No less than lethal .... murder?

Or: when police officers blatantly violate directions and people die.

Suppose that a man is threatening to jump into his death, standing on a ledge three floors up, what is the right thing to do? Call in a negotiator, set up an inflatable cushion?
Well, according to one NYC "only one", deploying a stun gun is the way to go!

Let's see

1. Officers had radioed for an inflatable bag as the incident unfolded, but it had not yet arrived
2. the guidelines issued with the expansion in June specifically state that when possible, the stun guns "should not be used ... in situations where the subject may fall from an elevated surface
3. So far this year, stun guns have been used 180 times. No other deaths have been reported.

No not murder, negligent manslaughter ... if anything.

Assault flatulence

Monty python may have jokingly said "I fart in your general direction", but passing gas has been considered an offensive act ... and by offensive I mean to say that a man who farted in the vicinity of a police officer has been charged with battery on a police officer.

Do we need gas control laws to protect our policemen, and: is this why some local governments seem hell bent on shutting down junk food outlets?

Time will tell, or probably won't.

World of crafty terror?

So the fed is starting to worry about terrorists discussing their evil schemes ... over world of warcraft?
Well, terrorists or other criminals could hypothetically use these games chat channels, coupled with some code-language to discuss the detail of their crimes. I mean, it would be perfectly possible to set up a drug deal over WoW (drugs are the anti-WoW after all), I suppose one could be talking worse as well.

I just feel like people are digging deep here, and I hope they've got better avenues than this one to pursue ...

• some day soon, we might find secret agents in World of Warcraft, along with the druids and orcs and night elves.

Hm, 60's era LSD ring infiltration all over again eh?

Less than lethal, a comprehensive text

So I found this Brit text about alternatives to likely lethal weapons, a.k.a. firearms.
The article contains a lot of information concerning these less than lethal alternatives, such as their capabilities and flaws. A great read if you're new to the subject, or would just like to see what kind of bean bags are around and such.

Much more interesting to me were the comments both in the article and those added by readers.
Here's a nice conclusion:

• The limitations of Tasers and impact rounds mean that firearms officers cannot be instructed not to consider the use of anything except "less lethal weapons".

  "It would be inappropriate for commanders or supervisory officers to attempt to restrict the deployment of an authorised firearms officer to a particular less lethal technology or personal safety tactical option,"

In plain English: A less than lethal only policy is a recipe for disaster. Police officers should not be restricted to such gizmo's, not without the availability of a normal likely lethal weapon as backup. Why you ask?

• "Additionally, it has been shown that it is possible, in certain circumstances, for some individuals to maintain enough control to aim and fire a weapon while under the effects of Taser."

A taser does not always stop a violent attacker. A gun isn't guaranteed to do so either, but you get multiple shots, and each one has a fair chance of stopping a lethal attacker. I'd venture to say that a single 9mm round (cops carry glock 17's over here) isn't guaranteed to stop an attacker, I'd even say one may very well survive it, even if the shot incapacitates him. But with such a weapon, you can easely have up to a dozen rounds available.

What? Do I shock you? (no pun intended) Yes I am talking about killing people. No, I do not like the prospect, I vamue life and dream of a world free of violence, still I talk about cutting life short, why? Let me quote some commenters with whom I completely agree:

• As a former Police Firearms officer I believe that short of many police offiers losing their lives in such incidents there are no other alternatives but to shoot a person dead if he or she will not lay down their firearm when ordered to do so, if they fail to lay down their arms they know the consequences of their actions. (...) (The Police Officers) are protecting their own lives as well as members of the public.

• Let me get this straight: Your officers have to put their lives on the line for you and then fumble through 3 or 4 options while a criminal is endangering their lives and those of the truly innocent people around them. If the criminal happens to die in the police response, it's the fault of the officer? You don't deserve them. Defend yourselves.

A truely interesting read.

Spyspace? Facebook for spooks?

Granting credibility to the long established rumor that government agencies have trouble sharing ... information that is, they are now to start using "A-space", a social networking site for members of the US intelligence community. It would allow them to share intel quickly and efficiently, information that would otherwise remain classified within one agency.

A good evolution, or a huge security risk once 4chan gets wind of it?
How long until somebody misplaces a flash drive with sensitive information?

An interesting concept with an intriguing future!

When cops try their best ...

... but there best just isn't good enough.

Police officers were called to the scene of a man with a gun in what I presume to be a bad part of town. They came across two men. One man was ostensibly carrying what appeared to be a handgun. When ordered to do so, one man surrendered and put up no fight whats however, the other one, the one with the "gun" didn't.

Less than lethal measures were deployed but they failed. And then when the man appeared to reach for his gun, officers used normal guns, which did incapacitate him.

The man was homeless, the gun was a fake. Police fire claimed one more, innocent victim: a man who was grazed by a police bullet, he wasn't seriously hurt fortunately.

Look, these cops did their best. They started by talking, they tried to end it with less than lethal means but when those failed they had to make a split second decision and they chose to survive, not knowing they didn't have to take another life for that.

I suppose this case will be added to the long list of "innocent victims of gun violence" and "innocent victims of police violence" ... I think those cops did a good job in a crappy world and I hope they don't beat themselves up over it.

No less than lethal

Yet another man has been killed by what manufacturers still try to pass of as less-than lethal.
A man was seen ...

• under the influence, knocking on people's doors, while screaming for help.

... a regular menace to sciety.

When police arrived at the scene, they told him to put his hands behind his back. Because he did not comply fast enough for the police officers tastes, they tazered him three times, killing him.
The article makes no mention of anybodies life being in danger, not the officers lives, nobody else, he wasn't trying to run, I do not see a single reason why they should have deployed a taser on him.

Once again, a man has lost his life because a tool that was supposed to be used under no corcumstances other than those meriting the use of a lethal weapon was used to obtain complience ... id est: torture.

No, you may be asking: One post I bash tasers because they're not effective, the other I bash them for killing people. My beef is with tasers, you don't know what you're getting yourslef (and somebody else) into: They may not work, they may kill somebody ... you just don't know.

Guns can fail too, but generally, if your aim is good, you'll get a pretty predictable result ... you know what to expect.

Current events in the UK

Welcome again to the gun debate critic on sunday, current events in the UK.

Starting off with a hint of mystery as often before, two people were found dead with serious head injuries, cause unknown or otherwise undisclosed at the moment.

I'm glad to see justice come down hard on the 16 year old killer of a fourteen year old boy, stabbed him to dead him for giving the other "a dirty look". Mind that a life sentence hardly ever means spending life in prison on this side of the ocean. If anything, maybe these harsh punishments will turn youngsters away from violent crime ... if only:

A small gang of "Brady Children" attacked a middle aged man, who survived but needed medical attention for a skull fracture. Do think of the children!

There have always been some who tought criminals would simply pick on easier targets with guns unavailable to the law abiding, an example of this can be found in this incident, where a woman was assaulted and robbed by an unarmed attacker. The victim ended up in the hospital. Another woman was robbed at knifepont.

Others predicted that criminals would simply switch to other weapons, this has again been confirmed as a band of criminals carried out a robbery armed with a hammer and a stun gun. Another pair of criminals carried out half a dozen of robberies with a large kitchen knife and a metal bar amongst their weapons. And yet another group of criminals used a machete and knives to attempt a robbery during which they stabbed a security guard in the ass.
I suppose some will be glad to see criminals moving away from guns I suppose ... ah wait:

An apparently random shooting proves that guns are still available to the criminal element in the UK, a spent shell would indicate that the gun used was a semi-automatic firearm. Another shooting brought the teenage death-count in Londen up to 22, with many more dead outside of the capitol.

One of the responses to these dozens of dead children has been to crack down on knife posession, continued actions remain a way to put people behind bars. One arrest per hour was the average of an action in Essex, though 75% of those arrested were arrested for drug crimes. One might dispute the effects, three teenagers were hospitalized for stab wounds yesterday, as well as a man in his twenties.

Once again, fire fighters have come under attack by youths, this along with the recent "spate" of firebombings may prove to be a great danger in the long run. But it need not all be firebombings and molotov coctails, dousing somebody in gasoline and setting him on fire isn't unheard of either.

Dial 911 and die

Another person who called 911 for assistance has died, as the dispatcher sent rescue to the wrong house.

First they lost 18 minutes figuring out the right street, but even after the confusion (Wells ... Wales, I can see the confusion) it took another 19 minutes before an ambulance was dispatched!

This person died from medical issues, maybe she could have been saved.
Imagine the same situation with somebody beating down your door, or with an abusive spouse ... a burglar or anybody else who intends to injure or kill you; how long would it take for you to get through to the operator, would he/she be able to send help immediately and how fast would help arrive?

Survive untill it does.

Is that a real cop?

Cnn has got an article showing how easy it is to imersonate a policeman, and how you might be able to tell the difference.
Interesting read to say the least ...

• There have been several case of women being abducted and raped by thugs impersonating police -- and most departments are very sensitive to people's legitimate concerns on this score.

• This is pretty scary, since we're all taught to obey the commands of law enforcement officers -- and when a police-looking car is trying to get us to pull over, every instinct tells us to comply.

What's "mota policia" in Chinese?

Bringing shame to all mexican gangsters armed with what amounts to an overowered .22, Chinese terrorists from the Xinjian province managed to kill 19 policemen before being captured.
(ABC,CNN)

Their weapons?

1. Heavy trucks
2. homemade explosives
3. knives

Heavy trucks as seen in Israel in recent history, homemade explosives available to all with the inclination of learning how to make them, and knives which are supposed to be the scorn of England.

Nineteen fatalities, that's considerably "better" than the average school shooter stateside, and the dead were trained policemen, not high school/collge kids who are constantly drunk or on drugs (according to those who whish them banned from CCW).

No less than torture

Tasers were supposed to be an alternative for guns, to be used to prevent serious injury or loss of life while not greatly injuring the initial agressor.
Soon however, tasers were being used to force compliance, torture people into obedience. Once a gain, a sworn officer of the law has used a taser to such an excess that a man has died.

Details? The victim was HANDCUFFED ON THE GROUND, he was shocked nine times ... not to excess? He may have died before being able to endure the last two! And the lawyer defending this policeman claim this is standard procedure ...

At least the guy got fired and the death was ruled a homicide, but I doubt this murderer will be facing a lot of hard time ...

shot placement is everything

This story dates back to the 29th of novermber 2006.

A man armed with a .45 caliber handgun ambushed and fought law enforcement personell who arrived oin their cruisers. One of his first shots woulded an officer in his cruiser, his injuries in combination ith him wearing a seatbelt prevented said officer from returning fire. Multiple of his colleagues did however. They ended up firing 107 rounds of .40 speer gold dot and .223 (from m4 rifles) at their attacker, and still he lived to fight back!

It was not for a lack of hitting him! his left arm was shattered by one round, he took multiple hits to the torso and abdomen, 17 hits in total. This does amount to less than 16% accuracy, which is a different can of worms. Point is, if you shoot an attacker 17 times, should you not be allowed to reasonably expect him to be inanimate?

Law enforcement personnel had to struggle with the man to get him in cuffs!

No, he was not under the influence of drugs, fact is, and it sais so in the end of this report:

• Determined individuals can sustain many gunshot wounds in areas that produce great pain and continue to fight a long time, even without the aid of drugs or alcohol.
• Shot placement is everything in a gunfight
  and always the key to stopping a threat
  effectively.

A couple of points I'd like to push through here about magazine restrictions:

• 17 shots is almost twice the rounds that you can have in a gun in California.
• the criminal reloaded his gun from a box of cartridges!
  

Now that you know this, go out and buy a FAL!

Turn a criminal in, get gas

With current gas prices at their outrageous level (more than half of the European price!), authorities are offering gas cards redeemable for $250 worth of gas to people who assist in the capture of a wanted criminal.

I'm having seriously mixed feelings about this!

Are they bribing people into cooperating with the police? If before, citizens could turn in a criminal, wouldn't they? In that regard, it amounts to little more than trying to break down the "stop snitching" wall.

Now, dream with me for a minute: what if next food keeps rising in price as it has been doing for quite some time now, it'll be pretty friggen expensive pretty fast! Food stamps for snitches? Come on, turn in a criminal and get a weeks worth of rations ...
Hungry people will do anything to not be hungry anymore. Suppose a "less-than-freedom-oriented" body were to come in control of the nation, how fast would they implement such a scheme to track down all the firearms that "got stolen" when they were banned? To track down "terrorists" or whathever else they're calling dissenters.

I'd keep an eye on this!

When tazers don't cut it ...

Police officers are often confronted with unruly people ... it comes with the territory, but sometimes, the situation gets nasty.

When confronted with a man who charged at them with sharp objects, policemen turned to a taser to subdue their attacker ... to no aveil. Well, the article sais that tasers didn't work, without going into great detail.

Now, instead of turning to normal guns or blunt objects (nightsticks), these policemen had a medical team on standby. They subdued the attacker and gave him an injection with an amnesiac/sedative ... the assailant was then brought to a psychiatry unit of a nearby hospital where he recieved treatment.

Many a people are upset over the practice of injecting people with drugs to be able to subdue them. I can understand that, but I have no more problems with that than with the casual use of tasers, and far less problems than with the use of blunt force or a choke hold. Maybe they will manage to use a subdermal injector in the future, making it accesible to more people ... all of this is a different story however.

Fact of the matter is: a taser can be a wonderfull defensive weapon and law enforcement tool, but it is not guaranteed to work ... they can fail. Guns can fail too, pretty much everything is prone to malfunction in some way I suppose. Point is: if you feel the need to carry a weapon for self defence: pick something dependable and effective.

Now before I finish this up, I'd like to call whatever jackass that let a clearly inebriated man sign a legal document a jackass, and I'd like to commend the arresting officers, who -to the best of my knowledge- showed great restraint and saved at least one life.

Current events in the UK

It's been two weeks since I last wrote this "column" ... it's not gotten any better.

Even CNN released a video of the latest child victim of knife crime, a 16 year old boy stabbed to death. A young man was stabbed and remains in critical condition, security guards were attacked, stabbed and cut as they tried to chase down suspected shoplifters. Another man, 19 years of age, was attacked and presumably stabbed, he too is in critical condition.
There's been multiple robberies by criminals armed with knives, two are reported here, at least one person was injured. One would think that serious punishments such as this one (over 11 years in jail) would serve as a deterrent. If not, perchance we could re-introduce the chance of being shot during the comission of a crime?

Moving out of the realm of knives and other sharp objects: there's been an arson attack against a bussiness, fortunately, nobody was injured. Another arson attack targeted an inhabited house, two senior citizens were indoors when the attack took place, neither is reported to have been injured. A pipe-bomb exploded, causing serious material damage to a house, fortunately nobody was hurt.

Despite legislation that amounts to an effective ban on firearms, a man was shot earlier today, injured in the stomach, he'll most likely live.
A seventeen year old girl was repeadedly raped by three men.

Police are continuing to wage war on drugs, arresting multiple dealers in targeted raids. I do hope they manage to keep up their successes, they generally don't leave any inoccents dead and do manage to haul back a lot of contraband, unfortunately that's not enough ... it's never enough ...

Mexican military drug dealers ...

Now there's a phrase to blasted off my WTF missile ... Mexican military drug dealers ... got a sound to it, double alliteration right there ... no seriously, what?!

Just because they hump around in tac-black body armor (along with a thousands of internet commando's and tacticool airsofters alike), that doesn't make them "military" ... a squad of properly trained soldiers doesn't fire off a hundred round, killing only one, and then make a run for it.

So now police are complaining that they are "outgunned" by these villains. Thank god nobody told that to said criminals, I doubt they would have made such an effort to avoid capture, if they'd realized they could have just "hosed down" the cops with their superior firepower.

Aforementioned police officers now want better equipment, new uniforms and -I can only guess- a shrubbery

Pniewska's killer sentenced to life (20 years)

Takes me back a while: one of the earliest posts I wrote on this blog was about a woman being killed as (three?) criminals were shooting at eachother in what is now being called a "wild west shootout".

While one (or more) of these animals still walks around a free man most likely (to be honest, chances are he got stabbed to death somewhere along the way), one of them has been apprehended and brought to justice:
Armel Gnango, now 18, well have to serve no less than 20 years in prison. There were other sentences as well, 12 and five years, but those will run concurrently.

Even though Gango did not fire the bullet that killed this woman (as confirmed by ballistics) he is being held responsible, as he was involved in the gunfight that eventually would leed to the death of this innocent person.

It's only a third of a full serving of justice, as by the courts reasoning, there are still two other people out there who are (at least) as responsible. At least one of them is off the streets now ...

Good show, a show that must and (unfortunately, in another respect) probably will go on.

No less than lethal ... policeman dies

A 32 year old police officer was killed during a training drill simulating the capture of a criminal fleeing by car. He died after being shot with an undisclosed munition, most likely a CS (tear gas) canister deployed from a shotgun.

"less than lethal" weapons kill! The life lost today will be missed, as the officer is survived by his wife and children. It is vital that those of you calling for the use of such weapons rather than actual firearms that you realize that these are in no way substitutes for guns, and in no way to be considered safe.

Less lethal ... than a load of double ought perhaps, but not safe enough even for training purposes.

Current events in the UK: start snitchin'!

And what a week it has been!
Welcome once again to the gun debate critic on sunday, casting a glance at the other side of the ocean. This weeks editions contains a high amount of recent devellopments, as well as a rather humorous story of how the police "surrounded" and stormed a house ... read on.

There's been a lot of activity on the "knife control" front, for god reason! A huge rally of knife control proponents was supposed to be adressed by gun-control activist Pat Regan, unfortunately she had been stabbed to death earlier this week. I suppose this -in a way- makes as strong a point as she could have made by being there in person.

After the "succesful" implementation of knife detectots on the streets, calls are being made to install knife arches at schools as well, to which the teachers replied (and I imagine): "but we don't want to disarms these kids, we'll get stabbed! If you see how those same kids have no reservations when it comes to beating a policeman can you blame them? One such kid has been charged with 11 assaults!

Another manner by which people are trying to curb violence, is by countering the underground "stop snitching" campaign by a "start snitching" project of their own, offering up to £1000 (that's two grand for y'all yanks) to kids who succesfully rat out a violent criminal.
I can only imagine the memories evoked in the lucky few who managed to escape the USSR or the DDR, societies halfly built around giving up information on percieved political undersirables.

Staying in line with StatSi doctrine: a compulsory national ID scheme is being called a threat to privacy by citizens rights groups, the usual rhetoric by both parties continues as the general population doesn't even look up from their game of footy and their desigated patch of pasture.

And on a -this isn't funny, but still I'm laughing- note: the police laid siege on a building said to contain men with weapons, according to an informant. However, when police finally stormed the place after a prolongued long standoff, they found it unoccupied. Claiming they have no reson to doubt their witness, the police assume the criminals must have fled out the back ... of a house which police claim they had surrounded ... (excuse me, I'm having diffculties controlling my laughter)

On to this weeks body count then:
There's been one fatal stabbing in a London nightclub. Someoen else was also stabbed to death. A young man has attacked a LEO with a knife, injuring him severely. A teenager was stabbed to death, a woman asphyxiated. And if you think it's all serious, there's been a drive-by bludgeoning with a brick! ... wait, that's serious too, the victim washurt pretty badly ...

70 people were arrested on (or in relation to) drug charges.