1. LAPD stated that they were not responding to burglary alarms, correct? This was a panic alarm.
2. Numbers. All I'm gonna say about this is that it was an honest mistake. Humans make them. They make them often. I sincerely doubt that any of the people smirking and sneering at this concept have always gotten
every telephone number correct,
every house number correct,
every set of directions correct, and done
everything properly, and
never have made any errors that arise out of misunderstanding something that was printed or told to you. Right? I'm sure that I can do a search of the posts here and on TFL and your infallibility will be confirmed. Failing that, let me call your wives.
In the end, he probably inverted the last pair of numbers and went to 1268 instead of 1286, or some similar error. People, this happens. This happens a lot. Why? Because cops are people, and people make errors. When its an error of judgement thats one thing, but when its a simple clerical error we all look a little wild-eyed and silly calling down hellfire and damnation on the JBTs.
And before anyone jumps on the wrong-house no-knock bandwagon, I'll remind you that this is not a situation where you have time to research the scene, go get an affidavit, set up your team and double and triple check the address. This is one guy in a car running and breakneck speed through a dark neighborhood and pulling up to the house where someone's panic alarm is going off. He got the number wrong. Big deal. This doesn't mean that the homeowner is not owed a hat-in-hand apology and the city doesn't need to make it right financially, but in the end it was a simple mistake, of the type that we all make every day.
3. Why do we never see cops getting bitten? Simple. Thats not news. Cops being bitten by dogs far outnumber cops shooting dogs, if my own unofficial study into the issue is generalizable (meaning: my precinct has shot a few dogs, and gotten bitten many many many more times than that). If a cop shoots a dog, it makes the evening news. If a dog bites a cop, some paperwork is done.
4. Someone wrote:
If you're held hostage, they will NOT attempt to free you. They will back out, call SWAT and a negotiator, and make sure to risk no department lives to save you. Not that I blame the cops. They do their jobs. Your safety is YOUR responsibility, not theirs. They owe a duty to the public at large. And if that means letting you get shot, that's what they'll do.
Wrong. they'll seal off the area and call SWAT because, the vast majority of the time, doing anything else precipitates the hostage getting shot. The best hope of getting the hostage out alive comes from a trained negotiator or, failing that, a coordinated and rapid response from a team of cops. One or two cops playing cowboy, as you seem to suggest, will get the hostage dead. And then we can talk about how reckless they are on THR!
5. Was retreat not an option? I'll bet you that retreat wasn't, based upon the fact that Fluffy is dead. If you're going on a panic alarm, your gun is out. If startled at close range by an angry (looking) Rott, your choices are pretty much shoot or open yourself up for a bite, if you're far from the gate. I wasn't there, but I'll bet thats what happened. He was too far into the yard to back out without becoming a chew toy.
Mike