From the InBox:
Galveston Municipal Police Association/Texas Municipal Police Association Release Joint Statement on Recent Events in Galveston Today, Geoff Gainer, President of the Galveston Municipal Police Association (GMPA) released the following statement: “During a time when our country is roiled by recent tragic events, it is extremely disappointing to see the state and national media fanning the flames of discord in our community between our police officers and the people we are sworn to protect and serve by upholding the laws instituted by our elected officials. Donald Neely was under arrest for criminal trespass. At the time of the arrest, our mounted officers called for a unit to transport him to the jail. Our officers were told no units were available, and they would need to wait for a unit to be released from the jail. Because they were unaware of how long they would be waiting, our officers determined the best action would be to escort Mr. Neely to the mounted unit. The technique that our officers utilized to escort Mr. Neely is an accepted practice nationwide. It is race and gender neutral. It is a universal technique meant to protect the individual being escorted, as well as the public. It is so universal in its application that it is the only escort technique that our officers have been trained in. In fact, there are no other written guidelines for the transport of a person in custody by mounted patrol. Our officers were faced with a difficult choice, as they are every day they do their jobs. With an individual in custody and under arrest, with no motorized units available for assistance, they followed national best practice and department guidelines for safe transport. Their job is to promote public safety and enforce our laws. They did this to the best of their ability, followed all training and protocols they had been provided, and maintained their professionalism throughout. In short, they did their jobs for the people of Galveston. We believe the Chief said it best during his town hall meeting when he said this was a failure of training and policy. We support the Chief in his review of the policy and procedures and are confident he will make the necessary changes.” Kevin Lawrence, Executive Director of Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA), added: “Contrary to what some have said, these officers did not use poor judgment. They did exactly what they are trained to do. The prisoner in this case, Mr. Neeley, publicly stated the officers were ‘very nice,’ treated him ‘very well’ and does not take exception to his treatment by the officers. This case exemplifies the disconnect the media and general population have with law enforcement. There are no good optics when making an arrest or detaining a suspect. It is the very nature of the job we ask our law enforcement officers to do and very often there are no good options. Officers are expected to choose the least bad option and follow best practice and department guidelines, and these officers did exactly that.” |
Any way you cut it, that arrest technique looked awfully bad, and as a result, Galveston has received a black eye worldwide. And I seriously doubt that it is an accepted practice nationwide.
I disagree, Howie. Leftists are perpetually outraged and look for anything TO be outraged about. I mean, let’s say instead of horseback riding cops, they were cops on bicycles. They’d have the same problem, to get the arrestee to a squad car for transport. Would that look awfully bad, too, two cops on bikes escorting a prisoner?
Galveston needs to stop apologizing and double down on what they did, go all in on it. I saw on one of the local TV stations, they had some white folks who said they had similarly been arrested and led in that fashion by the Galveston mounted patrol. They didn’t feel the need to cry and call the race baiting crew.
In short, Galveston should have said, yes, this is how we do it, this is how everyone ELSE does it too, and we’re not going to change because people don’t like the ‘optics.’ This is the safest way to handle the situation, and that’s it. Get over it. Want to avoid being led down the street like that? Don’t do anything to get arrested for. Easy peasy.
Bill, it does not matter whether the arrestee is black or white, or whether the officers are on bicycles. Leading an arrestee down the street by a rope looks bad even if the arrestee later heaps praise on the arresting officers. And I will say with certainty that everyone ELSE does not do it that way. I’m willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of modern law enforcement agencies would never allow any arrests to be made that way.
Frankly, it doesn’t matter what the accepted procedure was. Given the current political atmosphere, anyone with an IQ above room temperature could see that the “optics” on this were gonna be hideous. Maybe it’s an accepted practice nationwide, but I have to say that it’s been a really long time since I saw a couple of white guys in uniforms on horseback, dragging a black guy thru the streets. Made me wonder if they was headed for a lynchin. . . .
Now, before you all scream in outrage, I KNOW that wasn’t the actual situation. But, that’s how it looks. Whether you like it or not. My first reaction when I saw the picture was “what the hell?!?!” I was horrified.
The far better choice would have been to wait for a unit to transport the prisoner. Wait as long as it took. Buy lunch. Take a freakin’ nap! But don’t perp walk a prisoner on a rope for a mile and a half. If the “book” says that’s OK, then the book needs to be changed.
Or an auction
I bet if that was HPD a mounted patrol Howie wouldn’t have had a problem with it because he thinks they are the only real police, everyone else that’s with a less prominent agency is doing it wrong. I do agree though that it just didn’t look right.
If it was the right thing to do, why did the police chief say it was a failure of training and policy? More importantly, though, NBC had a story about how Russian bots are taking images like this and “fanning the flames” through the use of social media. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it makes sense to me that Russian operatives would love nothing better than to foment anger between blacks and whites in the U.S. How do we stop the Russians from using the internet to exploit these situations?
William, If I’m not mistaken, Howie was once a Galveston PD Officer.