Update to Medford man's guns taken

[Deanimator]

It's very easy to blame the Police.However,what do you think if the same thing occured but the Police didn't act as they did and Mr. Pyles then goes on a rampage?The cops would be hung out to dry.

Not in any meaningful way, even if they were at fault.

• Police have no legal duty to protect individuals.
• Police have no legal liability when they fail to protect individuals.
• Police have virtually no physical ability to protect individuals.

They can't be sued if they fail to enforce an order of protection and a victim is killed. What makes you think they've got MORE legal liability for failing to act on an ambiguous and possibly malicious statement from a former employer that somebody's a "threat"?

They've got no legal duty to protect individuals. Any claim to the contrary is born equally of ignorance and excuse making.

 

[Kentucky_Rifleman]

There is enough blame to go all the way around in this mess.

The police over-reacted terribly. I'm sure the media would have crucified them if this poor guy had been a whack-job and gone on a shooting spree, but the media almost always blames the wrong people. Remember the Army base shooting a few months ago? The first question from the mainstream media was, "how could the Army have missed this?" Simple, the Army isn't staffed by psychics. Then the media tried to mollify the shooting spree by explaining how hard this jackass's life has been. It's the usual media claptrap, but it keeps police administrators paranoid of how things will "look" in the papers and on the 6 o'clock news.

The supervisor who set the police on this guy needs to: A. get fired; B. get sued for harassment; and C. be forced to pay restitution. This seems like a pretty clear case of an irate man/woman vindictively alerting the police to a "threat" that had no substance.

Lastly, if the supervisor was really and truly afraid of what the employee might do, maybe the supervisor should try being less of an ass to his/her subordinates. I've managed workers and high school kids for most of my adult life, first in construction then as a teacher. I'm fair, reasonable, and not an ass. Consequently, I've never felt threatened by those who worked for me or took my classes.

KR

 

[EddieNFL]

You can't expect everyone to be aware of this. I mean, this argument was just settled, what, 35 years ago?

 

[DT Guy]

Maybe we should let the Mayor know he can't just slink away from his police department's actions:

[email protected]

Sir,

I am not a Medford resident. I imagine that, at this point, you may simply delete this email.

I'm not even an Oregon resident, but rather a resident of Illinois, in the suburbs of Chicago.

I'm just writing to see if the numerous reports regarding the ODOT worker being handcuffed, taken to a hospital and having his guns seized in your town are really accurate. It seems so unlikely, I thought I would write.

I'm a former police officer out here, now working in private protective services. I'm only mentioning that to support my assertion that I'm not 'anti-police' in any way. I'm proud of the time I wore the uniform.

With that said, the idea of taking a person from their home in handcuffs-a person who, as far as I can understand, committed no crime whatsoever- while surrounding his house with a SWAT team, is profoundly disturbing to me.

I understand the ideas of 'officer safety' that your Chief will certainly invoke-in fact, I'm a certified police instructor to this day. But what happened, if those reports are accurate, are the actions of an out-of-control police state, unsupportable in any reasonable sense.

While the police represent protection for the populace, they also represent a threat to the populace if their power is unchecked. This is recognized time and time again in both statutory and case law, and something which even our Supreme Court has discussed repeatedly. It's a concept that is fundamental to the American way of life; our police are regulated, overseen and governed by law, unlike less advanced nations around the globe.

While it seems you've washed your hands of the matter, with a quote I read saying you 'don't participate in the day-to-day operations of your police', you are missing the fundamental point. As the senior elected official in Medford, it is your job to protect us from the police, to ensure they operate within the constraints of the law and to ensure your citizens are not 'policed' unjustly. I urge you to remove your Chief from his position while you investigate this (apparent) abuse of police power. It is, indeed, what you owe 'us', the body of citizens you've been elected to represent.


Respectfully,

MY REAL NAME
MY REAL CITY