Police chief Doug Barthel spoke at Democratic Forum yesterday (3/28/15). He gave a good introduction where he talked about more communication with the public, which is quite ironic (which we will get to in a moment). he also touched on the Tuthill incident in which he said, “the suspect pulled a gun and pointed it at the officer.”
Later on during the Q & A, an audience member asked Barthel what the policy was with releasing police video and audio to the public (Barthel supports the use of body cameras, dash cameras and tasers). Barthel concluded that according to State Law, he doesn’t have to release those files (but has the authority to do so – he, of course, didn’t mention that) but felt he didn’t need to, because it would open up the ‘flood gate’ of the media requesting footage.
Since he brought up Tuthill, I asked him why the SFPD hasn’t released the audio or a crime scene site map and why the DCI wasn’t allowed to investigate the shooting by the officer?
He felt that releasing a map or an audio file ‘wouldn’t benefit’ the case (Even though, I suspect it’s because they don’t want the public ‘speculating’ whether the officer performed his duties correctly, even though they already are.)
He also believes there truly was a suspect and a ‘threat’ and the officer had every right to fire.
He said that the DCI didn’t need to investigate because ‘the suspect wasn’t injured.’
I found that answer interesting because we ‘don’t know’ if the suspect was injured, they have not been found.
I still think if we released the audio file and had a ‘real’ external investigation of the incident, we would be a lot closer to finding the suspect. But that of course that would require the SFPD to ‘communicate’ and be ‘transparent’ with the public, and do we really want to open those floodgates?
Enough about Tuthill. SF Police aren’t well trained and always miss. Proof, they couldn’t hit the big white elephant that night. They need the cameras because there’ll be arrests from selfies. I’d trust a 5yo with matches before I’d trust them with tasers.
I say again, retire this chief. Find someone who was career military. Make police proud of their uniform both mentally and physically. Train them. Restore personal and public pride for professional law enforcement.
Respect for law enforcement will not change unless the tactics of law enforcement change. Law enforcement need to return to having their top priority being helping people, not making arrests.
Law enforcement also needs to get out among the public and interact with their citizen bosses. When is the last time you saw a law enforcement officer walk down your street and just introduce themselves?
Until we see law officers treating the public with respect, nothing will change.
I was thinking the same thing. It’s like the ‘Coffee with Cops’ thing, they do it on a Friday morning, when most people are working, so only Senior Citizens show up and throw softball questions. Why not do it on a Saturday morning? Or a Monday evening?
I will take D.D. in an earlier comment section
calling me unhinged and a nut as a compliment.
You people allowed things to get as bad as they are.
Let the 55 mph winds blow.
OBG
The police in America are becoming so single-minded toward arrests first and foremost they are now afraid of the very people they supposed to protect and serve.
Sioux Falls police sit in their car, SUV or Bearcat afraid of helping anyone who needs it. On Saturday in Pettigrew they needed at least 5 cop cars to handcuff a guy. I don’t know what they were doing but you should have seen their postures. They were outside of their cars and they were afraid.
Instead of getting to know city neighborhoods or areas they drive past everyone and everything creating even more suspicion of their motives or actions. Our police department is not their for protection only control. The ownership of the SWAT Bearcat is just more proof of their management through strength over the least amongst us.
The best line I heard today,
“The police are not there to create disorder, they are there to preserve it.”
Reminded me of something else Barthel said on Friday, he said we will never win the war on drugs, but we must still fight it because he doesn’t support the legalization of marijuana. He admitted it was the #1 drug problem in SF and most of it is coming ‘legally’ from Colorado.
Why not just put up a yellow sign saying watch out for people with guns. Seems to be the solution for other problems according to the Argus today.
Did anyone ask about the crime rate in this town or the blinking red lights at night and the resulting increase in late night auto accidents?
Good comments here. Sorry Bubbleguts, I was harrassed by the city and I understand how hard it is to accept when it’s not deserved. I’d trust you before I’d trust them. It’s hard not to respond and become affected mentally. Then, I realized they are the ones who are narcisist unsubstantiated bullies. You nor I will never lose our disrespect for city government and their bouncers they call police.
At some point, law enforcement will have to stand up to the city’s traffic engineering/street racing engineer and say enough is enough. The current arrangement of citizenry risking life to cross major streets after 10 pm is not going to work this year. I’m really interested to know how the super-minority of concerned council-people (Erpenbach & ?) are preogressing on this issue. Are any of them ever up past their 9pm bedtimes?
Agreement with anonymous. Citizens are not acclamated with flashing lights. Perhaps, keep lights switching but shorten the change time. I’ve slowly gone through flashing when another someone goes straight through at full speed.