MUNCIE,IN - Cop lacked TASER, Mace training

[Mark Tyson]

Cop lacked TASER, Mace training

11/10/2003

By KEITH ROYSDON

MUNCIE,IN - Ball State University's police department has a policy urging officers to take other steps before resorting to deadly force.

But the university police department has no TASERs, a stun gun that shoots a low but incapacitating level of electricity into the body of a suspect.

And Robert Duplain - the 24-year-old Ball State officer who shot and killed Michael McKinney, a 21-year-old student, while responding to the report of a burglary in progress early Saturday morning - did not carry Mace or pepper spray and could not use it.

"He would not be allowed to carry that until he was certified," Ball State Police Chief Gene Burton told The Star Press on Monday.

Asked why Duplain could carry a gun but not chemical spray, Burton replied, "They're trained to carry firearms is the distinction there."

Like many police agencies, Ball State's department has a policy outlining the use of less-than-lethal force.

But the university has not purchased Taser-style stun weapons, which are growing in acceptance by police departments.

"We have been in the process of reviewing some of the less lethal options and how we can incorporate them into the department," Burton said.

Ball State's 31 police officers get more training than many small police departments, said Scott Mellinger, executive director of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy.

But the Ball State officer's use of deadly force this past weekend - believed to be the first in the department's history, and still under investigation by the Muncie Police Department - means that the department is now confronted with dilemmas faced by other police agencies.

'A clear message' on deadly force

In the wake of a handful of fatal police action shootings, the Muncie Police Department adopted a multi-level "force continuum" that advises officers to use voice commands, body language - like the "snap" of a telescoping baton - hand-to-hand take-down moves and TASER stun guns before resorting to deadly force.

"I think the public sent us a clear message that they didn't want us using deadly force," said James Peters, a Muncie deputy police chief.

Despite all the precautions, Peters said, any police incident can turn deadly.

"That can happen anywhere, anytime," Peters said.

The Indiana Law Enforcement Academy - which police officers are required by law to attend - has found that a "significant" number of Hoosier police departments have "levels of force" systems.

Mellinger, a former Madison County sheriff, said levels of force are "very important" so both the suspect and the police officer know their options.

"You make sure the person who is deciding whether or not they're going to confront you is aware of the options you have available," Mellinger said. "And the officer can be certain about deciding to move to another level."

Stun guns in use locally

In the past eight years, Muncie police officers have been involved in three fatal police action shootings. Local grand juries investigated the incidents and decided against criminal charges against police officers.

In March, city officers began using stun guns.

"We have 10 stun guns in use," Peters said.

The "force continuum" or "levels of force" policies used by the Muncie and Ball State departments -as well as many others around the state and nation - are fairly similar.

As Peters explains the policy, officers are encouraged to use vocal commands and body language, including the position of an officer's hands and baton.

"We carry collapsible batons, and we can pull it out and flick it, and that's an indicator we will increase our level of force," Peters said.

Take-downs and stun guns escalate the amount of force used.

Ball State's force policy notes that it should not be considered a "ladder," and that officers need not start at the lowest level of force.

"Depending on the circumstances, the officer might have to begin at or progress rapidly to a higher level of force," according to the policy.

When will a Muncie police officer resort to his handgun?

"Of all the weaponry and training my people have, that is the absolute last weapon to go to," Peters said. "Either he feels his life is immediately threatened or a citizen's life is in danger, that there's no way out except deadly force. And that's the only use of deadly force."

Decisions made in a split second

No amount of training or equipment can guarantee an officer will never use lethal force, experts say.

"I would like to be able to say that it will, but every police action shooting is different," said Mellinger of the law enforcement academy.

"The decisions that are made are made in a split second," he added.

Mike Ellis, a neighbor who witnessed the Saturday morning incident, agreed and marveled at how quickly events played out.

"A couple of seconds at most," Ellis said.

Burton, the Ball State police chief, said he believed less-than-lethal options were "communicated to officers very well."

"I have that confidence that they have the understanding necessary to perform," Burton added.

In the meantime, university police officials are working toward providing less-than-lethal tools for their officers, Burton said.

"We have been addressing that issue," Burton said.

==================

Why don't they teach cops some boxing or something like that? You can't rely on technology all the time, and being proficient with your hands builds self confidence, vital in dealing with criminals.

 

[OH25shooter]

"...teach cops some boxing..." Are you serious? I had to fight three bouts of boxing and some martial arts in the police academy. Does that make you a self defense expert? Hell no! Ever been in a street fight with a criminal, especially a tough hardened ex-con criminal? No boxing or martial arts rules apply. They fight hard and fast to escape, injury you, or actually take your weapon away. And, what about tasers? Do they work well in the winter through a heavy coat? I never used one nor was I involved in a deadly force incident. I truly understand where people are coming from when they want deadly force used as a last result. Well guess what. Officers also do not want to use deadly force. It happens. It will never change today or tomorrow. Not in a violent society like in the US of A. :banghead:

 

[El Tejon]

Mark, I wholeheartedly agree that teaching martial arts (chin na, grappling, and boxing, as well as firearms and blunt and edged weapons) to the police is both in the public's interest and the individual police officer's interest. I pushed this concept personally when I was in LE.

However, the problem here is no one was apparently thinking about Problem #2 and thought that putting on the blue uniform (check local listings for colour in your area) makes one "trained." It is pretty silly to think that "technology", especially those feckless Tasers, would have made any difference.

Lesson learned: shooting someone does not solve your problems. Prepare and defend against Problem #2 as well as Problem #1.

 

[Pilgrim]

Based on an informal survey of officers I know, very little weaponless defense training is conducted for officers other than what they receive in the police academy. And what they receive is minimal at best. OH25shooter is correct in that academy training falls way short in preparing an officer to survive a knockdown, eye gouging, biting, crippling fight. It is no surprise that if officers can't control the situation with the tools at hand they will quickly resort to their firearms.

I don't blame them. No one pays an officer enough to be hospitalized or even crippled because of a street fight. One thing should be painfully clear in every officer's survival oriented mind, if you lose the fight the winner get your gun.

 

[Henry Bowman]

I don't know the circumstances of the particular shooting, but I think the lesson to take away from this is "Don't act in a potentially life-threatening way to Ball State Police officers. You may end up dead." This would be a more useful lesson to the Ball State students than all the hand wringing over PC methods and weapons.

 

[Mark Tyson]

Sheesh.

Chill out, OH25shooter. I understand the difference between fighting in a gym and fighting on the street. There's a big difference between shooting at silhouette and shooting at moving, gyrating targets too, but your range time still serves as a foundation for survival on patrol.

 

[Glacius_the_Invincible]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post. I have been reading the forum for some time now, but hadn't really seen a good opportunity for me to jump in. But since I live in Muncie and attend Ball State University, I figure I should chime in with some background on the situation from what I've read in local papers and heard through the university.

The officer was a 24 year old rookie with 7 months on the job. He hadn't yet been through the police academy. The president of the university said, in a letter to the students, that he had recieved 8 hours of firearms training, 8 hours of "defensive tactics" training and a 24 hours of classroom instruction. He was scheduled to attend the police academy in January.

The student who was shot was a 21 year old senior. From what I've read in the paper and heard from people here in muncie, he had been out drinking that night and was quite intoxicated. It is believed that he was at the wrong house. He thought he was trying to get into his friend's house.

According to the Ball State Daily News article ( http://www.bsudailynews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/11/10/3faf3b5bbfdc0 )
the student "ran toward the officer with his arms out and wouldn't stop,".

There were also articles in the Indianapolis Star and the Muncie Star Press that you might be able to find online.


Hope this helps some.

Jackson

 

[Standing Wolf]

...he had been out drinking that night and was quite intoxicated.

Bet he won't do that again real soon.

 

[Beren]

the student "ran toward the officer with his arms out and wouldn't stop,".

He won't do that again real soon, either. It's an extremely sad situation and while I feel some amount of sympathy for the deceased, I can't fault the officer for his actions. I do fault the university for putting an officer on the streets who hadn't yet attended the academy.

On the other hand, if you're going to get skunk drunk, make sure you have friends who will see you safely home afterwards. Better yet, do it at home to begin with. Some people are mean drunks. Some are stupid happy drunks (like me, fortunately). Some are just stupid drunks and go running towards police officers at night with their arms held out.

One of my sister's best friends was shot and killed by a campus police officer about ten years ago. He was a nice guy, I'd met him a few times. But when the police (can't remember if it was town or campus police) were called to a domestic disturbance, he advanced on them holding a butter knife and ignored commands to stop. There was a big ruckus on campus about it. I'm not sure if he was intoxicated or not.

 

[OH25shooter]

Mark Tyson,

Tell me, have you "been there - done that?" As a police officer? I agree, training of any kind is important. I remember my first day on the street, when my training officer asked me if I remembered everything I learned at the academy. I said, yes sir! He said, well forget that, I'm going to teach you what it's like on the streets...real police work. He was right. If you haven't experienced it, you cannot understand. Course you could watch the tv cop shows.

 

[Mark Tyson]

No I have never been a police officer.

Anyway ... El Tejon, what kind of weaponless fighting training do you think is most useful to law officers?

 

[36fan]

http://www.indystar.com/articles/9/091214-2159-009.html

Officer kills Ball State student
Campus cop shot 21-year-old who banged on a home's door and lunged at him, police say

By Fred Kelly and Cathy Kightlinger
[email protected]
November 9, 2003

MUNCIE, Ind. -- A rookie Ball State University police officer fired four shots into a university student early Saturday, killing the 21-year-old, who investigators say lunged at the officer as he was responding to a burglary report.

Witnesses said Michael S. McKinney, a junior marketing major from the Bedford area, was pounding on the back door of the home of a widow in the 1300 block of West North Street, in a well-kept neighborhood about four blocks southeast of campus, shortly before 3:30 a.m.

When Ball State Police Officer Robert Duplain, 24, arrived to investigate, according to Muncie police, he yelled repeatedly at McKinney to "Stop! Get down!"

That's when McKinney lunged at Duplain from the wooden back porch of the home and Duplain fired four shots into the front of McKinney's torso, police said.

The female resident, whose identity was not released, had telephoned police and next-door neighbors when she heard the banging at the back door. Duplain was the first officer to respond in the neighborhood, where Muncie and campus police share jurisdiction.

"She was really beside herself," said one of the neighbors, who would not disclose her identity. "She called and said a man was trying to get inside her house. She asked us to turn our lights on. She was frantic."

The neighbor said the woman told her and her husband not to come over, to avoid any danger, so they went to their window and watched the encounter between McKinney and the policeman.

The neighbor said she and her husband saw the officer approach the back of the house and heard him yelling. They said they also saw McKinney lunge from the porch at the officer.

"We have no idea" why the unarmed McKinney was at the woman's back door, said Terry Winters, Muncie deputy police chief.

"We're trying to find out if he was drinking or if he knew someone in the neighborhood and thought he was somewhere else," Winters said.

Duplain joined the university police force about seven months ago. A graduate of Taylor University in Upland, he is one of 31 sworn officers on the force.

He completed a basic firearms and law course offered by the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board, which allowed him to serve as an armed police officer.

Duplain also participated in 14 weeks of field training with the university police and is scheduled for 600 hours of training, beginning in January, at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield.

Only about 35 percent of police departments in Indiana are able to immediately send new hires to an academy. Smaller departments with staffing shortages don't have the luxury of leaving a position vacant for three months while a rookie takes those classes, said Scott C. Mellinger, the executive director of the academy in Plainfield.

Duplain was placed on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation of the shooting.

Ball State Police Chief Gene Burton said the department had not been involved in a shooting in the 24 years he's been on the force.

Sgt. Bill Cope of the Indiana University Police Department, which serves the IUPUI campus, said his department is among those that allow rookies to work the streets after a 40-hour basic course, provided they receive training through the training academy within one year of their hire date. Still, he said, the department prefers to hire those who already have a law enforcement background and academy certification.

The McKinney family questions whether the officer's training was adequate.

McKinney's father, Tim McKinney, a 53-year-old government affairs senior manager for Brown & Williamson Tobacco, woke up about 7 a.m. Saturday in his Bedford home, and within an hour, he recalled, "I was checking e-mail, and there was a knock."

Sgt. Lonnie Johnson of the Lawrence County Sheriff's Department was at the door.

"He said he was there to report a death in my family. He didn't have any details. . . . I have four children. I asked which one," McKinney said.

"You can imagine how we might have reacted," said McKinney, whose wife, Lisa, was with him at the time. "You break down, and you cry. That's what you do."

The events left the grieving family with unanswered questions.

Ryan McKinney, Michael's 25-year-old brother, thinks Michael likely was walking to a friend's house, where he planned to spend the night after a trip to a bar.

Police told Tim McKinney his son "charged" before he was shot.

"He got from a verbal warning to a gunshot in fairly quick succession," Tim McKinney said. "My gut tells me something went terribly wrong on the part of law enforcement here. Someone made the wrong judgment, and that cost my son his life. That's a father talking without seeing anything more than I've been told."

Ryan McKinney said his brother wouldn't charge a police officer.

"He would never assault an officer," he said. "He was a happy-go-lucky-type guy."

He said that when his brother drank, he didn't become mean. "He gets on your nerves trying to be funny every five seconds because he's yapping."

But that doesn't mean Michael McKinney hasn't had a couple of run-ins with the law. One time, he was cited for underage drinking in the Bedford area, his brother said.

In May 2002, Michael was charged with theft, public intoxication, possession of stolen property and criminal mischief, according to Muncie police. McKinney and some fraternity brothers tried to take street signs to use as room decorations.

McKinney was a member of Delta Chi fraternity. The fraternity house was closed after a university suspension for defaulting on its mortgage payments. His family said he was residing with friends in a home near campus.

As the McKinneys gathered with friends at their Bedford-area home, a relative from Fort Wayne who is an attorney arrived in Muncie to research McKinney's death. McKinney's body, meanwhile, was taken to Fort Wayne for an autopsy.

"I don't like unanswered questions," Ryan McKinney said. "There is a big one there. How and why did this happen?"






I've yet to hear definatively if was drunk or not. One article I read said alcohol wasn't smelled on the victim, but they are waiting on the autopsy results to determine if he was drunk or not. Most of the news stories indicate he was at the wrong house, and thoughthe was knocking on a friends door.

 

[Mark Tyson]

I think I see the source of contention here ...

OHshooter I was not second guessing the actions of this particular officer.

I am concerned that officers seem to reach for the CS or OC or whatever a little too quickly when trying to subdue a suspect.

More generally, I know cops face great danger out there. A CO told me once of a prisoner who broke a pair of handcuffs barehanded. I doubt that tasers or a few fancy martial arts moves would stop someone like that. Cons have years to train in the pen, while police have to deal with unusual work schedules, overtime, etc. that may leave little time for physical training. I would not expect an officer to holster his weapon and engage in hand to hand combat against some prison tough, street rough felon who's spent the last ten years in a state funded weight room. If you feel your life is in danger, then by all means do what you have to do to survive.