Four Police Officers Killed In Washington Coffee House

[Bikewer]

Various agencies reporting the murder of four police officers this morning:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34194122/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Apparently these officers were preparing for the morning shift, checking their laptop computers when an individual walked in and shot all four.
The type of weapon employed was not described in the article, and authorities were usure if any of the officers returned fire.
The individual fled on foot, but according to the article there's the possibility of a getaway driver.

The Washington area has had some problems of late, with an individual arrested recently for murdering a police officer Halloween night.

We had a similar attack here in University City a few months ago; a long-time veteran police sergeant was sitting in his car making some notes on the computer after his men handled a call. An individual approached the car and simply shot him through the window.
The suspect was caught a few days later...An apparent psychotic with delusions of starting a race war....

Now for the "cynical old copper" bit.... Having four officers clustered together like this in a public restaurant on what is likely a regular basis is not tactically sound. Police officers are always potential targets for lunatics, fanatics, and people seeking revenge.
I never eat in public places in uniform, I either go to the station or eat in my car. I put my car in a location where I cannot be approached without warning.
Paranoid? Read the above.

 

[gtc]

Paranoid?

I would have thought so, but not now.

I have seen plenty of cops buying their lunches from cafes and food courts near me but never seen them sitting down to eat. That makes sense in light of what you write.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Not being a policeman, what little I know of police work is based on TV , so probably nonsense.
Can you explain what is involved in " preparing for the morning shift, checking their laptop computers"? Is it normal procedure for policemen to don uniform and go to a restaurant with laptops in order to prepare for their shift? Policemen carry laptops?
I thought they went to work in civvies, changed into uniform, listened to a briefing of some sort and went out on the street, or to do paperwork or prepare for a court appearance or some such.
Why were these men in a restaurant looking at laptops instead of in a police station?

 

[Tiktaalik]

Not being a policeman, what little I know of police work is based on TV , so probably nonsense.
Can you explain what is involved in " preparing for the morning shift, checking their laptop computers"? Is it normal procedure for policemen to don uniform and go to a restaurant with laptops in order to prepare for their shift? Policemen carry laptops?
I thought they went to work in civvies, changed into uniform, listened to a briefing of some sort and went out on the street, or to do paperwork or prepare for a court appearance or some such.
Why were these men in a restaurant looking at laptops instead of in a police station?

Personally, I have a take-home vehicle, so I go to work in uniform, as do all my staff. Not around here, we're rural, but in many places it's pretty standard for cops to eat in local businesses. All my staff carry laptops & are required to check their email for messages on a regular basis. We don't have a "bullpen" or computer area, they just plug in to the network where they can. They also write all their reports on their laptops; there is a heck of a lot of paperwork that goes with being an officer, despite what you see on TV. We also don't have enough people on at any given time to do daily briefings or shift meetings; we do them once every two weeks. Everything else gets communicated in person, by phone, over the radio, or...via laptops.

 

[Thunder]

Now for the "cynical old copper" bit.... Having four officers clustered together like this in a public restaurant on what is likely a regular basis is not tactically sound. Police officers are always potential targets for lunatics, fanatics, and people seeking revenge.
I never eat in public places in uniform, I either go to the station or eat in my car. I put my car in a location where I cannot be approached without warning.
Paranoid? Read the above.

I see cops eating together all the time. Though, this is NYC. And cops here are not a force..they are a literal army of 40,000.

I would not expect such a thing to happen again any time soon.

 

[WildCat]

Wow, apparently the top suspect in this is a one Maurice Clemmons, who was pardoned 9 years ago by Arkansas governor, creationist, and 2008 GOP Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010385617_webmansought29.html

And until recently he was in jail awaiting trial for the rape of a child. Released for $15,000 bail, despite having warrants in Arkansas.

He also has many other run-ins with the law and sounds bat-guano insane to me.

Hat-tip to LGF.

I wonder if Huckabee pardoned him because he found Jeeeebus?

 

[Bikewer]

Glad to see there's a suspect, at least. He sounds even loonier than the suspect in the case I mentioned above.
What was really frightening about the local case was that after the suspect was arrested, his girlfriend wrote letters to the local paper and the police confirming that he was a messiah and that perhaps "something should happen" to some more police.
Amazing that these people are able to home in on fellow loonies....

 

[Peephole]

Pretty disgusting that it takes less than 24 hours to turn the murder of four political.

 

[gumboot]

The papers here are quoting officials in the USA as saying it appears to be a pre-planned ambush type attack. Is there anything to indicate these officers were actually in uniform?

People who attack police officers make me sick.

 

[WildCat]

Pretty disgusting that it takes less than 24 hours to turn the murder of four political.

I didn't make it political, the facts did.

Had Huckabee not pardoned him he'd still be in jail in Arkansas, and those 4 cops would be alive. And they had 9 kids between them.

Like it or not, it's political. Not the first time Huckabee pardoned the wrong guy either.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

The papers here are quoting officials in the USA as saying it appears to be a pre-planned ambush type attack. Is there anything to indicate these officers were actually in uniform?

People who attack police officers make me sick.

They were on duty with marked patrol cars outside the coffee shop. I do believe they were in uniform.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Pretty disgusting that it takes less than 24 hours to turn the murder of four political.

When the shoe fits...

I was disgusted this guy was out on bail. He was facing a life sentence for a "three strikes" conviction and from the sound of it, he should never have been granted a 10% bond. He paid $15,000 of a $150,000 bond. It's likely someone's house other than his is the collateral. Even if he is not guilty of these murders, he still should not be out on bail.

But then I read this article from an Arkansas paper: Huckabee, prosecutors go on offensive - They trade jabs over sentencing, pardoning of killers, other thugs

Until now, Huckabee has refused to comment on his controversial policy of making violent prisoners eligible for parole– they include murderers, armed robbers and rapists, who often return to a life of crime after they're freed – but in a statement to The Leader this week, he lashed out at prosecutors for not doing more to keep prisoners behind bars – to which Pulaski County Prosecuting Attor-ney Larry Jegley had this response: "That's a load of baloney."

If Clemmons is the murderer, it would seem this tragedy not only shouldn't have happened by a careless bail setting, but it also shouldn't have happened by a governor who has been lax about granting clemency to violent repeat offenders.

And I'll throw a religion snipe in here as well. You have to wonder, if like George W Bush, Huckabee makes rash decisions then believes God guides him, no reason to doubt those rash decisions. I'm speculating here, so I leave that as a question, not as a conclusion. But there are news media comments about the Evangelical connection here beyond my speculation:

Here's more on "Huckabee's Plethora of Pardons."

None of the prosecutors were ever told why Huckabee felt compelled to have a hand in freeing so many prisoners, though all of them speculate that his deeply religious nature led to a strong belief in repentance and forgiveness. In some cases, prosecutors say, evangelical leaders attested that a prisoner had found Jesus and that seemed to influence the governor's thoughts.

It's the violent nature of the prisoners involved here that should lead one to question Huckabee's decision making process.

prosecutors in Arkansas say their real concern was with the pardons and commutations Huckabee granted to violent offenders, especially the approximately one dozen murderers. An Arkansas Democrat-Gazette review in 2004 concluded that state records indicate "at least 9 percent of the prisoners who benefited from Huckabee's clemencies ended up in prison again."

In recent days media attention has focused on the case of Wayne DuMond, a rapist whom the Arkansas Parole Board paroled after Huckabee advocated on his behalf. DuMond went on to rape and kill at least one other woman.

Paroles, in reality, are decisions made entirely by the parole board, and Huckabee has said the decision was not his to make, which is factually correct, though some members of the board have reportedly suggested Huckabee influenced their decision greatly.

I sincerely doubt only 9 of these guys getting a Governor's clemency went on to reoffend. I think anyone familiar with such statistics would say that was a generously low number. Probably like Clemmons, those that moved out of the state were lost to follow up.

 

[steve s]

Wow, apparently the top suspect in this is a one Maurice Clemmons, who was pardoned 9 years ago by Arkansas governor, creationist, and 2008 GOP Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee:

The name Maurice Clemmons is an old Algonquin name which translates as "Willie Horton."

Steve S.

 

[Puppycow]

I'd like to associate myself with Wildcat and Skeptigirl's remarks.

In Dumond's case, at least, an evangelical preacher was leading the charge to get him released, and a religious conversion seemed to play a significant role in that.

I don't yet know what role, if any, religion played in Clemmon's release, but I'm sure we'll find out.

 

[BTMO]

The papers here are quoting officials in the USA as saying it appears to be a pre-planned ambush type attack. Is there anything to indicate these officers were actually in uniform?

People who attack police officers make me sick.

People who murder anyone make me sick.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Wow, apparently the top suspect in this is a one Maurice Clemmons, who was pardoned 9 years ago by Arkansas governor, creationist, and 2008 GOP Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee:

Uh oh. I do hope no one accidentally mentions this in 2012. It's really not relevant.

 

[steve s]

Uh oh. I do hope no one accidentally mentions this in 2012. It's really not relevant.

Huckabee woke up this morning thinking he had a shot at being the next president. He'll go to sleep tonight knowing that he has no hope at all. Strange how life works sometimes.

Steve S.

 

[Puppycow]

(Older article)
Huckabee Pardons Under Scrutiny

As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee had a hand in twice as many pardons and commutations as his three predecessors combined.

Although the Republican presidential contender and Southern Baptist preacher plays down any personal involvement in that release, Huckabee granted 1,033 pardons and commutations in his 10 1/2 years as governor of Arkansas. The acts of clemency benefited the stepson of a staff member, murderers who worked at the governor's mansion, a rock star and inmates who received good words from their pastors.

"It seems to be true at least anecdotally that if a minister is involved, (Huckabee) seems likely to grant clemency," prosecutor Robert Herzfeld said in 2004 after successfully battling the then-governor over the release of a killer.

 

[Dancing David]

Sad, sad, sad.

Sigh.

 

[JHawke]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/30/washington.police.shooting/index.html

It seems that the police have tracked him down.. And according to a danish newspaper (http://ekstrabladet.dk/112/article1262477.ece) the police have fired several shots at the house, when the suspect failed to respond to megaphones and even the alleged explosions the police set off to get his attention.

As said - no response, and police spokesman Jeff Kappel said that they are not sure that he is in the house.