I always wondered about the idea of “armed officers” in close proximity to dangerous criminals.
Why would officers handling prisoners need a weapon? Cuffed shackled prisoners aren’t going anywhere. Is an officer likely to draw his service weapon and shoot a cuffed shackled prisoner?
As with prison guards, “In most locations, correctional officers are not allowed to bring in any types of weapons into a correctional facility”
Why not? To prevent exactly what happened to these officers.
Of course you may want an armed guard to fight against outsiders trying to free a prisoner. But that guard shouldn’t get near the prisoner, just be on duty to stop escape conspiracies.
I wonder if the jurors on the hung juries feel any regrets.
Standard practice to have weapon outside the facility. Sometimes a cage between the weapo0ned officer and the inmates. But always secured inmates.
In some parts of the country there have been ambushes by armed people.
I worked for the Cal youth Authority which had up to age 25. We had no wepons in the department, lethal that is. Two of our transportation officers were approached by two armed individuals at the old Denver Airport in the parking lot.
In Los Angels it is likely anyone approaching you will also be armed. The key are the chains used on the prisoners and the number of guards armed and the spaces kept so that a weapon taken from an office would be responded to by a second officer in time.
For a short troop from jail to court, there should be no rewasbonfor direct contact with the inmates. When the van or bus arrives several more officers should be there to meet them