We already have a distressingly long list of cases of police officers allegedly shooting dog pets either in mistaken raids or without provocation. We can now add the case of Jeff Fisher and his dog Ziggy in Colorado. Fisher says that deputies shot and killed Ziggy after they went to his house by mistake. Now it appears, according to local accounts, that the Adams County deputy sheriff, Wilfred A. Europe III, who shot the dog was involved in a previous fatal shooting.
Fisher says that officers opened his door and Ziggy ran out and was promptly shot three times.
The officers were responding to an alarm and went to the wrong location. Europe was reportedly the shooter. He was previously investigated in the shooting of a 40-year-old man last February. Europe says that the man was reaching for a gun on the floor of the car. However, the gun turned out to be a pellet gun. No charges were brought.
His facebook does not help featuring a picture of a sign that reads, “No Trespassing – Violators Will Be Shot, Survivors Will Be Shot Again.”
Source: CBS
Strongly agree with the comments of Frankly, Gene, and AP.
Bron, how do you get “cops discharging their weapons in the line of duty is statistically very small” from a report about the NYPD? Are all police forces across the USA just like the NYPD when it comes to the use of their firearms? If you had written ” NYPD cops discharging their weapons in the line of duty is statistically very small” then I wouldn’t disagree with you. Personally, I’d take that report as evidence that cops don’t need to be trigger happy to be good and effective police and as an indictment of those police forces with much higher rates of firearm discharges.
I suppose its standard practice to shoot dogs…. Don’t they….. Colorado….. Suspect….. Weed drained brains….
“that is less than 2 officers per thousand have used their weapons.”
That might help to explain how 2 NYPD cops injured 9 bystanders while shooting at a man they thought might be going to shoot at them.
I wonder how many teachers or school janitors per thousand have used their weapons – or ever will.
.
NYPD fired about 12 shots at this guy in Times Square apparently.
Hit 5 times in stomach.
He had a large knife.
Either the knife was very long or his arms were, judging by the range from which they fired – and the indifferent rate of shots to hits (around Times Square FFS!)
http://gothamist.com/2012/08/12/watch_the_fatal_confrontation_betwe.php
Which is worse, the abuse of power by a few or the cover up by the many?
So, you try putting a round through the next dog you encounter and see how forgiving the legal system is.
Bron 1, January 17, 2013 at 9:47 am
anon posted:
you do know the cato institute is infested with anarchists dont you? or are you ok with anarchy?
—-
Oh, brother…
I believe this incident happened at Mr. Fisher’s place of business. Ziggy was an eight year old blue heeler/border collie mix. It appears the officers not only couldn’t find the right address, but one was trigger happy after forcing Mr. Fisher’s door open and Ziggy ran outside.
Citizens and their canines aren’t safe from trigger happy LEO’s.
Sadly, there’s an increase in LEOs shooting dogs. Ziggy is dead. The LEO is still on duty, carrying a badge and a gun. Adams County, Colorado, should be ashamed this moron ‘serves and protects’ in their borders.
anon posted:
you do know the cato institute is infested with anarchists dont you? or are you ok with anarchy?
kairho:
“But try telling that to the respective recipients of the money or the bullet.”
then dont engage in criminal behavior and your odds go down to almost nothing.
here is link:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/nypd_annual_firearms_discharge_report_2011.pdf
“cops discharging their weapons in the line of duty is statistically very small.”
“chances of winning The Lotto are statistically very small.”
But try telling that to the respective recipients of the money or the bullet.
http://www.policemisconduct.net/
A little accountability, but he’ll still receive a reduced pension — $44,000/yr)…
Former trooper going to prison
Posted: Jan 14, 2013 8:20 AM EST
By Matt Henson
James Deeghan James Deeghan
Burlington, VT
“This is not a good day for the state police,” said Vt. State Police Col. Tom L’Esperance.
His boss called his actions a betrayal of the badge. And Monday former state trooper Jim Deeghan took responsibility for stealing more than $200,000 from taxpayers over the past six years. “I regret the time spent, man hours spent by the state police in this case, because I know they have more important things they could have been doing,” Deeghan told the court.
The 22-year veteran of the force pleaded guilty to two counts of false pretenses and two counts of neglect of duty for a time card scandal. Over the past six years the former sergeant and patrol commander of the Williston barracks added hundreds of overtime hours to his time card — hours he never worked. To cover the falsified time sheets, he wrote nearly a thousand fake traffic tickets and made up police calls he claimed he responded to.
“I just hope people don’t hold the state police responsible for what I did, what I did solely,” Deeghan said.
As part of a plea deal, Deeghan will spend two years in prison and perform 500 hours of community service.
“Initially I thought it was going to be one act — it escalated — stress, depression set in and it continued to escalate and it eventually became routine for me,” Deeghan said.
Prosecutors said most importantly the 49-year-old Colchester resident must repay the money he stole. “I don’t think you can find in this court or the state where this amount of money in a criminal preceding is paid back to the taxpayers in six years — it’s unheard of,” said Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan.
State law prohibits prosecutors from going after Deeghan’s pension. But as part of the plea deal, Deeghan agreed to use his pension to pay the 202-thousand dollars back over the next six years.
Deeghan also agreed to a revised pension based on the salary he really earned — not the inflated figures. So instead of receiving a pension of $68,000 a year, he will get $44,000.
While Deeghan is serving his two year prison sentence, Vermont’s Green and Gold will begin the difficult task of rebuilding the public’s trust. “Can we police ourselves? The proof is the in the pudding — a trooper is off to jail because of the crimes he committed while on duty,” Col. L’Esperance said.
The case prompted the Shumlin administration to take a critical look at pension reform. The governor, unions and lawmakers support a bill to seize the retirement benefits of any state employee involved in embezzlement or fraud.
Deeghan will serve his time at a prison out of state where other public safety personnel convicted of crimes have served sentences. The exact location will be determined in another month or two. Until then he will be held in protective housing.
62 officers out of 35,000? that is 0.18%. Seems pretty restrained to me.
In fact it seems incredibly restrained.
that is less than 2 officers per thousand have used their weapons.
I have to say that the police in my town are peace officers. They don’t over react to angry citizens and take an active role in almost every charity and youth group.
I credit the leadership and the extensive training that is on going through all ranks. They work very hard at not allowing an “insular, us versus them” attitude to develop.
Okay, they may not be as good looking as the firemen but then, who is? 😉
Gene H. 1, January 17, 2013 at 9:21 am
“[O]ur police forces are not out of control beasts.”
They aren’t the portrait of restraint either.
————————-
http://www.cato.org/raidmap
Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America
http://store.cato.org/reports/overkill-rise-paramilitary-police-raids-america
“Americans have long maintained that a man’s home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.
These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.
This paper presents a history and overview of the issue of paramilitary drug raids, provides an extensive catalogue of abuses and mistaken raids, and offers recommendations for reform.”
“[O]ur police forces are not out of control beasts.”
They aren’t the portrait of restraint either.
cops discharging their weapons in the line of duty is statistically very small.
from a 2011 report:
“In 2011, the number of firearms discharge incidents involving members of the New York City Police Department remained unchanged from the previous year: 92 total incidents. As was true last year, this is the smallest number of firearms discharges since the recording of police shootings in
the City began. While it must be acknowledged that the most serious category of discharges— shootings involving adversarial conflict with a subject—increased by 9 percent over last year’s record low, it is also true that experiencing 36 adversarial-conflict incidents during a year makes
for a remarkably infrequent rate. In context, the rarity is even more apparent: in a city of 8.2 million people, from a Department of nearly 35,000 uniformed members who interacted with citizens in approximately 23 million instances, 62 officers were involved in 36 incidents of intentional firearms discharges during an adversarial conflict, with 19 subjects injured and nine killed. This is an impressive record of firearms control. Neither the Department nor the officer on the street can afford complacency, however. Protecting the public from those who disdain the law is a noble calling, but it carries dangers. Two officers were murdered in 2011—one as a result of being pushed to his death, the other slain by gunfire during an incident in which no officer fired—and in other incidents three additional officers were shot and injured. Furthermore, as this report was being prepared, the first six months of 2012 saw eight officers injured by gunfire. It is true that the drastic reduction in violent crime over the past decade has meant that criminals and police enter into conflict less often. But the declining figures associated with officer involved firearms discharges are equally a testament to police officers’ restraint, diligence, and honorable performance of duty. In this arena, the Department and its officers have provided an example for law enforcement nationwide.”
the numbers arent much different in other large jurisdictions. From what I can tell the problem is with smaller forces. it also appears that cops who have shot before are more likely to do so again.
But in any event, the number of weapons discharges are very small and the number of deaths is even smaller.
our police forces are not out of control beasts.
Police are supposed to be peace officers. There is a profession where you clear a room of any possible threat with little or no regard for any other factor: they call them soldiers during wartime. The more this kind of thing happens I’m forced to lay it squarely at the feet of the ever increasing militarization of police. You nitwits don’t have to shoot every dog you see. Unless they are obviously and imminently about to bite you or someone else? Leave the damn dogs alone. Or expect that eventually if you are yourself a pet owner that some really and rightfully pissed off citizen is going to track you down and return the favor by executing your pets with the same careless disregard you’ve shown for their family. It will happen at some point. It’s human nature. And I’ll say I told you so.
His big ol daddy should not have named him Wilfred A. Europe III … and he evidently knows that no one should be so named.
It is so doggedly Shakespearean.
If you are stupid enough to try and draw a pellet gun on a cop, being shoot is what you should expect.
Not idea what happened with the dog but there does seem to be a pattern in cop/dog interaction forming.
Any cop that posts something that stupid on their FB page should expect extra scrutiny. wahat a maroon