All posts tagged: police officers

Stopping a School Shooting – The Atlantic

Stopping a School Shooting – The Atlantic

Published by skeptic

Scot Peterson served for many years as a school resource officer in Broward County, Florida. His job was largely uneventful—he might catch a kid vaping or break up a fight—until just after Valentine’s Day 2018. That day, a gunman walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 people. Shortly after, a video circulated showing Peterson taking cover beside a wall while the gunman was inside shooting. From then on, Peterson became known in his town, and in international media, as the “Coward of Broward.” (The accidental rhyme probably helped spread the infamy.) Peterson was later charged with seven counts of felony child neglect, three misdemeanor counts of culpable negligence, and one count of perjury. He was tried in the same courthouse where they tried the gunman, Nicholas Cruz. A jury found Peterson not guilty. However, the verdict did not resolve the major cultural questions. Should we expect a lone, sometimes poorly trained police officer with a pistol to face down a shooter with an assault rifle? And if the officer fails to do …

The Atlantic’s March issue: On the Coward of Broward

The Atlantic’s March issue: On the Coward of Broward

Published by skeptic

January 29, 2024, 8:10 AM ET On February 14, 2018, 17 people were murdered and 17 others injured at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. As the shooting unfolded, sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson stood outside, pistol drawn and taking cover, but never entered the building to confront the killer. Condemned as the “Coward of Broward,” Peterson was put on trial for his inaction but eventually acquitted of charges that carried a maximum prison sentence of 96.5 years. As we approach the sixth anniversary of the Parkland shooting, and against the backdrop of the Justice Department’s recent finding of “significant failure” in the police response to 2022’s Uvalde school shooting, the journalist Jamie Thompson revisits these events in the March cover story of The Atlantic, “To Stop a Shooter,” which exposes the broad systemic failure by America’s police forces to properly equip and train their officers to confront mass shooters, and indicts a society in denial about what it would really take to stop such tragedies. Thompson writes: “Over the past few years, the …

Why Didn’t Scot Peterson Try to Stop the Parkland Shooter?

Why Didn’t Scot Peterson Try to Stop the Parkland Shooter?

Published by skeptic

It was the early afternoon of Valentine’s Day 2018, and the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was full of kids exchanging stuffed animals and heart-shaped chocolates. Scot Peterson, a Broward County sheriff’s deputy, was in his office at the school, waiting to talk with a parent about a student’s fake ID. At 2:21 p.m., a report came over the school radio about a strange sound—firecrackers, possibly—coming from Building 12. Peterson stepped outside, moving briskly, talking into the radio on his shoulder. Then the fire alarm rang. Peterson, wearing a sheriff’s uniform with a Glock on his belt, started running. Explore the March 2024 Issue Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. View More He climbed into a golf cart with two school employees and headed across campus. At 2:23 p.m., he arrived at Building 12. He was about 10 feet from the door when he heard two or three gunshots. Peterson spoke into his sheriff’s-department radio: “Possible shots fired. 1200 Building.” Deputies in the area started speeding …

how Britain’s most corrupt cop ruined countless lives

how Britain’s most corrupt cop ruined countless lives

Published by Sam

Photograph: Maurice Kaye/Mirrorpix” fifu-data-src=”https://i1.wp.com/www.skepticsociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c1eb71de920aa27f754661b9d4577e25.jpeg?ssl=1″ data-src=”https://i1.wp.com/www.skepticsociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/c1eb71de920aa27f754661b9d4577e25.jpeg?ssl=1″/> Photograph: Maurice Kaye/Mirrorpix In the modest-sized court seven at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, the children of Saliah Mehmet and Basil Peterkin squeeze into the rows of benches alongside journalists, campaigners and friends. It is the morning of 18 January 2024, almost 47 years since their fathers were imprisoned for conspiracy to steal goods from the Bricklayers Arms depot in south London, where they worked. Three years later, in 1980, the officer who arrested them, along with two of his team, was convicted of the same crime, in the same depot, which they policed. Mehmet and Peterkin – both now dead – always said they were framed. Even now, their families refuse to believe that their fathers will have their convictions quashed until they hear the judge say the words. *** Things have come a long way since Mehmet’s wife received a letter out of the blue in September 2022. It had come from the Criminal Cases Review Commission. She was perplexed by it. “The CCRC is …

Family of Atlanta church deacon who died after struggle with police officer files lawsuit

Family of Atlanta church deacon who died after struggle with police officer files lawsuit

Published by Sam

ATLANTA (AP) — The family of a church deacon who died after struggling with an Atlanta police officer following a minor car crash sued the city, the officer and the police chief on Thursday. Officer Kiran Kimbrough used excessive force while trying to get 62-year-old Johnny Hollman to sign a citation finding him at fault for the crash, violating his constitutional rights, the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court alleges. Body camera video of Hollman’s Aug. 10 arrest shows Kimbrough shocked him with a stun gun after he repeatedly said he could not breathe. An autopsy determined Hollman’s death was a homicide, with heart disease also a contributing factor. An attorney for the family said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit that Police Chief Darin Schierbaum, Mayor Andrew Dickens and other city officials were also responsible for Hollman’s death. “While they did not stand over the top of Deacon Hollman as he took his last breath, they were there because they created the culture that allowed this officer to believe that his conduct would …

The Great Normalization – The Atlantic

The Great Normalization – The Atlantic

Published by skeptic

America entered 2023 with two big problems and two leading theories about what was causing them. Over the preceding three years, the murder rate had reached levels not seen since the mid-1990s, which was widely attributed to reductions in policing following the protests over the murder of George Floyd. The inflation rate was even worse, by historical standards, peaking in 2022 at 9 percent, the highest number since 1981. This, in turn, was believed to be the result of Congress and the Biden administration pumping too much money into the economy. Each theory implied a solution to its respective crisis. To bring crime back down, America’s cities would have to empower their depleted and demoralized police forces. To tame inflation, the Federal Reserve would have to crush consumer spending by triggering a recession. Both theories now appear to have been wrong. Over the course of 2023, police forces kept shrinking, yet overall violent-crime rates plummeted to their lowest levels since the 1960s. And the economy boomed even as inflation came just about all the way …

Man and boy die after Mercedes plunges into water

Man and boy die after Mercedes plunges into water

Published by Sam

Police have yet to ascertain how the incident occurred and are appealing for witnesses or dashcam footage A 40-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy have died after their car became submerged in a canal in Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire Police said a blue Mercedes 300 entered the Louth Canal at Tetney Lock near Grimsby, at about 1.30pm on Saturday. The victims include a young boy and a 40-year-old man, who were both pronounced dead at the scene. The force said that their next of kin have been informed and that they are being supported by specially-trained officers at this time. Submerged in water The car had been driving along Tetney Lock Road, which runs alongside the Louth Canal, before it became submerged in the water. It is not yet known how the accident occurred but officers have appealed for witnesses and anyone with dashcam footage to come forward. A spokesperson for Lincolnshire Police force said that police did not believe any other vehicles were involved at this stage, but that officers are “keeping an open mind” while …

Police banned from attending memorial for WPc murdered at Libyan Embassy

Police banned from attending memorial for WPc murdered at Libyan Embassy

Published by Sam

WPc Yvonne Fletcher was only 25 years old when she died – LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE Scotland Yard has banned serving police officers from taking part in a memorial service to mark the 40th anniversary of the murder of WPc Yvonne Fletcher. Organisers of the event wanted 40 women in uniform to provide a guard of honour at the ceremony, which will take place in St James’s Square on April 17. But Met police bosses have refused permission for any serving officers to attend or play an official role in the service. As a result, organisers have been forced to appeal for retired WPcs to volunteer and have been inundated with more than 500 offers. The decision to ban serving officers from paying tribute to their fallen colleague has caused anger, dismay and confusion among current and former ranks. WPc Fletcher was only 25 years old in April 1984 when she was killed by shots fired from the Libyan Embassy in St James’s Square. Her colleague John Murray, who has tirelessly campaigned to bring to justice …

Three Years After January 6

Three Years After January 6

Published by skeptic

The sixth of January is the date prescribed in United States law for Congress to count the electoral votes in the presidential election. It is an occasion of high drama with specific requirements: the security of the mahogany boxes containing the states’ Electoral College certificates; the timing of the joint session of Congress, called to order at 1 p.m.; the precise rules that spell out that the debate on objections to the count shall proceed “clearly and concisely.” On January 6, 2021, my daughter Alexandra brought her two sons to the Capitol to witness this historic occasion of a peaceful transfer of power. My grandsons did witness history that day, just not the history anyone expected. The former president had long planned for the nullification of the election, sowing doubt about the results even before ballots were cast and challenging the results in the courts. So before the joint session, we prepared for the possibility of objections to the Electoral College votes by Republican members of Congress. It was clear that the results from Arizona, …

New Year’s Eve terrorist attack on Cologne Cathedral foiled by German police

New Year’s Eve terrorist attack on Cologne Cathedral foiled by German police

Published by Sam

Security measures have been increased in Cologne with about 1,000 police officers deployed – INA FASSBENDER/AFP German police have arrested three people suspected of planning a New Year’s Eve terrorist attack on Cologne Cathedral, which was reportedly to be carried out in a car loaded with explosives. Officers had first been informed of an attack planned for Christmas Eve and patrolled the cathedral with machine guns until New Year’s Eve, when they intercepted the group. The detainees, who are all Tajik, had planned to use a car as their means of attack but “in which way is not known”, said Cologne police. Officers had deployed sniffer dogs to search the underground parking of the cathedral for explosives but did not discover anything suspicious. The suspects were detained in the cities of Duisburg, Herne and Dueren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and their apartments in these areas were also searched. Officers had deployed sniffer dogs to search for explosives – INA FASSBENDER/AFP Bild Daily reported in December that the group had allegedly wanted to carry …