LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - 9/21/06

from The Oregonian


There are questions surrounding the death of Lukus Glenn.
I saw, firsthand, what police can do when they are well trained to handle a crisis. A woman who lived across the hall from me in Minneapolis attacked her husband with an 8-inch butcher knife. Three armed officers arrived. She stood there, not 25 feet but two feet from them. They talked to her, calmly.

Finally, after five tense minutes, she whirled and fled toward the back of the room, and one quickly tackled her. None of those men, who were within inches of a large knife, even once touched their guns or a Taser.

The cops in Garden Home used loud commands on a scared, drunk boy. I think a calm attitude might have made all the difference. Crisis training should include communication training to defuse, not aggravate such situations.

BRINN C. HEMMINGSON

Southeast Portland

It seems rather bizarre that a middle-aged nurse can single-handedly wrestle a claw hammer away from an intruder and strangle him to death, but three cops needed to shoot and kill a teenager [armed] with a three-inch knife.

Of course we will hear that "you had to be there." Apparently several people were, and I hope that this sort of stupidity on the part of those sworn to protect us is not blown off and therefore legally sanctioned.

DAN W. PETERSON

Northeast Portland

I have been deeply saddened by the senseless death of Lukus Glenn by Washington County sheriff's deputies. As a mental health professional and board member of the Clark County chapter of NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill), I know how often families are faced with these terrifying emergencies and how quickly they can escalate out of control. All persons involved are vulnerable to serious injury and death.

In Vancouver, the city police department operates an intensive week-long crisis intervention training twice each year. It is highly lauded as an effective preventative to scenarios that seem to be playing out frequently across the river.

I urge police administrators in Oregon to implement something similar. I am convinced Vancouver's crisis intervention training program saves lives.

MICHELE WOLLERT

Vancouver

For once I'd like to see someone come to the defense of an officer involved in a shooting. Imagine working a job where you could be shot over a speeding ticket. Imagine a job where you know going into it that some day you might have to choose in a split second to take someone's life in order to spare someone else's or your own.

How many of us can say we'd make the perfect decision every time? I can't, and it's unreasonable to put that expectation on our police officers.

Give them the benefit of the doubt before criticizing them. After all, these are the same people we call in our times of greatest need, and these are the people who come running to help because it is their job to protect and serve.

JUSTIN FARRELL

North Portland

Most people are naive as to what constitutes reasonable and necessary force used by police officers. I am a retired criminology professor and 27-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department.

One citizen wrote that the suspect was "armed only with a knife" (Letters, Sept. 19). Interestingly, one of the most horrific knifings I ever witnessed was at the hands of a 19-year-old male using a two-inch pocket knife.

Many people believe that police officers can simply shoot the knife or gun from the hand of a perpetrator, ending the threat. Other than luck, this only happens in the movies.

Police officers receive many hours of training on the use of force and many more hours dedicated to the use of deadly force. Police officers do not, however, receive training on how to be gallantly killed. This then begs the question: What were the obligations or choices of the suspect when ordered to drop the knife? Did the suspect have a right or duty to ignore or resist the officers? Or did the suspect's conduct dictate the actions of the officers?

If the type of weapon or its size is still a barrier of justification for you, just remember what kind of weapon the terrorists used to take over the 9/11 flights.

STEPHEN E. BROWN

Roseburg