4 ms·

>Is people getting served really more important than people's lives? She wasn't just being served court documents, the police were executing a bench warrant, m

>Is people getting served really more important than people's lives? She wasn't just being served court documents, the police were executing a bench warrant, meaning the police were there to bring her into jail. Moreover, the officers went into this knowing this woman was charged with 4 misdemeanors including resisting arrest, and then she didn't go to court and that is why they were there. Execution of bench warrants is one of the most dangerous jobs of law enforcement, even against non-violent defendants, its probably not good policy to tell officers to execute bench warrants...unless defendants threaten you with violence, in which case, not only don't bring the defendant to jail on the bench warrant but don't charge them with the new crime either. It would be like saying, is giving a seat belt ticket more important than lives? Of course not, but that doesn't mean pulling a gun on an office is your way out of a traffic ticket.

tamana 10y ago
If executing a bench warrant is so dangerous, maybe police should be more careful about how they serve them. For example, surveil the target and approach when the target is not holding a gun.
- 2bitencryption 10y ago
  At this point the target has proven to be EXTREMELY unstable and is an enormous hazard. The kind of hazard you would call the police on because you would be afraid of them shooting someone. I guess this shows that people on HN do not understand these situations as much as they think they do.
- will_brown 10y ago
  Yeah it would be great if police had resources so they could do surveillance for every defendant who is issued a bench warrant for failing to show up to court. Alternatively, it would be even better if the defendant's saved us all those tax payer dollars and a) showed up to their court hearings, or b) turned themselves after they were mailed the warrant and remove the need for the police to execute the warrant. Unfortunately, unlimited police funding and hoping all defendants appear in court/surrender themselves are not real solutions. To put the issue in perspective, take the State of NY, at any given time there are going to be well over 1,000,000 open arrest warrants. At that scale even with all the resources and all the care in the World, police are not going to eliminate either officer or defendant deaths completely when warrants are executed. Just look at the society we live in, this defendant was being encouraged in real-time on Facebook to do something that ultimately resulted in her death and the child being shot. As a side I would really like to see these the alleged posts encouraging her not to surrender peacefully, depending on exactly what was said these individuals could in theory be charged with significant crimes themselves.

tamana 10y ago

If executing a bench warrant is so dangerous, maybe police should be more careful about how they serve them. For example, surveil the target and approach when the target is not holding a gun.

2bitencryption 10y ago
At this point the target has proven to be EXTREMELY unstable and is an enormous hazard. The kind of hazard you would call the police on because you would be afraid of them shooting someone. I guess this shows that people on HN do not understand these situations as much as they think they do.
will_brown 10y ago
Yeah it would be great if police had resources so they could do surveillance for every defendant who is issued a bench warrant for failing to show up to court. Alternatively, it would be even better if the defendant's saved us all those tax payer dollars and a) showed up to their court hearings, or b) turned themselves after they were mailed the warrant and remove the need for the police to execute the warrant. Unfortunately, unlimited police funding and hoping all defendants appear in court/surrender themselves are not real solutions. To put the issue in perspective, take the State of NY, at any given time there are going to be well over 1,000,000 open arrest warrants. At that scale even with all the resources and all the care in the World, police are not going to eliminate either officer or defendant deaths completely when warrants are executed. Just look at the society we live in, this defendant was being encouraged in real-time on Facebook to do something that ultimately resulted in her death and the child being shot. As a side I would really like to see these the alleged posts encouraging her not to surrender peacefully, depending on exactly what was said these individuals could in theory be charged with significant crimes themselves.