Friday, May 13, 2011

Admirable performance

Wednesday was a mighty busy day for the Lincoln Police Department.  A lengthy standoff with a barricaded suspect armed with a high-powered semi-automatic rifle was the dominant event. Ironically, it unfolded just before a huge, full scale critical-incident exercise involving a dozen regional agencies and over 900 participants.  We were heavily involved in the exercise, which used a campus shooting as it's scenario.

Reality, however, overwhelmed the exercise for the Lincoln Police.  As usual, I was incredibly impressed by the performance of our SWAT Team.  Despite a very dangerous situation, they kept their cool, controlled the scene, patiently negotiated, and dipped deep into the bucket of strategies to make every effort to save this man's life while protecting their fellow officers and citizens.  A score of officers who supported the effort by crowd control, traffic direction, and other logistical support should also take a bow, as should the FBI--which diverted from the exercise to assist at the real thing. Thanks, too, to the Nebraska State Patrol, which diverted their mobile command post and helicopter to help.

It is unfortunate that the subject ultimately took his life, but this was not for any lack of effort by our team and its negotiators.  When I authorized the call out of SWAT shortly before midnight, I was reluctant to go back to bed, due to a training obligation at 5:00 AM.  Instead, I listened to the first couple of hours unfold, before heading to HQ.  As the day wore on and I continued to monitor events, I was continually impressed by the work being done, the options being explored, and the decisions being made by the commanders.  Sometimes I take their work for granted, but on this occasion--a thirteen hour standoff with a man whose stated intention was to shoot it out with the police, and who fired several volleys of rifle fire during the standoff--I simply admired the professionalism on display.

All the police officers, and a few thousand citizens in the neighborhood slept safely yesterday--even the scores of gawkers who didn't seem to understand the potential of a high-powered rifle to knock them off the perch from which we were trying to chase them. My job in an incident like this is to stay the heck out of the way, and let the experts do their job.  If I've done mine well, they will have the equipment, training, practice, leadership, policy and ethics to perform well when the time comes. And they did.  The LPD SWAT Team made me proud to be a Lincoln police officer, and I do not doubt that everyone else at the Lincoln Police Department feels the same way.  

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chief,
This could have been a real tragedy. Your team did a great job. Kudos to all involved.
Gun Nut

Taylor S said...

The SWAT team is made up of a great group of people. Having helped with there training I know first hand how professional, dedicated, and very well trained they are. The men and woman that make up SWAT are real examples of what heroes are.

Anonymous said...

Chief Casady,

I was required to be there professionally. One thing I found interesting was all the people who came to the area from all across the city because they had a phone application which allowed them to hear what came across the police frequencies, essentially a scanner in their phones. While officers chased them away repeatedly, the same faces returned time and again, or moved to another nearby location to be chased off by another officer. Hearing all the activity on the radio. It is often astounding to me that people feel the need to be in the immediate area to hear officers using a bullhorn, hear shots fired or whatever else it is that drives them to be nearby even when they have the ability to listen to what is happening. There was a two block (minimum) perimeter set up to protect the public from entering a potentially dangerous situation yet many kept trying to sneak in closer by using alleys and climbing fences. While great care was used to insure the safety of all involved directly, it was rather frustrating to see all the people who intentionally went to great effort to get inside the very obvious perimeter. Even ones who commented about overhearing that officers had evacuated nearby houses or alerted immediate neighbors to seek shelter in their basements tried to get "closer". Kudos to the officers who first responded, SWAT, FBI, NSP and LFR and others who helped support the efforts to end this without injury to anyone. Unlike Gun Nut, I believe this ended tragically, but am happy that no one else was hurt during this incident. Hopefully, enough information will surface about the reason this man decided it necessary to take his own life. I am sure that any debriefing your officers have will improve how they react at the next one. Based on what I saw and heard, you should shine your buttons for when your pride filled chest puffs out for a job well done.

Anonymous said...

As a commuter who was "inconvenienced" by this incident I just want to thank the LPD and the local news outlets for doing their best to inform everyone about this. I was able to change my route to work and not end up in the middle of this as a result.
Maybe the reason there were so many looky lous was because this kind of thing is thankfully rare here in Lincoln.

Anonymous said...

Nice work, LPD. You were all outstanding. I feel badly about the outcome, but I thank God you were all kept safe during this ordeal and able to return home.

Steve said...

I haven't followed this story closely, but from what I've heard, it sounds like another "suicide by cop" attempt that failed because the swat team had the patience to try and talk the guy out of it. Same result, but at least the responsibility for his death doesn't rest on the shoulders of one of our swat team members.

Sounds like everyone involved did the best they could, and the outcome was unavoidable.

As for the rubberneckers, I doubt if they will ever learn to stay away, and if some of them do get hurt, it's their own fault.

Anonymous said...

You've got to be at least halfway to insane to go out in that heat, unless your job requires you to be there.

Anonymous said...

robot stuck in fence...radios with low power...um can u name several?

Tom Casady said...

5:48-

Welcome to the real world, where stuff actually happens, like radio batteries go dead and must be replaced during 13-hour standoffs. I guess that never happens on your video game.

Anonymous said...

Great job, LPD. I'm proud to support you and grateful for your service to our city.

Chief, keep up the good work. Not everyone rushes to the Net to say it, but we appreciate your efforts.

Anonymous said...

Chief @ 5:48: That's funny!!!!

Anonymous said...

Okay, I get that depression is a serious issue. And that many people suffer from this problem. However, this guy had other issues as well. When you are firing volleys from a high powered rifle, it is endangering other people's lives. I agree with Gun Nut, this could have been a real tragedy and not just an unfortunate incident. Imagine being the officer that would have to explain to a wife/husband that his/her spouse isn't coming home because someone who was depressed wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. Bottom line is a lot of people don't credit our services such as LPD, LFD, etc. enough. Many look at us as a hick town. I have been around many cities. Lincoln is by far the best when it comes to public service and this doesn't happen by accident!

Anonymous said...

Chief, I am a long time blogger, but it's been awhile since I sent you any messages. I wanted to make you aware of a situation that really scared me. I considered calling non emergency and talking to a detective, but I know that you always get down to brass tacks. I recently visited Pioneers Park on the weekend and noticed a large number of adult males with cameras in the nature areas. This was not a concern as Lincoln is a hotspot for budding artists and photographers, what concerned me was that the men with cameras were either alone or in teams and had their cameras around their necks with lanyards. The cameras bounced as they walked, so they appeared to be holding onto them so they did not swing around, but then I noticed they were pushing the snapshot button when holding onto the cameras and taking pictures of my young daughters and also other women walking around secretly. Even my young daughters and neice wondered why all these men were acting as they were. I was in the red building near the buffalo where parking is near the nature center and also noticed at least six other men with cameras that were acting strangely. I know pictures are not illegal, but Chief, seriously these guys looked looked like the guys you would see made fun of on a comedy movie that were sex offenders, you could almost tell by their look that they were up to something strange. I strongly believe that if you had some undercover units there you would turn something up. These guys were acting really weird and I felt like calling 911 I was so creeped out! There is definitely something strange going on there whether it be fetish pictures or worse predators taking pictures of families and children. Please help. I know that the area has been a meeting place for gays for years, but this is definitely something more sinister. If you sent an officer there on a saturday I am almost one hundred percent sure you would understand what I am talking about. Thank you, A concerned father.

Anonymous said...

12:03 Concerned father... I don't understand that you took this much time to write a lengthy post and yet, you didn't call for an officer that day?