Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Dallas PD: When in doubt, chase 'the fatter guy'

Brilliant!

The Dallas PD instituted new guidelines for foot chases this week in the wake of the shooting death last year of an unarmed man, James Harper, who the officer (wrongly) believed was about to pull a gun. As Texas Monthly put it, the new policy:
addressed a number of the factors that led to Harper's death, including when an officer should stop pursuing a suspect. Dallas Police are to stop a pursuit if the officer loses his weapon or communications, or if he loses sight of the suspect, or if the officer is too tired to continue the chase. They're also to consider the alternatives to a chase, such as an aerial search, using a swarm of officers to catch the suspect, following by car, or using search dogs. And whenever possible, they're encouraged to get an ID on the suspect immediately, to avoid the need for a chase in the first place.
When multiple suspects flee, as happened in Harper's case, Assistant DPD Chief Michael Genovesi  said "the police should focus on just one suspect: 'Preferably the fatter guy.'"

Makes sense to me. MORE: From the Dallas News.

6 comments:

jdgalt said...

Here in Sacramento, when a wanted person flees in a car, the police let the Channel 3 news copter watch him from the air. It's much safer and lets the rest of us enjoy the show.

john said...

Well, it's long been a funny fat joke, and it was highlighted in the movie, 'Zombieland,' I don't have to out run the bear, just the other guy. Fatsos went first, in Zombieland ("poor bastard").
I'm not saying we shouldn't get rid of fatties, but keep in mind the real problem to address FIRST is fatty politicians. Those are the evil ones. SECOND, the rest of the politicians. Then after that, whatever. We can't fit on buses and planes, anyway, so it's not like we're going to get away.

Anonymous said...

Womp, womp wooom. The DPD attempted to throw comedy in the air while deflecting the issues. Soon Spike will be airing 24 / 7 / 365 Cops - Unhinged Bloopers & Belly Aches.

Fact - Dallas is overflowing with fat cops. Then their are those on steroids that no one seems to notice despite their heads being bigger than when they joined the academy.

Fact - Dallas cops are not being trained properly. Gun safety programs (usually taught by cops) always tell the class to keep their trigger fingers off of the trigger (until you want to pull it). Explaining why rookies should be issued non-lethal accessories & why non-rookies that shoot unarmed suspects with real bullets should be arrested.

Fact - Hand picked Grand Juries side with cops the majority of the time. Who in the hell agreed to that arrangement and when? No one seems to know or care despite knowing about it.

Joke - Taxpayers are fully responsible for crimes committed by cops. Who in the hell agreed to that clause? Again, no one knows.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

I'm not sure it was a joke. It actually seems like a valid way to make a split second decision about which person to chase, even if it doesn't come off as politically correct.

"Red" Merriweather Coast said...

If you have to choose between chasing a linebacker or a wide receiver ... actually, I wouldn't chase either. I'd just call for backup. Those guys could beat me in a fight.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Still, Red, you're more likely to catch the linebacker. And the whole point of having everybody follow one guy is to gang tackle at the end instead of winding up in a one-on-one. In the case that spawned this new policy, the cop ended up by himself at the end of the chase and shot the guy precisely because he thought he was about to lose the fight.