Jasper Shooting Illustrates Need for Reform in Michigan Policing

[XLFD]

Lenawee County Deputies attempt to enforce a court order making a Jasper (just south of Adrian in southeastern Michigan) man come in for an evaluation of his mental health.  The man is shot by the deputies who cite that the man pointed a shotgun at them.  Here is the story as reported in 13 ABC on August 13, 2014:

Lenawee County Sheriff Jack Welsh says his deputies used deadly force Tuesday night in self defense.

A 54-year-old mentally-ill man allegedly pointed a shotgun at the deputies inside the man's home on the 12-thousand block of Treat Highway in Jasper.

13abc spoke with a family member of the man killed.

She doesn't want to talk on camera. She says they are a close, tight-knit farming family.

She says the 54-year-old had mental health problems and she doesn't blame the deputies for his death. She says it is unfortunate all the way around and it doesn't seem there was anything else they could've done.

Four Lenawee County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched Tuesday around 8:15 p.m. to a red brick home on Treat Highway to enforce a court order for the hospitalization of the 54-year-old man who lived there.

It's a rural area where some neighbors knew he suffered from mental illness.

"It's sad," says neighbor Shawn Rogers. "I kinda feel bad for the cops who had to deal with that."

Family members advised the deputies the man was paranoid and delusional, according to Sheriff Welsh. The sheriff says after entering the home, the deputies found the man armed with a shotgun.

"After the subject ignored repeated verbal commands to lower the weapon, the subject pointed the shotgun at the deputies forcing them to discharge their firearms in self defense," says Sheriff Jack Welsh.

"If the guy had a knife, then tasing would've been a possibility," says Rogers. "I don't see where they really had a choice."

"You can't meet a firearm with a taser," says Lt. Tony Cuevas with the Michigan State Police. "It's a firearm with a firearm ... at least an equal amount of force."

Until the investigation is completed by the Michigan State Police into the deadly shooting, three of the deputies are off the job.

According to the sheriff, that means his office is down three staff members for this weekend's big NASCAR races at Michigan International Speedway.

"But that's irrelevant," says Sheriff Welsh. "They're on administrative leave according to our policy and we'll deal with ... pay some overtime and get through the race."

Sheriff Welsh is not yet releasing the names of the deputies on paid administrative leave. He is also not releasing the name of the man killed until all family members have been notified.

The next day the Toledo Blade reported that Rick Ronald Pifer was the man shot and that family members had told deputies the man was paranoid and delusional, and the man was armed with a shotgun before deputies entered the residence.

Did this story have to take this twist?  That cannot be easily inferred from the reports thus far, however, what is missing from this 'investigation' is any sort of recording from the interaction.  Deputies are serving paperwork that says they will remove this man from his house, by force if necessary, to be evaluated; family members tell of paranoia/delusions of the man and that he was armed. 

We do not know the training of the unidentified deputies, what abilities to negotiate or de-escalate a situation like this, but whoever the deputy was in charge decided to confront the problem with lethal force weapons and apparently without recording the encounter with available passive audio and video resources.   In this age, that lack of documentation in such an encounter is a potentially costly oversight, and one that rightly calls into question the officers' account of events, if there is some question as to what happened.

Fortunately for the Lenawee County Deputies, the Michigan State Police are friendly investigators who will almost assuredly find nothing to be amiss in such a situation.  But the public deserves better; we need the police to record their interactions with the public in such situations and we need complete access to these records when outcomes like this happen.  Only then can we be assured that our police units are acting responsibly, and are accountable for their actions.

Since that is unlikely to happen with our current energized and militarized police forces, citizens must continue to do their own recording of such interactions when possible to help themselves and their fellow citizens counter a police force unwilling to be held accountable by those paying for their salaries and their toys.

[Willy]

Instead of the police going by themselves, there should have been a mental health professional tagging along to advise officers on how to handle the situation. The man was obviously not mentally balanced and the authorities knew this. I do feel sorry for the officers who had to confront the man and serve the Court Order but in the final analysis it was the responsibility of the Court and law enforcement to act in an appropriate manner to prevent this kind of tragedy and that did not happen. I smell another lawsuit that is going to cost taxpayers a bundle.

[XLFD]

 From the news reports, it doesn't sound like the relatives are all that upset, but that could be in the picture.  I would really like to see a Lenawee County Commissioner, a Jasper City Council member, or enough common citizens come forward and find out the truth, because any sane protocol wasn't followed here.

Today, an interesting news article from FOX 17 came out of Lowell, Michigan.  If you recall, that is where the one man, Anthony Goldsmith, who drowned at Ludington in 2010 was from.  It seems they have a policy that puts body cams on officers and they are supposed to turn it on when dispatched or in performing a self-initiated action, here's the complete article:

LOWELL, Mich. — As tensions continue in Ferguson, Mo. and uncertainty remains over just want exactly happened in the death of Mike Brown, the conversation of police using body cameras is back into the spotlight.

Thousands of agencies across the country use them, and now a petition with more than 40,000 supporters is circulating online calling for a law to require police to use body cameras.

The Lowell Police Department just started using the cameras last October.

Chief Steven Bukala said that just in the past few months he’s seen citizen complaints go down.  It’s a point of view perspective with audio and video, the camera hooked on to the officer’s uniform on their chest.

Bukala says the department has four of them and their policy requires officers to wear one on every call from a traffic stop to a domestic dispute. Bukala says as soon as they are dispatched officers activate them and keep it rolling from start to finish.

In 2012 a controlled study was done on 70 officers in a town in California. After 12 months, complaints against police officers dropped by more than 80 percent and use of force fell by nearly 60 percent.

Bukala says the video is available through the Freedom of Information Act and is admissible in court; he says it’s an evidence collecting tool they use every day.

For instance, during one situation they were able to refer to the video after a woman denied making a statement, but the audio and video showed in fact she did.

“I had one person in particular say that the officer was aggressive and hostile towards the complainant’s daughter. I invited her to come in and view the video. When she found out the entire incident was not only caught on in-car camera video but point-of-view video, she bothered not to come in,” Bukala said.

“We understand that in this day and age we are going to be recorded whether by our own equipment or a cell phone in the middle of the incident. We want the entire incident on recording with audio so we can get an accurate portrayal of what happened, not just someone’s point of view,” he said.

Bukala says the videos are also good for training purposes. The devices they have run about $400 a piece, paid for by their drug forfeiture money. The video, if an arrest is made, will be held until a case makes its way through court and if no arrest is made it will be purged from the system after six months.

The ACLU says body cameras can be a win-win, but only if they are used in a framework of strong policies without becoming a system for routine surveillance.

For more information about the California study:

http://www.policefoundation.org/sites/g/files/g798246/f/201303/The%...

[Willy]

Body cameras are an excellent idea. My only concern is if they are kept as a permanent record of the stop even if there was no arrest.