Raising Questions At The New Times

So the Miami New Times did a Riptide post yesterday called, "Dead Drivers: Four Shootings This Year Raise Questions About Miami-Dade Police Protocol." In the post, MNT's Michael Miller wonders if the Miami-Dade Police are shooting too many drivers who are intent on running them over.

Four of 17 shootings by MDPD this year have involved officers opening fire on someone armed with only a car, raising questions about whether cops are ignoring protocol and provoking shootings.

In 2010, 487 pedestrians in Florida were killed with "only a car." No info on how many of those were "only cops."

*sigh*

So what is the Miami-Dade Police protocol when it comes to cops using deadly force against someone who may be a threat to their life or others? Good question. After reading this post, I have no idea because Miller doesn't tell us. Instead, we get a quote from "one officer from another local police force, who asked that his name not be used" who says that...

"Their policy prohibits using deadly force to stop fleeing felons. [...] These are just people trying to get away, but they end up paying a much heavier price for it."

They are just trying to get away so when a suspect guns his 3500-pound "only a car" towards a police officer, I'm guessing that Officer Anonymous and maybe even Miller think that the cop should quickly step aside and wave as the perp goes speeding off down the road. And if the officer isn't fast enough, you can be sure that someone with the Miami New Times will be complaining about the traffic tie up from the funeral procession that is held a couple days later.

In reality, backing off in these situations might well be part of the Miami-Dade Police Department policy but, thanks to the New Times, we don't know.

On a not-so-unrelated note: In order to question something, don't you have to know what it is?

To their credit, MNT is nice enough to throw in an old quote from PBA president John Rivera...

"At the end of the day, we are all spectators," he told Channel 10 after the Collins shooting. "Those police officers are in the middle of the arena. If they feel in danger... they have to take action."

So no copy of the protocol, no hard and fast answers to MNT's "questions." On the bright side, New Times readers got in another round of "F*ck the Police!" which surely made posting this thing all worth while, didn't it?



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