[retiredguy123]

Scot Peterson, a 60 year old resource officer, was found "not guilty" on all 11 counts where he was charged with a crime for not acting to stop the shooting. Personally, I agree with the verdict. The Government cannot and should not mandate courage.

[Rainger99]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Scot Peterson, a 60 year old resource officer, was found "not guilty" on all 11 counts where he was charged with a crime for not acting to stop the shooting. Personally, I agree with the verdict. The Government cannot and should not mandate courage.

I read that it was the first case ever where criminal charges were brought against a police officer for failure to act.

[Keefelane66]

Disappointed in ruling.

[dewilson58]

[Taltarzac725]

You cannot force people to be heroic and actually run towards the bullets. They either have true grit in that situation or they do not. And no amount of training will undo that unless I suppose it was on a battlefield and then you have to deal with post traumatic stress and how people deal with it.

[manaboutown]

This clown should be a host on The View. He does not have the true grit to be a LEO or in security.

[badkarma318]

He has been publicly branded with the scarlet C, for Coward, and he will bear that, as well as the mental burden of his inability to act to save children, to his last day. A cold and timid soul.

[MrFlorida]

Remember , the police are only there to take the report after , they are not there to protect you.... You have to protect yourself..

[dougjb]

Just goes to show you, the presence of SRO's on school campuses are totally useless.What are they there for?

Apparently, the only purpose of the presense of a uniformed, armed certified police office on middle school and high school campuses is to give a false sense of security to parents. These SRO's cost a great deal and it is easy service for these glorified crossing guards.

Moreover, these cops wind up arresting kids for minor violations and getting the kids into the "system" that the kids can never get out of. It causes many kids to simply get squashed by these uselss cops!

[Number 10 GI]

Originally Posted by dougjb

Just goes to show you, the presence of SRO's on school campuses are totally useless.What are they there for?

Apparently, the only purpose of the presense of a uniformed, armed certified police office on middle school and high school campuses is to give a false sense of security to parents. These SRO's cost a great deal and it is easy service for these glorified crossing guards.

Moreover, these cops wind up arresting kids for minor violations and getting the kids into the "system" that the kids can never get out of. It causes many kids to simply get squashed by these uselss cops!

You are painting with a very broad brush and your vitriol diminishes your credibility. You want the SROs to ignore violations committed by students? Do you believe anarchy in schools is acceptable? If a kid is following the rules, there should be no problems with the SRO.

[Michael G.]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

You cannot force people to be heroic and actually run towards the bullets. They either have true grit in that situation or they do not. And no amount of training will undo that unless I suppose it was on a battlefield and then you have to deal with post traumatic stress and how people deal with it.

Same with people that carry firearms for their protection.
Could they all fire those weapons when needed.
I think not.

[Tvflguy]

I did not recall if Peterson was an actual cop or just a SRO. Googled and found out that he was a sheriffs deputy. That said total Shame and cowardice. And running and hiding.

Now I understand why the parents are upset after the verdict. Can’t imagine the angst and heartbreak. Of course he had to live with this, but the poor families…. If this can be used as a precedent in future cases as this….

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by MrFlorida

Remember , the police are only there to take the report after , they are not there to protect you.... You have to protect yourself..

Yes, of course you're right. Let's mandate that all school children of all ages, from pre-K and up, be required to carry a loaded firearm with them whenever they're on school property.

Y'know, so they can protect themselves from shooters.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Also - important to understand - he no longer has -criminal- charges to face. He can still be sued by the families of the victims in civil court for failure to act. For those who say "no one should be expected to play the hero" - that was his job. That's what he was paid to do: to protect students and keep the peace at the school. He was a Sheriff's deputy - he accepted the responsibility, then failed.

I don't think he should be held criminally responsible, because there's no way of knowing that - even if he DID act, he would've acted in time to save anyone. But he chose not to act at all, even though that was his job. And for that - he deserves to be held accountable and pay damages. That's my opinion.

[blueash]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

I read that it was the first case ever where criminal charges were brought against a police officer for failure to act.

Then you read something that seems wrong to me. Tou Thao was found guilty of aiding and abetting manslaughter when he failed to intervene to stop manslaughter. It may be that our wonderful SCOTUS will overturn as it has stated that cops have no duty to protect citizens despite the old "serve and protect" motto plastered everywhere. The question thus is what interests are cops serving and protecting as it is not school children being slaughtered.

A school teacher can lose her profession for failing to notice and report possible child abuse, but a cop is immune to any lawsuit for their failure to act.