Friday, May 16, 2008

Our underappreciated police

1 wounded in Davenport shooting -QCTimes

I listened to this whole incident on the police radio, and it was very tense. I caught the end of the story on KWQC, which had almost more wrong than right, and the QCTimes article at this point is definitely lacking information as well.

The call started with an officer calling out an emergency, saying that shots had been fired at her location (14th and Pershing), and she was chasing the involved car eastbound. With Davenport's horribly restrictive rules on pursuits, its rare enough just to hear that someone was actually chased. Most other units in the city headed for the area, and at least one had joined up with the original officer when the suspects bailed out of the car on Oneida. I believe the first of the 3 occupants was caught right away. Somewhere around this time a gunshot victim was reported back at the scene of the original shooting.

The cops then set up a perimeter near Bridge, Esplanade, Kirkwood, and 12th, broke out the "urban rifles" or AR-15 assault rifles, and began tracking down the shooters. They found one suspect in a yard, and then I believe caught another guy in an area house. Hopefully they all get convicted of attempted murder and are sent away for a couple decades. It would certainly make Davenport safer to have these folks off the streets.

Last night's incident was an extremely dangerous situation, yet the DPD handled it perfectly and professionally, with no casualties after the original shooting. With all the public respect for soldiers in the military, I've never understood why people don't have this same respect for law enforcement officers that are frequently put in what can only be described as combat situations themselves. I also wish that the administration would respect the police enough to let individual officers decide when the situation warrants a pursuit, and when its too dangerous. These same suspects may very well have run from police before, and been allowed to get away and commit additional crimes because it would be "too dangerous to chase them." Sometimes its too dangerous to let criminals get away.

Thanks to the officers who won a round last night in the fight against crime in Davenport.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post. Shootings in our area seem to pick up in the summer. Lately though this area has been a hot spot for crime. The Police have been doing a good job, but they can't be everywhere at once. Let's hope if they caught the shooters the judge doesn't let them walk.
cruiser

Anonymous said...

The Davenport cops get off on using the Central City as a war zone to fire their cap guns then going home to LeClaire for a nap and starting over. They don't give a damn about getting out of their vehicles and doing prevention work.

The Judges and the people they live with are the same way. As long as criminals aren't shooting in their own suburbian paradise there is no problem.Wantabe gunslingers like Imagery just don't get it.

Anonymous said...

How does the police responding to a shots fired call turn into the police turning our area into a war zone? Since this is part of our neighborhood, we would much rather have police with guns here than snot nose punks with an attitude problem with a gun. The police caught him, the judge let him go.
cruiser

Anonymous said...

Who is moron anonymous commenter #2? Clearly he has no idea what he is talking about. As a member of the legal profession, and as someone who discusses these cases with officers on a weekly basis, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Pachino Hill got 30 days in jail today for violating his probation...

Anonymous said...

QCI, as to why the cops don't get the same level of respect as the military, frankly, they don't deserve that level of respect. Not to denigrate them, as I'm sure they do the best they can under the circumstances, but as someone who has served as both a cop and a soldier, I can state unequivocally that local cops don't have anywhere near the training, either tactically or ethically, that the U.S. military receives. Neither is perfect, of course, but the difference in expertise between the two is night and day. I'm guessing that might have something to do with that perception.

QuadCityImages said...

I'd be curious when and where you worked as a cop, because Davenport's force is about 98% made up of professionals these days. (Not having Drunk Van Fossen anymore helps) Many of them have bachelors degrees in law enforcement or criminology. Much like the military, there is a lot of room for ethical violations. I stand by my opinion, and although I haven't worked side-by-side with the military, I do know plenty of current and former members.

Anonymous said...

Hey there Attorney Mr. Moe. Let us assume for a moment that you are not one of the Three Stooges. Let us see if you know as much as you say you do about the local law enforcement happenings. Tell us if you can sir. What is the rank of
the senior member of the Scott County Sheriffs department who was recently told "retire or be fired" for showing up drunk at a crime scene investigation? And tell us who filed the complaint. Thanks for your time sir.

Anonymous said...

I have nothing but respect for the "folks in blue" Tough job to do day in and out. Your not a cop for just eight hours, your a cop twenty-four/seven. Yet along one of the highest burn-out rates among professionals. Those who speak out against the officers are usually the clowns the officers are chasing. Think about trying to raise a family and keep them safe after a day of booking these thugs. I too would not live in town in fear that I would be followed home after work. Enough to drive one crazy constantly looking over your shoulder for harm.
Yep, nothing but respect for those true heroes.

Anonymous said...

Of course poster number 2 (appropriate) is Davenport's number 1 supporter Keith Meyer.

Anonymous said...

The issue with police officers is much like many other professions that deal with people out of neccessity. Authomechanics, lawyers, teachers, politcians etc all have bad eggs just like cops. The truth is most people become cops because they are male chauvanists. Im sorry, but thats what I believe...they arent there to protect men, particularly those in "the ghetto" but rather women, especially rich women. Now, do we want police officers who are passive about solving crime and enforcing laws? Of course not. Just like we dont want doctors who, eh sorta TRY and cure diseases. Thats silly. We want cops who are assertive about solving and enforcing the law. But, post 9/11 police have convinced us were not safe without hundreds of them on the steets, that thats why crime is going down. Perhaps...but I feel a police state in the country much like the nazis in germany. I mean really, the government standing in a trench coat to see whether or not adults are wearing seat belts then radioing to their buddies to give them a ticket down the street? I respect police, I thank them for protecting us from things we know of and things we are not privy to. However, they dont get the respect they deserve because there are dirty cops everywhere who bully people and love doing it. Get rid of the bullies and hire the ppl who understand that solving REAL crime is not about sitting in a car 9 hours of a 12 hour shift and sniffing other peoples butts to make sure theyre not going 5 miles over the speed limit...or making sure grown adults are wearing seat belts, or they arent doing rolling stops. We appreciate you, we love you, thank you...but lets be real and stop acting like the majority of work police do is not related to traffic violations. Its out we make money for our city, our county, our state, and our nation. So lets not kid ourselves children ok?

QuadCityImages said...

Well, that's one opinion to have...

Who gets to decide which laws they enforce and which they don't?

I also take issue with the idea that "most" cops join up because they are male chauvinists. This is far from true.

Anonymous said...

6:02 is the same person who will cry foul when the police don't arrive soon enough when she needs them the most. What a bitch.

Anonymous said...

Every cop I know or have known personally as neighbors or hobby/recreation-activities acquaintances over 60 years in several cities and states, has had the same set of observable personality problems: control-freak; bully; sadistic; high levels of pomposity or self importance around non-cops; and yes, every one of them was chauvinistic.

Now before one or more of you knee-jerks jumps up and challenges my qualifications as a psycoquack doc, re-read what I said; "observable personality problems". Don't have to be a psycobabbler to see those kinds of behaviors.

Anonymous said...

Amen on the cops, 10:08.

QuadCityImages said...

Maybe you just hang out with the wrong people...

Most Davenport cops are professionals. This is exactly the kind of disrespect that I was talking about when I made the post.

Firefighters get special license plates advertising their professions; police are forced to get unlisted numbers.

Anonymous said...

thank you to the response agreeing with me and bully cops. i was thinking about it the other day...its like when a teacher calls you into the teachers lounge. some teachers smile and are nice, but generally they give you dirty looks and dont want kids in there lol. same with cops, if you go to the station they give you attitude, like you dont belong there