Posted on 03/16/2008 2:18:41 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
The LAPD's assault on SWAT
Would you rather have an elite fighting force made up of the best cops, or of officers who 'look like L.A.'?
By Robert C.J. Parry
March 16, 2008
On a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 2005, Jose Peña fueled himself with cocaine and grabbed a 9-millimeter pistol. Waving the gun at the head of his 19-month-old daughter, Suzie, he told the LAPD officers who arrived at the scene that he was Tony Montana -- the character played by Al Pacino in "Scarface" -- and that he was going to kill his daughter and himself. He'd already shot at her sister and at the police, so the threat was believable.
The situation was straightforward: If an LAPD SWAT crisis negotiator couldn't dispel Peña's narcotic fantasies, the little girl's life would rest with a SWAT rescue team's ability to cross a 50-foot alley, access the building, find and enter the room he was in and save Suzie before Peña pulled the trigger.
Now imagine for a moment that you were in Suzie Peña's position. Would you want the police SWAT team coming through the door to be the best of the best -- the toughest, most highly trained, most elite tacticians in the Los Angeles Police Department -- or would you want the team to "look like L.A."? Would you want rescuers who had not lost a hostage in three decades, or would you want a team with heartwarming, multicultural diversity?
The answer is pretty obvious, no? You'd want the best. That's what Suzie got, and even so, the results were tragic. According to the L.A. district attorney's office, Jose Peña emerged from the building and a gunfight ensued.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
All depends how you measure "success", I guess. Do you consider breaking down someone's door at 2am without first verifying the address to be a tactic that is necessary to be successful in law enforcement?
When use improperly they are no better then the crooks themselves sometimes even worse.
Whats the solution do away with a lot of the laws most people find a need to violate. Mainly gun laws and drug laws If they only went after murders, rapist robbers and the like we all would lose a lot less sleep over their use.
Waco.
One hostage death in 35 years.
I suppose if you look for the negative, you can find it. And that is what happens dealing with cops here on Free Republic in many cases.
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