A family whose house was raided by police in error is outraged that eight officers involved were honored. Police say the eight, who also took fire, "performed bravely."Fine.
The "Only Ones" at the Minneapolis PD want to play it that way, then let's give 'em back their own policy in spades.
The criteria is "the officers 'performed very bravely under gunfire and made smart decisions'"?
OK, well their victim, Mr. Khang "thought he was being robbed. Khang shot through his bedroom door at the officers until he understood who they were."
Why is his bravery and intelligence under fire any less worthy of recognition?
In accordance with Minneapolis Police Department Policy 2-306.01 CITIZEN’S AWARD OF VALOR, which states:
The Citizen’s Award of Valor may be awarded to citizens for exemplary and heroic acts that expose them to considerable danger.I'd say Mr. Khang qualifies just as much--if not more so--than his assailants. Since the award needs to be initiated by a MPD employee, I call on Chief Timothy Dolan to nominate and approve him for the award.
Please take a moment and join me in writing to the chief: police@ci.minneapolis.mn.us . And please spread the word and recruit others--it'll only take a minute, so let's have some fun with this.
[Via kissme126, TedPB, Brian F, Plug Nickel Times]
Defending your home and the home invaders get an award? Sounds like the case in england a few years ago where the robber won a court case when he broke in a house and the homeowner shot him with a shotgun.
ReplyDeleteIndividual citizens shouldn't have too much trouble locating these SWATters and presenting their own "awards." Issue the mayor and chief one, too.
ReplyDeleteWe no longer need to ask Claire what time it is.
David, find out who can make a Citizens Medal of Bravery to award this citizen with and I'll send you the money to have it made.
ReplyDeleteLet's let the city pay for it, AJ.
ReplyDeleteHelp me make noise.
Write the chief.
Write the paper and recommend it, too.
David, I just emailed the chief (with a copy to you) my version of the letter. His copy came back as an unknown host or what ever.
ReplyDeletehere's mine.
ReplyDeleteChief Dolan, let me quote you. ""performed very bravely under gunfire and made smart decisions." in speaking of your officer who raided the wrong house.
May I point out that Mr. Khang made smarter decisions. For instance, he didn't raid the wrong house and shoot at the residents. He merely stayed home where no illegal activity was being carried out. More than can be said for your officers.
Further I would point out that he seems to have behaved far more bravely as he was outnumbered by 8 to 1 and he had no body armor or tactical helmet. So he was much more courageous than were his assailants.
I call upon you to honor his superior courage and intelligence by nominating him for a Citizen Award of Valor.
Charles H. Sawders
Doddridge, Ar.
I got an e-mail from their public information officer, and he claims that the brave actions have to do with the fact that the officers shielded two of the children with their own bodies when the homeowner began firing at them, and that "three officers were hit, two in the head and one in the neck."
ReplyDeleteHe also says that they "have paid the family to repair the home."
I still wonder, with all the shooting in the home, were the three officers hit by Khang's shotgun blasts, or by their fellow officers' guns?
Khang had his family behind him while he was protecting them. The SWAT doorkickers stumbling over the kids being morphed into them "protecting" the kids is pretty disgusting.
ReplyDeleteThe simplest way for them to protect the kids would have been to take a minute to look before kicking the door in, and noticing that the house that was supposedly occupied by Rollings 60's Crips was, in fact, occupied by the homeowner and his family, who were Hmong.
Done:
ReplyDeleteChief Dolan - I was curious about the recent wrong-house SWAT raid on the residence of a Mr. Khang and had a question. If the SWAT officers had actually killed Mr. Khang would they have gotten a cash award in addition to their pretty medals?
here's the response I got from the PIO, will reply monday:
ReplyDeleteMr. Sawders,
Thank you for taking the time to voice your concern with us over this issue. Your feelings regarding this incident are understandable. As an MPD Officer I have also had frustration that, in the interest of selling newspapers and advertising, the local media has not let the truth get in the way of the story they wish to tell. As a Public Information Officer for Chief Dolan, I would like to respond to your concerns and provide you with some of the facts of this case.
There is no question that the search warrant was executed on the wrong address—and we are not disputing that. After that became clear, Chief Dolan immediately went to the family’s residence and apologized in person. He recognized what a terrible ordeal this must have been for them, especially for the children. He also made a special effort to reach out to the community in attempt to promote understanding of the incident. Currently, there is an internal investigation regarding the incident underway, so by state law I cannot comment further on this. However, I can say that the investigation does not focus on the actions of the SWAT team, or individual officers on the team.
It is also important to keep in mind that the search warrant process is separate from the conduct of officers. The SWAT team carried out the warrant as they were instructed. The SWAT team does not have anything to do with the preparation or vetting of search warrants. This is done separately by investigator and then reviewed and signed by a judge. The team’s sole mission is to execute the warrant as safely as possible. The awards given out Monday were for the actions of the SWAT team during the actual incident. When the homeowner began shooting, Officers used themselves to shield the two children they found in a bedroom, took positions that exposed themselves but protected the children and tried to communicate with the homeowner in order to end the situation. The SWAT Officers acted bravely, professionally and with restraint to bring this situation to a conclusion with no injuries. Frankly, those Officers could have chosen to retreat under “covering fire” but did not as they were concerned for other people in the house.
When the Officers were in the home, they were shot at three times and three officers were hit, two in the head and one in the neck. Had it not been for their protective body armor those officers would have suffered grave injury if they had not been killed. These Officers volunteer for SWAT duty, they are not paid extra and, in fact, for each training day they lose their night pay differential so they actually lose income to be on the team. They volunteer to place themselves in most dangerous policing situations and in this case they were shot protecting the residents of the City. The SWAT team is not used lightly by the Department, but is utilized when the situation is deemed too dangerous for other Officers. The City states that our employees are our most valuable asset. We must show our employees that we value the work that they did on that day (and every day) and the willingness with which they place themselves in harm’s way for the City’s residents. The reality of policing is that Officers do place themselves where their lives are at risk and each year Police Officers are hurt and killed. Not to acknowledge what our officers do would be doing them and their families a great disservice.
You should also know that we have paid the family to repair their home. The family’s attorney, Mr. Hefilfinger, has stated that he is negotiating a settlement with the City. I do not work for the City Attorney’s Office so I cannot speak to that issue. Finally, Mayor R.T. Rybak has directed Chief Dolan to review the MPD process for giving awards and report back to him within one month on ways to prevent situations like this in the future.
While I do not expect that this e-mail will change your feelings on the matter, I hope that it will allow you to better judge the actions of these Officers based on the facts, rather than media sensationalism.
Sincerely,
Sgt. William J. Palmer
Minneapolis Police Department
Public Information Officer