Quote:
Originally Posted by gacook
To play devil's advocate...
IF the cop (the one who tossed the flashbang) was acting under orders from his superior AND believed he was raiding the home of a "known" criminal, is it truly HIS fault this occurred?
I totally agree this schit needs to stop, but do you blame Joe Cop on the ground doing as he's told, or do you blame his bosses?
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There is a difference between a known to be violent criminal and a known criminal. There is a difference between entering into a violent situation and creating a violent situation.
So, who is culpable? It seems our police departments have no shortage of would be commandos eagerly lining up for this duty - duty that they know full well involves conducting military-style raids on citizens' households. Raids that they know full well are seldom conducted under violent conditions, such as armed criminals actively shooting it out with police, hostage situations, or whatever. They know going in that the vast majority of these raids are conducted on suspects having no violent history, and are carried out at night when (hopefully) everyone is asleep. And officers are lining up for this duty...
So, are just their supervisors, the courts, their protocols, and all of that to blame? I agree, we need to look at the whole picure, and do something about it. Provide the adult supervision these boys with their toys so obviously need. Send most of them home and take away their toys, and really clamp down on when and where it is acceptable to deploy them. We need to do all of that. But never lose sight of the fact that the officers conducting these raids are as culpable as anyone else involved - beyond just following orders, they are thoroughly enjoying playing their (relatively) risk-free game of commando.
Just because protocalls allow it, it does not mean they have to do it - they exercise a great deal of judgement based upon the situation in the field. There was clearly no reason to use this grenade - our hero simply wanted to. He knew there were no ramifications for him, since protocol allows it. He is responsible for his decision and needs to be held personally liable for it. Like that will ever happen...