And Cops are trained to think before rushing into things, which is what he should have done and didn't do. He abandoned his post and left the students at the school in potential dangerZac Smith said:
They fire a University cop FOR THIS:
- Thread starter Krion_Vark
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Was going to write pretty much exactly this. will just quote it instead. Agree with all of it.Jarcin said:
He should not have been fired for this mistake. It was a mistake but clearly the consequences of it was not severe seeing as no students were harmed. He left his post for a good reason therefore it wasn't entirely negligence. He should have called it in so as far as I'm concerned, the worse thing the police officer should get is a warning or probation. An officer for 17 years who is doing his duty should not be fired for one small mistake.
Nothing like microscoping in.artanis_neravar said:
When the call "officer down" goes out everyone with a radio instantly heads in on the area. The book is pretty but when people are in imminent danger it goes out the window. The students were only in potential danger, which sucks but I don't think they begrudge him for it.
And everyone with a radio Calls it in the book is there for a reason, and cops who don't follow it get in trouble, and he wasn't even a cop, he was under the employ of a private organization and is expected to do his job. If the only guard at a bank left his post without telling anyone, leaving the bank open to be robbed, to respond to an officer down call, he would be fired as wellWouldYouKindly said:
Only thing is during an officer down call - all radio traffic is to stop. Only emergency traffic. Then add to the fact that this college was issuing bad equipment as well.MaxPowers666 said:
I posted the interview with the guy above. Worth a listen.
Ok, so you guys who are all ready to throw the book at this guy, you should really listen to the dispatch recording that that one guy posted. After the first call of "officer shot", and again 2 minutes in when the next shoot out occured, the dispatcher called multiple times to "stay off the air." this is so that a)any officers engaging the shooter had radio priority and b)officers who had been shot could be heard. all non critical radio comunications were supposed to stop. Now, maybe there was a back up or secondary channel, but either way, it wasnt as simple as pressing the button on his radio and saying "im leaving." so yes, it is absolute bull shit.
He reacted quickly to what could very well have been a life-or-death situation. OK - so he left his post where something "might" have happened, but it was in order to help out where something was definitely going down.
The most this guy should have received was an official reprimand for not alerting someone that he was leaving his post. He certainly shouldn't have been fired.
I can't help but wonder if this guy didn't have some kind of "danger pay" clause in his contract that stated they would have to pay him more in a shooting situation, and they just looked for an excuse to get rid of him rather than pay it. (Of course, I'm not a policeman or a security officer, or someone who hires them, so I'm just theorizing here.)
The most this guy should have received was an official reprimand for not alerting someone that he was leaving his post. He certainly shouldn't have been fired.
I can't help but wonder if this guy didn't have some kind of "danger pay" clause in his contract that stated they would have to pay him more in a shooting situation, and they just looked for an excuse to get rid of him rather than pay it. (Of course, I'm not a policeman or a security officer, or someone who hires them, so I'm just theorizing here.)
Campus police operate on a different radio setup then the cops do, so yes he could have easily pressed the button to say I'm leavingMiles Moody said:
I'm pretty sure that the college campus's safety network had its radios on a different frequency from the local police entirely.Miles Moody said:
I don't think the university would have been angry at him for helping a downed officer at all; they may have encouraged it. His mistakes were otherwise. I kind of wonder if taking down the shooter, or bringing the situation to some level of calm, took a full hour, because that's a long time to be away from your post if you're on safety duty. If the situation were resolved, first expectation is to notify anyone who needs to know just what happened. Think about it; without a single word from him, the campus had to slowly figure out that one of their officers just..."wasn't there". "Hey, has anyone seen Larry?" "No, he's supposed to be here." "Everyone radio around to see where Larry is."
Communication is the number one rule in dangerous jobs like these. Every time you see a cop in a TV show find danger, and then fail to immediately report it in (Dispatch, I'm seeing suspicious activity on the corner of X and Y, request backup) is a retard. Who knows? Maybe the bad guy will shoot you, you'll fall unconscious, and then you'll take two hours to die from blood loss but be unable to radio for help at that point.
Absolutely ridiculous. Certainly he made a mistake by not informing his dispatcher, but not one that he deserved to be fired for. An official reprimand or possibly temperory probation yes, but not outright firing. He may have left his post, but it was for a justifiable reason. It's a sad day when helping someone in need is valued less than sticking rigidly to procedure.
He should be commended for his actions by the public, because what he did was a selfless and brave act, he is clearly a man who takes his job very seriously.
That said, he was in the wrong for not informing his superiors about leaving his post, and if another shooting or similar problem had happened in the university while he was away many students may have paid for it with their lives. I think the university needs to first look into the way he contacts his superiors in emergencies such as this, is it as simple as a call over the radio, or would he have to travel halfway across campus in the other direction to the office, and he should be lightly repromanded for his dereliction of duty, made to attend a short revision course on his duties and regulations, but firing him is too harsh a punishment in my opinion. They have just lost a valuable member of staff.
That said, he was in the wrong for not informing his superiors about leaving his post, and if another shooting or similar problem had happened in the university while he was away many students may have paid for it with their lives. I think the university needs to first look into the way he contacts his superiors in emergencies such as this, is it as simple as a call over the radio, or would he have to travel halfway across campus in the other direction to the office, and he should be lightly repromanded for his dereliction of duty, made to attend a short revision course on his duties and regulations, but firing him is too harsh a punishment in my opinion. They have just lost a valuable member of staff.