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Culpeper... again!?

TFred

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
7,750
Location
Most historic town in, Virginia, USA
It is a sad and confusing story.
It is a shame that none of the news stories talk about finding his gun and putting it into evidence!

Off topic, Im usally quite awake and thoughtful at 11PM when this thread started,
Im also ready to post reasonably at 1AM, when I made the first reply to this thread.
I do not remember reading the thread then, nor posting some personal attack,
in reponse to a report of a shooting and the linked new artical.
Really, there is nothing that I should/could have taken any offense too!
Ive read it today, saw that I had been deleted and for the life of me, have no recolection of what
I may have wrote, nor what kind of thing I wrote, Nor why I would attack Tfred.
Soooo Im saying I am sorry! I wish Grapeshot would PM me, and tell me, what the heck did I write!
Just FYI to all concerned, this is news to me, I didn't see any out-of-order posts last night, nor did they even show up in my e-mail feed!

TFred
 

user

Accomplished Advocate
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
2,516
Location
Northern Piedmont
No idea what happened or why in this case, myself, but being somewhat cynical, I would repeat the following suggestion: when in the company of law enforcement, do not touch a firearm; don't think about it, don't talk about it, don't gesture towards it, don't make any reference to it. Think of it this way: A gun in your hand, even where some "authority" has ordered you to produce it, is permission for the "authority" to kill you. Most cops are really ok, but one of them out there is a psychotic whacko nut-job, and you don't know which one it is.
 

marshaul

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
11,188
Location
Fairfax County, Virginia
Of course I will not form an opinion until later, if at all, but a careful observer can't help but notice that the story is developing in such a manner that precludes any corroboration to the officers' version of the events, since the only other witness to the suspects aggressive action is the deceased himself. Convenient, at least.

The last time the Culpeper police shot a person I argued that it's high time we mandate police record everything they do in at the very least duplicate, most especially when they are initiating a premeditated action (from serving a warrant to deciding to set up a speed trap), with noncompliance penalties ranging from excluding evidence in trial against their suspect, to a presumption of guilt against officers who knowingly go into a situation, don't record, and then shoot somebody. Also I'd be fine with criminal penalties for noncompliance.

I know the police apologists will act as though that's some prohibitively restrictive burden, but I'd go so far as to say that that right there is a great litmus test for police apologia. In fact, it's not a burden at all. Police already have plenty of recording equipment – dash cams, lapel cams, helmet cams, you name it – which they have no problem using when it suits them. All I'm saying is it's high time we penalize them when they neglect to do so for suspicious reasons, or conveniently "lose" footage or experience "equipment malfunctions".
 
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speed41ae

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Messages
281
Location
Richmond, VA
No idea what happened or why in this case, myself, but being somewhat cynical, I would repeat the following suggestion: when in the company of law enforcement, do not touch a firearm; don't think about it, don't talk about it, don't gesture towards it, don't make any reference to it. Think of it this way: A gun in your hand, even where some "authority" has ordered you to produce it, is permission for the "authority" to kill you. Most cops are really ok, but one of them out there is a psychotic whacko nut-job, and you don't know which one it is.

I would like to add that just because the LEO that told you that it is OK for you to hand him your firearm knows that it is OK. It does not mean that his partner that did not hear him or some other LEO that just showed up knows that it is OK.
 

MAC702

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
6,331
Location
Nevada
The last time the Culpeper police shot a person I argued that it's high time we mandate police record everything they do in at the very least duplicate,...

...the police apologists will act as though that's some prohibitively restrictive burden...

Has any cop argued that his daily body armor, bat belt (Taser, cuffs, sidearm, 50+ rounds of ammo, spray, radio, flashlight, etc), and "patrol carbine" are prohibitively restrictive burdens? After all, most of these items are heavy and expensive, and most are rarely needed.

Digital recording equipment is dirt cheap and lightweight in comparison, and can be useful every single day in the performance of their duties.

The truth is that it would be far more useful to the interests of the State and the People than to the actual officer.
 
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