Kim Potter found guilty. She should have got a medal ...

[dogtag]

The guy she shot by mistake needed killing anyway.
He was a scumbag with a mile long rap sheet.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lent-past.html

[barretcreek]

Two questions about Tasers. Why aren't Tasers required to holstered on the weak side rather than next to the firearm? Why aren't they required to be thumb actuated rather than trigger finger? Seems to be a simple way to avoid these incidents.

My lack of LE experience, training or suitability for the job may be reflected in the question.

[Allen]

Two questions about Tasers. Why aren't Tasers required to holstered on the weak side rather than next to the firearm? Why aren't they required to be thumb actuated rather than trigger finger? Seems to be a simple way to avoid these incidents.

My lack of LE experience, training or suitability for the job may be reflected in the question.

I've had similar thoughts of why they aren't carried on the opposite side of the firearm. Perhaps most do carry this way?

[Art]

This is not the first or last time an LEO has mistaken their pistol for their taser and this gal isn't the first to be convicted of a crime for it either. She screwed up.

Three thoughts:

1. The bad guy was trying to drive off with her partner struggling with him in the car and if she's just pulled her pistol and shot him dead she'd probably have been ok... but she didn't, she reached for the taser and yelled "taser, taser, taser." At that point it became negligence. Conviction on the lesser charge was probably justified.

2. She was overcharged, when the jury found her guilty of the most serious and least serious charge at the same time I suspect the ghost of George Floyd was looking over their shoulders.

3. Different departments carry the sidearm and taser in different locations. A lot of departments do have the taser in the cross draw position on the weak side. Why this department doesn't is anyone's guess.

Dogtag, cops are not judges and executioners, I know you'd like it better that way, but the days of law dogs being executioners like one of my great uncles, are fortunately over. Be glad you were never cross with old O.D. Baker when he was a Texas Ranger and having a bad day.

[dogtag]

She made a mistake. Mistakes are not crimes. This is a really bad verdict.

[Art]

She made a mistake. Mistakes are not crimes. This is a really bad verdict.

There are times when a mistake becomes a crime. This happens more often when the mistake leaves somebody dead. I figure Alec Baldwin, and at least two other people, made a mistake which is probably a crime. So did Potter.

I hope the Judge takes it easy on her, she seems like a decent gal. I don't know what the "mandatory minimum" on this is but that's what she should get and if the judge is allowed to do downward departure she should.

[dogtag]

Just because a death results from a mistake does not make it a crime.

New news: 14 year old girl killed by Cop's stray bullet - Send the Cop to prison ?

[lyman]

Just because a death results from a mistake does not make it a crime.

New news: 14 year old girl killed by Cop's stray bullet - Send the Cop to prison ?

maybe,

maybe not,

that is for a a judge and jury to decide (I do not know the details of that case to comment more)

[dogtag]

This is another anti-Cop measure and it's going to hamstring Cop's actions.
Cops make lots of mistakes, it goes with the job, but if mistakes are now
judged to be crimes then Cops will avoid confrontations and I wouldn't blame them.
Welcome to mayhem country.

[Art]

This is another anti-Cop measure and it's going to hamstring Cop's actions.
Cops make lots of mistakes, it goes with the job, but if mistakes are now
judged to be crimes then Cops will avoid confrontations and I wouldn't blame them.
Welcome to mayhem country.

It depends on the mistake. Some mistakes are covered by qualified immunity, some of the most egregious are not.

There have been a lot of frivolous prosecutions of cops in the last four years, quite a few of which have resulted in the policeman (or woman) being acquitted. Every one of the cops indicted in the rush to judgement following the Freddie Gray situation were acquitted but the damage was done, and the police in Baltimore have never recovered. In addition the whole demonization of the police, much of it by people in authority, right up to the white house, has taken a heavy toll, so I will agree that the cop is always in the wrong mentality is hurting everybody and making it a lot harder to get people to do the job, especially in some jurisdictions. I would never recommend law enforcement as a career today and unfortunately we're going to see a nationwide decline in policing, largely because the best candidates will not take the job. We're only just beginning to see the consequences....believe me.

[togor]

Art I have trouble believing that those still on the job today are "not the best" by definition because they neither quit or were charged with a crime.

I'd call it a time of transition, made inevitable by video cameras on LEOs shoulders and in civilian hands. Things that once went unseen by the public are now seen.

[Art]

Art I have trouble believing that those still on the job today are "not the best" by definition because they neither quit or were charged with a crime.

I'd call it a time of transition, made inevitable by video cameras on LEOs shoulders and in civilian hands. Things that once went unseen by the public are now seen.

I didn't mean to imply that current cops weren't competent or doing a good job. My point is attrition is high and its going to be harder and harder to recruit qualified candidates because of the political situation today that has too often resulted in the attempted railroading of officers who were often just doing their jobs based on frivolous allegations, or having some bozo I'm not allowed to touch dump a bucket of water on me while I'm trying to 'cuff a suspect, or having to stand by while thieves loot a store. If I were 23 today I would almost surely have made a different career choice.

Now I've done the job and I understand things aren't the same because of technology but the stuff that I'm talking about goes way beyond that. If the job isn't attractive people are not going to be inclined to do it...full stop.

[togor]

I didn't mean to imply that current cops weren't competent or doing a good job. My point is attrition is high and its going to be harder and harder to recruit qualified candidates because of the political situation today that has too often resulted in the attempted railroading of officers who were often just doing their jobs based on frivolous allegations, or having some bozo I'm not allowed to touch dump a bucket of water on me while I'm trying to 'cuff a suspect, or having to stand by while thieves loot a store. If I were 23 today I would almost surely have made a different career choice.

Some truth to that.

Teachers see some of the same thing--a lack of community support, specifically by family members who have trouble accepting that one of their own made a mistake.

[Johnny P]

While the liberals think that the police are the ones that have changed, could anyone have imagined the crime that has just come to be expected and accepted in the socialist democrat run cities. Who would have ever thought that if you steal less than $1000 it is acceptable, that dozens of shootings per weekend is acceptable, if you get robbed or mugged you just shouldn't have been wherever you are. The police have not changed, but the people the police have to deal with have. Who would want to be in law enforcement when the new liberal society has given the cretins the upper hand.

[togor]

While the liberals think that the police are the ones that have changed, could anyone have imagined the crime that has just come to be expected and accepted in the socialist democrat run cities. Who would have ever thought that if you steal less than $1000 it is acceptable, that dozens of shootings per weekend is acceptable, if you get robbed or mugged you just shouldn't have been wherever you are. The police have not changed, but the people the police have to deal with have. Who would want to be in law enforcement when the new liberal society has given the cretins the upper hand.

The country has changed but I wonder if you can understand that if all you think you see are "socialist democratic run cities" with no clear conception of what you even mean by that.

Right now people in cities are having conversations about what kind of policing they want. You would deny them this right? Wow, what a believer in self-governance you are!

One thing that I don't think we're going to hear as much about in 10 years is the "warrior cop" model. That was something cooked up by consultants and sold primarily after 9/11. We're moving past it, I hope.