPENS. In practice, the response you get today is the same response the kids at Columbine got 13 years ago. The cops always find some reason not to go in, some excuse not to follow the revised protocol.

So if you ever find yourself caught in a massacre, don’t call 911 for shots fired. Your best hope is to dial the narcotics tip line and say that someone is trying to flush a bag of weed down the toilet. Then, at least, the cops will WANT to come charging through the door.

Less murders means less tired irritable cops which means less likely getting the crap kicked out of you after stripping naked at an airport.

The best part:

“Historic lows of violence against police officers “sends a chilling message?” No matter what the numbers say, law enforcement groups are going to claim they clearly indicate a need for more funding for police departments, and more power and less scrutiny for cops.”

Please, everybody, listen to the police audio and remember what the cops in Aurora did when they were truly needed in theater #9: THEY STOOD BACK LIKE CRAVEN COWARDS, LISTENED TO THE GUNFIRE AND MURDERS, AND SAID THEY WOULD NOT GO IN UNTIL THEY COULD GET GAS MASKS.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/07/colorado-shooting-police-tapes-detail-crisis-need-for-backup-pursuit-of-suspect/

Absolute. Craven. Cowards.

And now their police chief (I think he’s the chief, whoever the “Oates” guy is that’s on TV all the time) is posturing like cops were the victims.

20 cop homicides (I do not count blood clots) YTD among 800k cops.

2050 US deaths in Afghanistan YTD among 90k troops.

The next time you hear someone say cops risk their lives everyday, think of this comparison

mayor: “there are men trapped in the tunnel”
cop not trapped in tunnel: “no, there are POLICE trapped in the tunnel”

police > men, which can be logically extended to police > humans.
> as in “have more value to them, thus more homage and care should be given to such ascended individuals”.

Maybe by shooting first more often they are preventing their own deaths?

Good point. I propose we extend the policy of “shoot first” to everybody, not just cops, since if it lowers the death rate for cops, it should lower the death rate for everyone.