Murderer was so protected:
Brailsford was involved in the fatal shooting of Shaver on Jan. 18, 2016, and was fired two months later. His trial began in late 2017, lasting six weeks before he was acquitted of a second-degree murder charge. He was temporarily rehired by Mesa police last August as part of the settlement that allowed him to file for accidental disability retirement benefits.
The settlement also says Mesa will set aside up to $3 million for Brailsford to defend himself and pay lawsuit settlements related to the case, and that the city will give potential employers a "neutral reference" for him. He is ineligible to be hired again by Mesa.
Yeah......police never cover up for bad cops or protect their own....
This is an interesting case study for several reasons:
1. The officer’s dad was a police Sergeant. Question 1: Is there a correlation between performance of an officer and having a family member in the force? Question 2: Was special consideration given by the jury and politician decision making concerning this case because of the officer’s dad? Question 3: Did the decision to rehire the officer for a few months so the officer could become eligible for a pension violate ethics concerning the use of public money?
2. The officer spent time as a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Missionary in Equador. The officer and apparently his family are deeply religious, creating a disconnect between the officers expected beliefs and his actions. Question 1: Is there something about the nature of police work that can put some people on edge? Question 2: If so, what are the warnings signs an officer is on edge and what can be done about it? Question 3: Some people who follow religion are intolerant. Did the officer have an unusually intolerant personality, creating an inevitable situation where someone was going to get shot that didn’t need to? Is this something that should be addressed during the initial screening process?
3. The victim was drunk and police were called when someone saw the victim point a pellet gun out of a hotel window while showing it to friends inside the room. Question 1: Not to excuse drunkeness, but has there been a study, officer training program, or policy recommedations concerning how to effectively deal with people under the influence? After all, it is a common occurance for the intoxicated to become involved with the police, right?
4. From Wikipedia.org: Later that month, the Mesa Police Department fired Brailsford, citing several policy violations and unsatisfactory performance.
[27] An internal investigation report revealed that Brailsford had violated department weapon policy by engraving his patrol rifle with the phrases "You're fucked" and "
Molon labe" (a
Greek expression meaning "come and take them").
[28][29]Brailsford had also previously been investigated for body slamming a teenager during an arrest.
[30]. Question 1: What kind of mentality of the officer does the weapon engraving suggest? “You’re fucked”, to some anyway, is a far cry from “To protect and serve”. Does this language sound like the officer was a practitioner of the Bible’s teachings? Question 2: Should the body slam of a teenager during an arrest trigger disciplinary action or preventative intervention that might have ultimately prevented this tragedy?
I have been viewing body cam recordings of officers and the public on YouTube. There are some common denominators that include people venting, pissing matches, not recognizing their obligations or another right’s, and excessive willingness to escalate. However, the most basic theme is intolerance. People on edge don’t want to be inconvenienced, told what to do, or feel their privacy is being compromised. Officers get tired of people doing stupid and illegal shit and then getting blamed for intervening. A Louisianna officer told me once “We are public enemy number one”.
A solution to the ongoing problem of police-public abuse, and yes it goes both ways, is through the media and if necessary, activism. The media should not take sides. When an incident happens, it should be reported, the video cams played, and polls conducted. Physcological experts should then weigh in with their ideas on how the incident could have been prevented.
The police work for us, even if some of us violate our own rules or rules we don’t agree with from time to time. The police need to remember this. Public demands consistent high performance from the police in what has to be one of the hardest jobs in the world. The public needs to remember there is only so much abuse the good guys will take before leaving or not caring, and thus the public should conduct themselves accordingly.
