I've been pondering whether to mention this Standard-Examiner story, which appeared in yesterday's edition. The large wide-angle photo image was the first thing that caught my eye as I retrieved my newspaper in the pre-dawn darkness yesterday morning; and I assumed at first, (as many other Std-Ex readers may have done,) that this grim-visaged group of heavily-armed local law-enforcement's finest was in hot pursuit of an armed and dangerous felon -- or possibly Osama bin Laden himself. (Photo by Robert Johnson/Standard-Examiner.) This photo image has been "cropped," by the way. The original hard-copy edition showed two additional equally grim-visaged and well-armed law enforcement officers to the right of the photo.It wasn't until I got back inside the front door and into the indoor light that I actually caught the article headline: "Shoplifters Focus of Riverdale Hunt."
I'll incorporate a few of Shane Farver's opening paragraphs:
RIVERDALE -- It was a show of force worthy of hunting down a gang of the most-hardened criminals.
Twelve officers, some carrying automatic weapons, from five Top of Utah police agencies, two dogs and a helicopter combed the woods near the river parkway in Riverdale Wednesday afternoon.
Their quarry? Teenage shoplifters.
"We were giving chase and decided to use the resources available," said Riverdale Lt. Dave Hansen in explaining the heavy turnout of law enforcement.
You can read rest of the thrilling story about the big Riverdale dragnet here.
At first I brushed this story off as just another particularly trivial example of bureaucratic overkill -- employing sledge-hammers, where fly-swatters would do. After a day's hindsight however, I think this story has implications that go far beyond mere bureaucratic silliness. In an era where law-enforcement dollars are tight, I think the citizens of Riverdale need to ask themselves why it was necessary for the City of Riverdale's "watch-commander" to call in officers from five police agencies, together with two dogs and a helicopter, to apprehend four terrified teenagers who'd already bungled a petty property crime. It's a question of proportion, I think; and I'm pretty sure somebody is going to bring this story up the next time some local law enforcement official starts crying the "dress blues" over funding shortages.
Don't get me wrong on this. I'm very sympathetic to the needs of local law-enforcement. I think however, the City of Riverdale needs to take a long hard look at the management-level personnel who were responsible for this situation. Lt. Dave Hansen didn't do his brother and sister officers any favors in this circumstance, it seems to me. I wonder how many law-enforcement dollars were expended in connection with this Keystone Kops event?
What about our gentle WCF readers? Does anyone have any thoughts or comments on this?
As an added bonus for Grondahl fans in the hinterlands, I'm also incorporating this morning's excellent cartoon, which also addresses this topic:
Click to enlarge
7 comments:
It is this part of the story that I find especially troubling:
"One man, who was along the river at the time of the search, was mistakenly taken into custody. The man threw his arms up when the helicopter spotted him and was taken to the police station.
However, he was soon released after officers interviewed him, Hansen said."
Perhaps a simple and understandable mistake, but it no doubt evoked a deep and primal response on the part of this individual, that he could be out for a stroll along the riverbank and then be suddenly accosted by law enforcement armed with assault rifles and hauled off. I hope he has a sense of humor, but still--this is unsettling, to say the least.
The article does not mention whether the teenagers were armed, but I believe law enforcement now is trained to look at everyone as if he or she might be. Although this has now become necessary for their personal survival, still, the attitude that we are all potential killers out here does not bode well for a harmonious relationship between us and them. Get that? Us and them. I for one am really sorry it's come to this.
It should be us For them, and them For us, all on the side of keeping our human environment a safe place to conduct business, or to take a stroll along the riverbank. if we so choose.
Remember all those stories of minors shoplifting and their parents finding out and marching them down to the store and making them give the merchandise back and apologize to the owner? Doesn't this happen anymore? Unless this was the first time for these teenagers, perhaps this shoplifting tendency could have been nipped in the bud a long time ago, and there would have been no need for assault rifles, dogs, or helicopters.
I think that, unfortunately, when law enforcement has to get involved in something, this is the way they're going to do it. If we could once again take the initiative to demand appropriate conduct from ourselves and each other, they wouldn't have to.
Dian,
Good insights. I tend to agree. I had a bit more of a sense of "humor" about it, because my cousin was one of the officers involved (actually in the picture), though I haven't had a chance to talk with him about it yet.
I liked your quote "Unless this was the first time for these teenagers"
In my experience in working with youth and teenagers, it is EXTREMELY doubtful that something of this caliber (no pun intended)was a first time for any of these youth.
Yep, times have changed. The guy on the freakin' bus with a napsack could be the guy....ask 'em in London. But, pardon the play on words, the cops should be very careful with "overkill." Sort of like our nuclear arsenal, what is it, we could blow up the world 1000 times over?
It's tough on the streets these days. The time of hard nosed fist fighting is long since over; now they use Glocks. The liberal judges set 'em free with slaps on the wrists, because of a divorce or some other traumatic type event. This whole abusive and pervasive attitude started when they abolished the draft and let the kids go on their merry way without giving a little something back to the country and having some self discipline and a knowledge of right/wrong drummed into you.
Now, it's chaos.
It is another example of bureaucracies grown out of control. The central planning mentality breeds this kind of internal armed forces.
It is pretty scarry when our police are trained as an army to deal with the citizens. The whole 9/11 thing just opened the door wide open to the kind of control freak politicians that promote the need for an internal army to control the "bad guys" amongst us. Then we end up with a tetesterone driven military minded and heavily armed police state.
With so few real baddies to do combat with they turn all that fire power on some lame young shoplifters, and maybe you and me next time we turn left without signaling!
What's wrong with you Rudi? Are you daft?
It's the police-state mentality, where every abberration is handled aggressively and brutally.
Dian had a nice argument there about the innocent bystander who probably got hand-cuffed and hauled to the police station.
Whatever happened to Andy and Barney?
You're completely full of it, Wyatt Earp.
We need to keep these "boyscouts with guns" under a tight lid.
Cops ain't the smartest people in the system, and combat arms like those cops who were photographed carrying weapons that don't belong in a "botched teenager Shoplifter manhunt"need a dose of reality.
Obvious that you dodged the draft, Marko pinko liberal....you're so gone you missed the gist of my post. Meet ya on Main Street anytime, punk!
Talk about overkill this stuff was all over the news channels. How embarrassing, The sheriff in charge said "he wanted to use his resources" that was the stupid quote of the week.
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