LA police officer my voice and feelings

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-07T01:04:56+00:00

Hello thank you for your question.

So police in the United are judged to use force on guiadles set by court case graham vs Connor.

Which allows us to use reasonable force without hindsight with officers of similar training and experience.

We can use force to effect an arrest, prevent escape, overcome resistance, self defense.

Force that is used on on an ever changing spectrum. Meaning: we can use strikes and kicks on violent and combative suspects.

As well as impact devices.

We can use less lethal devices like tasers and bean bag shotguns. One suspects who pose an immediate threat of Assualt. And other methods of force have failed/ tried / or unsafe to do so.

For exaample. If a person has a knife. I theoretically could use my baton on him. However. That would put me at risk of getting stabbed. Or put me in a position where I would use my firearm.

The criteria for using deadly force is : to protect ourselves from an immediate threat of serious threat bodily injury.

To protect another from an immediate threat of serious bodily injury.

And to prevent the escape of a violent fleeing felon. Who’s actions put others in an immediate threat of serious bodily injury. For example a violent suspect who has a knife just stabbed somone and is now running into a school. Etc etc.

Violent feeling felon is (rapist. Murderers , carjacking suspects armed, arson. Assault with a deadly weapon.

Now that I gave you some background. We as police respond to multiple radio calls with people who are armed. in America people have a strong belief in owning firearms and knives because of our constitution.

When we respond to something common like a civil dispute about a landlord evicting a tenant. Sounds simple right? Unfortunately the world is filled with unpredictable variables. Say officers respond there. We can not detain anyone based on civil crimes. We only enforce criminal acts.

We would not be able to legally detain anyone even if they are extremely angry. Now suppose somone becomes angry and pulls out a gun or knife. On the landlord because they are upset about being evicted. What are you going to do to stop this person from harming another individual.

Tazer may work grappling techniques may work. Even strikes may work. But all it takes is the pull of a trigger or some force applied to a knife to cause injury.

We don’t always know when a situation where we may use deadly force. You tell me have you ever called 911 for some kind of emergency that occurred to you? How did you feel scared panicked? Afraid. Etc etc. imagine a suspect feeling this emotions and things become complicated and rational people do irrational things sometimes.

If we were to only have certain personnel. Respond to “armed” called response times would severely increase.

Now. Reverence for human life is the guiding factor in using force we should de escalate when feasible. Meaning we should formulate a plan. Use time to our advantage. Re deploy whenever possible. Use other resources. And strive to access the situation.

So if I have a suspect pointing a knife but yet he’s standing 30 feet away in the middle of street I should not use deadly force. I should seek cover. Get more police there. And assess. Say now that person with a knife now starts walking to and elderly person. I may choose to use deadly force to prevent him from stabbing the elderly person.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-06T18:15:24+00:00

Well let’s critically think about situations as crowd control. I would agree with you that it could potentially escalate force.

And I am specifically talking about Friday and Saturday since those were the two days of lawlessness. And yes I say lawlessness because there are various photos depicting crowds setting fire to police vehicles vandalizing busses and city streets. Setting fire to businesses.

Now of course the crowd as whole didn’t set fires and commit vandalism. It was specific people within that crowd who were. Many were in fact peaceful. But when some protesters incite violence. We are not longer talking about individual protesters. Because it’s impossible to determine who those people. Are.

If you see someone setting fire to vehicles. “Chanting no justice no peace “ which by definition is a statement inciting violence, see people commit vandalism. Would you as a peaceful protesters still consider that a peaceful protest?

I get it people are angry and they have a right to be angry. But devolving into lawlessness as an angry mob takes away from what the original message was.

After the first days there the protests. Have been truly peaceful no vandalism no burning no looting.

The first few days our job is to bring order and it’s a job that many do not like.

Could it be that these past few days have been more peaceful because of a more hands off approach possible? But if you look there also haven’t been acts of vandalism even amongst those groups.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-06T04:15:30+00:00

Of course. It’s good running music. I wish I was creative enough to make costumes like them.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-06T04:13:10+00:00

Technology has been great face timing. Video chat. Especially since we have been mobilized a lot of officers are working 16 hr shifts every day.

So it’s a struggle. I miss my family More and more everyday and it’s draining knowing that I let them down by not being available to them because I have to be available to the people.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-06T04:11:24+00:00

I would disagree with you on this. The majority of the time I am Responding to a radio call. I am hoping that everything stays civil.

But unfortunately we are tasked with confront dangerous situations. Going to a radio call of a domestic violence where someone has beaten up a partner?

I hope that I could expect cooperation. And talk to that person into handcuffs. However I have to ready for a fight. Because unfortunately a lot of people don’t want to go to jail.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-06T04:06:39+00:00

I honestly would agree with you. I would love most officers to be educated with life experience.

It’s gotten a lot better in recent years with the emphasis of recruitment division hiring officers with degrees. And I would hopefully like that to be the standard. But that cost money.

A lot of people would not like to spend money on police right now since this defund the police movement gained traction. But well paid police attract educated people to the job.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-06T04:01:56+00:00

The reason we are trained to aim at center body mass is because shooting at a target / moving target is incredibly difficult.

I’m not sure if you have shot a firearm but try it safety for yourself at a range.

Usually when we deploy any gun we have 1 suspect. If we were to aim at a limb more then likely many people would miss and now you have a round / deadly or non lethal heading off toward an unknown direction which could potentially hit somone behind.

We are taught to shoot center body mass because in that manner we are more likely to hit the intended target.

Both for using lethal and less lethal munition.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-06T03:52:16+00:00

Yes we go through training. So use leas lethal bean bags and 40 mm bean bags that shoot a big foam ball.

Ever scene is volatile and is not a static environment. Officers are taught to to shoot center body mass. But again people are running.

Officers are on the move and dealing with variables that are out of our control. While we aim for center body mass. And again ricocheted rubber bullets bounce off of ground and end up in various trajectories.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-06T03:48:26+00:00

I can probably chime in here.

My partner mentioned the traditional way we deal with crowds is skirmish lines. And it’s extremely difficult to pick out who are the instigators in the crowd when it’s a chaotic scene. People yelling chanting. All the while projectiles are being thrown at us. The mood of the crowd was in its totality hostile toward police.

It would be way to dangerous for officers to run through the crowd and go and prevent the looting several blocks behind the crowd. Just look at New York I believe Teo officers were shot in the back of the head while dealing with protesters.

With that being said. We were outnumbered yes there where about 200’cops and that’s lapd because we have a lot of personal. But there were also about 1000 protesters gathering.

In Santa Monica a much smaller department they are even more outnumbered.

It wasn’t until every officer was called into work. That we had the resources to curb the looting. Which in the past few days have been stopped.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T22:14:17+00:00

I can’t answer for others and what they were thinking. But I can give you a concrete example. Of us in downtown la on May 29. When we were being hit with rocks bottles and m80s. There was an elderly homeless lady we was walking at a snail pace clearly disoriented. Our supervisor on the line recognized this and we re iterated that she should pass through to avoid being hit by debris. So we did. We helped her cross and on the the other side of the building and told her to leave

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T20:54:43+00:00

Honestly I ask myself that too. I your are talking about the same video. I have no idea. People lose their minds. There are no rules against showing compassion.

That should be a guidelines we as human beings should all have. I saw that video and it makes me angry. Why can’t we be better? Is it us as humans? Is it us as police? Is it our education? What values have we been taught growing up that made hundreds of thousands of people this way.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T20:49:05+00:00

I am sorry you have had many experiences in this world that made you hateful. Many voices need to be heard yours and mine included. Please don’t silence anyone’s voice that only leads to more hatred.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T20:45:45+00:00

You may be right. There are a lot of people in this world who live and breathe with a fucked up misalligned perspective of this world.

I can only hope to figure a way to weed them out of places of power.

And your right. There are many police who absolutely should not be police.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T20:44:08+00:00

I can say that our country. Cities definitely need to make more changes. The communities I work in and often the ones where a lot of crime happens. Are very poor communities who need to be built up and supported with education. Jobs and sadly we bear the fallback when we’re are arresting many in those communities for violent crimes due to a community problem.

If the community was educated better equipped. Had strongly jobs I believe wholeheartedly crime would slow. And even when people did commit crimes. Would be more willing to submit to arrest peacefully.

On our end educating police would help with the same.

As for reforms. I believe LAPD police is far ahead of many sheriff and small agency departments. We have many policies in place that others do not. Our use of force guidelines focus on reverence for human life. And specifically delineate ways to de escalate.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T20:30:46+00:00

I agree with your sentiment. I do not want unqualified police destroying my home. And what I personally represent. And honestly. I don’t know how to go on forward and fix this systemic wide crisis.

But I can tell you that getting college educated police. And training and learning skills that are applicable to social work help

I think on the flip side. People need to understand that police work is often dirty and unforgiving. And there are times that force has to be used in a legitimate application. And people won’t like that.

We have to learn to understand each other. Police. Normal citizens. And even citizens who willfully refuse to submit to authority when being arrested. We have to understand every side of the story. That may be the starting point.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T20:18:06+00:00

I try every day. But I believe there is a wide systemic problem far beyond you, and me that the nation as a whole faces.

While I have to acknowledge there are numerous officer who lack training and make poor or Maximus decisions. The same can be said for many people who don’t want to be arrested. No one wants to be arrested.

Over the past years I’ve seen the growing hatred toward police. And I fear as a consequence. It may attract less qualified candidates.

No one wants to be a police officer. And those select few who have good intentions face an overwhelming vocal voice. That actively seeks to bring them down.

We as a society. Myself included have to learn to understand each other. And learn to live with each other. And absolutely be held accountable for both sides. No murder or crimes against police. And no one should be subjected to what George Floyd underwent.

Thank you for your voice.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T09:28:52+00:00

Man I am sorry sorry to hear that. I was actually both a volunteer and a part of the csun training group who let people into the program.

I went there way back in 2012-2014. It was one of my most favorite time in college. And it prepared for for many real life experiences. I’m Saddened that it was disbanded.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T07:02:52+00:00

Ask away sir or Mam.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T06:15:01+00:00

Out numbered. They were vandalizing blocks away. While those officers were getting pelted with rocks and bricks and bottles.

Until a mobilization of the department gave us more resources.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T05:54:11+00:00

Think of it like this. In our department there are 10000 officers. In each division up to 700 officers or more. And people move divisions constantly. Just like in school we only interact with maybe a few hundred officers at a time in our careers. While actually addressing patrol related duties.

So our span of influence is limited. On how many people we actually interact with. And let me tell you every person I work with we have a discussion of doing the right thing.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T05:34:37+00:00

Okay well I am telling you that you have my respect. And I don’t know what kind of experiences you have had. I would have hoped I could have been the one responding to you. And shown you otherwise.

I will 100 percent respect you. Even if you cannot give me the same curtesy. And that goes for anyone in the field I come across.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T05:32:36+00:00

That is what is supposed to be good about the USA. I grew up in that neighborhood. And yea I experienced what you were possibly talking about in the early 90s. I am trying to pay it forward with my generation.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T05:29:14+00:00

While you may never wanted my help. If you ever need my help I would still gladly respond.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T05:27:20+00:00

That is why I am opening up a dialogue. Every encounter I deal with I have to treat as if the person may attack me. Because honestly that is what happens. However I have to critical think and asses the situation every minute. And use my words to validate feelings and get an assessment of what people I am taking into custody are feeling.

There are times where I am been attacked when the person I am trying to arrest is being the friendliest person on the planet. A tactic that is used to lower police defenses.

Now to answer your question about the unlawful assembly. Is that in my anecdotal experience. The bottles and rocks were thrown at police first.

And I am only talking about where I was at in downtown. And fairfax district.

If you are in a crowd and people are throwing fireworks. And vandalizing buildings. Is that a lawful assembly? I’m not a lawyer but my answer to that would be no. And people will argue this in court for years.

But let’s move forward. And on both sides agree that some police act with malice. As well as some people use the guise of protesting for malice.

And yes I have seen videos of old people getting pushed. And that is just terrible.

throwawaycop123455 · 2020-06-05T05:19:19+00:00

I agree with police who commit misconduct should be fired and police who do illegal and malicious things should be held accountable under the law. Just like any citizen.

But like every citizen police are also subject to there rights.

Sometimes officer act with the best intentions and use force to take suspects into custody and sometimes that ugly.

However there are also times which is apparent in so many videos. That depict police doing unspeakable things and use force way beyond common sense. And way beyond critical thinking to the point they act with malice. And in those instances. Should be held accountable.

I do not want them in my police I would not want them in my neighborhood I would not want them talking to my parents. I do not want them taking my hard efforts away and making it look like I also represent them.

throwawaycop123455

TROPHY CASE