I think you are completely misinterpreting my words. I don't blame the officers involved. I commend them for their courage and compassion. I don't believe the officers did anything wrong in this case. (And I haven't heard anything to the contrary.) But my comments are not about what happened - they are about the subsequent acts of an organization.
However, blaming compassion for causing the deaths of Donald and Schmidt is a rather sad argument. If I were to conjecture on how this event came about I would guess that Martha Donald has years of experiences which tell her that she can't trust the police. Then after 60 years, with perhaps the beginnings of Alzheimers (a GUESS), she snapped at the wrong moment and at the wrong officer. So far, this is the only theory I have. However, my theory, if correct, would indicate that asking officers to have more compassion would not have saved either women but may save someone a few years from now. And yes, I do demand that officers have compassion. And it's often easy to tell who has it and who doesn't. I have met good cops and bad cops. I have met them in Minneapolis and I have met them elsewhere. It is better to have had and lost a compassionate officer than never to have had one at all. One final comment on Barb Lickness' comments from earlier. I can forgive individuals for their thoughts, words and actions in the heat of the moment. However, the Police Federation is not an individual it is an organization. Robert Schmid Central Neighborhood On Friday, August 9, 2002, at 08:32 AM, Mark Wilde wrote: > Robert Schmid wrote: "I am angry at the police > federation because they claim to speak for all police. > They show no compassion and a police officer without > compassion is a truly terrifying thing. > > Based on what I know, Officer Schmidt was the kind of > officer who had compassion. Compassion is a rare > commodity these days and its mere presence indicates > that courage exists alongside it. We need more > officers with compassion. We can leave judgment to > the jury." > > > Asking police officers to have more compassion would > not have prevented the deaths of Donald and Schmidt, > isn't compassion what got them killed? If the officer > had not allowed the other woman to go to the bathroom > they would both be alive today. > > The argument is a knee jerk reaction against police > officers and it happens every time there is a tragedy > like this. Don't blame the police officers who are > forced to make ugly decisions in split seconds without > all the information. > > Mark Wilde > Windom Park > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs > http://www.hotjobs.com > _______________________________________ > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn > E-Democracy > Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
