Posted on 07/18/2011 6:49:02 PM PDT by Immerito
MS Police Officer Shoots Chained Dog Six Times March 23, 2011
In Gulfport, MS, police were called to a subdivision to investigate a possible break-in. During the course of the investigation, an officer went into the backyard of a neighbor’s home where she encountered the owner’s chained dog. The owner, who was just coming outside to get his dog, says the officer was standing approximately 30 feet from the end of the dog’s chain when she put half a dozen bullets in the dog.
Samuel Lovato rushed his beloved pet – named Melmo – to the vet but the injuries were too extensive and euthanasia was performed in order to relieve Melmo’s suffering. Mr. Lovato:
“I’ve had her for 11 years. Eleven years. She was a great dog, a good dog and she was just in her yard doing her job and just being a dog.”
Police will investigate themselves, as usual:
Police are looking into the incident, according to Lt. Craig Petersen with the Gulfport Police Department.
“First, we need to conduct our internal investigation,” Lt. Petersen said. “I feel really bad for the gentleman and the loss of his dog, but we’ll conduct the internal investigation.”
He also said that officers have to make life and death decisions in an instant, including assessing threats from animals.
“The officer has discretion in how to protect themselves in these situations, totally up to the officer based on the facts and circumstances of that particular case.”
Sound like they’ve already got the “Justified Killing” stamp all inked up? But wait, there’s more:
There is no timetable for when the investigation will be completed. The officer involved in the shooting remains on active duty.
So I guess it’s ‘Gulfport dog owners, hide your dogs’? Maybe while you’re at it, hide your kids too. I hate to think of a kid being in a yard with a dog where half a dozen bullets are flying.
“f the p!” “f the p!”
...and they say that there is no common ground between Liberals and Conservatives.
“I plead ignorance. What is the “G. GordonLiddy” protocol?”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Gordon_Liddy
See “Controversial Statements”.
IMO, the shooting of pets is a psyops tactic designed to terrorize the owners. Terror inspires obedience...At least in the short term.
Thanks for the link. Understood.
I think the cops lose this one in court ~ and the officer gets a stiff counseling from a Senior Lt. on the force ~ to improve her aim.
Up until the mid 70s, cops in most places were exactly what they were supposed to be. Citizens who wore uniforms when working, who did their jobs quietly and professionally, and who viewed every action with their fellow citizens as exercises in rights, responsibilities and civilized courtesies.
The war on drugs changed the rules. I am not sure what would have happened if we had gone the other direction (legalization) instead of increased criminalization, but it's obvious that the WOD didn't work. Drugs are still out there, and there is still huge amounts of money to be made selling them.
But look at what the WOD did do. The huge amounts of money to be made in the industry attracted the worst and most dangerous kinds of criminals. The money they were making made it possible for the crooks to buy and field the most powerful weapons. Cops were forced to match their viciousness and firepower with new weapons and tactics -- and SWAT was born. That was bad enough, but the changes kept on coming. Search warrants? Fourth Amendment?
"Get real!", the cops said. "We're dealing with bad dudes here! We have to approach every warrant and every arrest like combat because we don't know who is going to be armed with AKs and cop-killer bullets!"
It didn't happen all at once, but somewhere between 1970 and 1985, cops were no longer the good guys protecting other good guys from bad guys. They became "THE MAN". They told you what to do and you did it. Policing became less about protecting the public and more about making good busts.
But what really screwed things up was the concept of "asset forfeiture". Suddenly, any bust could be a city hall bonanza! Someone in a car gets caught with a baggie full of oregano? Confiscate the car, auction it, and there's the payroll for that day. And then it really got bad. Houses, boats, even real estate.
The rules on what can be seized vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but there can be no doubt in anyone's mind that the very concept is unconstitutional in the face of it.
Now, reading all that, someone is bound to be wondering whathe WOD and asset forfeiture have to do with cops shooting dogs. To me, however, the answer is simple.
Contempt!
I believe that the hyper-aggressiveness police behavior that has resulted from the incremental but substantial changes in law enforcement philosophy caused by the WOD, has fundamentally altered the mindset of most police departments, and through them, the minds of the officers themselves.
Citizens are no longer worthy of their respect. They are either timid little mice who cause them nothing but irritation with their nagging complaints, or they are dangerous crooks that need to be taken down. They have contempt is for the first, hatred is for the second, but what is completely missing is any residual affection for -- or sense of bearing responsibility to -- members of the public.
Why do they shoot dogs? Because they can! They know that in any "he says, she says" their word is going to be taken over the dog's owner. An owner who they resent anyhow. Besides, who knows? Even if the dog is on a chain, he might get loose! And that's where things stand right now.
Is there a solution? I really don't know. The mindsets have crystallized, attitudes have hardened, careers have been made. Even if all drugs were legalized and the prices fell to $50 a ton for cocaine, the cops would fight to the death to keep their Nomex uniforms and MP-5s.
There's no way back to Maybury RFD.
We could have 2 sides to the story, but it appears that the police weren’t done coming up with their side of the story yet, which is always the case.
Why does it always take the police a week to determine why they fired shots?
Yeah, but unfortunately the dog didn't live to tell his side.
Pretty soon, a SWAT team will take out a whole front yard full of garden gnomes.
30 feet, dog was chained!
Not even the suspects yard!
GOP/”Conservatives”, always blindly supporting cops, even when they are criminals.
Remember, our constitution put LIMITS on what Gov./LE can do.
Six bullets from 30 feet.... I wonder how many magazines that took???
No T-shirt needed in this case. Just a lawyer will suffice. This Sow-N-Uniform reminds me of the overfed copatrix who rushed up to a man already on the ground, with a cop on top of the already subdued man - and the Sow shot the man!
All of it on video, too.
The dog should’ve just done whatever the officer said.
/s
Cops don’t just shoot DOGS for no good reason. I’ve seen so many videos on line now of cops shooting people without good cause it’s just sickening. The problem is cops have been trained that their lives are more important than our lives. That is nonsensical. What happened to “to protect and serve”. Does a fireman decide not to risk his life because he might get injured? No. It’s his job to risk his life. The police need a lesson from the fireman...when that happens they will get and deserve our undivided respect.
Yes, I know there are good and bad cops. But pretty much all cops are trained to put their lives ahead of others. It’s a rare department that reverses the trend. That just isn’t right.
I’m from a small town in the mid-west and I trust and support law enforcement here totally. They are not perfect, but none of us are. They try to be professional and they do a good job of it as well.
Let’s not tar all law enforcement because of this officer’s actions.
For example, what if the chain was of an unknown length and the dog charged the officer? If the officer did not know the zone of danger, what should she do, since the dog could out run her in all likelihood? Even if the dog started out thirty feet away, which would be consistent with the story told, it could still have made the officer feel threatened.
I think we need to hear the other side of the story.
Glad I checked replies to that mindless statement before posting.
You speak for me: the chained dog is unavailable to tell his side of the story..........While I am sure there is the occasional charging pit bull, too many of these pups are tied up or otherwise harmless dogs, just gunned down. For whatever real reasons, fear of animals, bloodlust, whatever, the cops never say.
“I’m from a small town in the mid-west and I trust and support law enforcement here totally. They are not perfect, but none of us are. They try to be professional and they do a good job of it as well.”
Look...a person with a loaded gun who is afraid of a chained dog 30 feet away is simply in the wrong line of work. I don’t care if they are in the ‘hood or in Mayberry RFD.
I see a lot of people every week (”urban outdoorsmen”) who I think are “scary” - and I’ll be a lot of other people do, too. Do you think that someone should shoot them before they do something? And they aren’t even chained up!
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