This was written by a man named Paul LaBounty
Several years ago I found a missing little girl. In someone?s backyard. Luckily, there were no aggressive dogs.
It was a ridiculously hot summer day. The little girl was around 5 years old, blond with blue eyes. She was lying on freshly cut June grass which was sharp and crunched under your feet. The day?s heat was emanating off of it. She could not speak. She could not say her name. She could not tell us where she lived. Her teary eyes darted around at the gathering ?big people? standing over her. Dirt stuck to where tears had dried. Her pants and underwear were around her ankles.
This innocent little girl was walking to a friend?s home half a block away. She was snatched by a teenage boy with mental problems. The boy took her into his backyard. After trying to rape the girl repeatedly (I'll spare the details), the boy became worried he would get caught because she was crying. In order to silence her, he strangled the little girl until she stopped breathing. Unbeknownst to him, she had merely passed out and had not died. The boy then discarded the girls lifeless body over the 6 foot cinder-block wall, letting it fall into a neighbors back yard. That is where I found her. In someone?s backyard, where I did not shoot an animal.
Have you ever searched for a lost, missing or abducted child? I have, sometimes several times a month. Have you ever seen a dead child? It is sickening. Have you ever seen what terrible things other humans are capable of doing to children? It is terrifying.
I respect the ##### out of the Forth Amendment. I also love my dog as one of my children. The poor traumatized dog owner whose dog was shot keeps spouting ?Probable Cause? in his video. Please, from a Constitution loving lawman of the people, understand ?Exigent Circumstances? and ?Scope of Search?. I'm all about having PC to enter your yard to search for evidence of a crime. But, more urgent than a ?reasonable expectation of privacy?, are the preservation of life and the safety of our smallest and most defenseless citizens.
Geitz was a beautiful animal. The SLCPD officer who took the dog?s life is a good hearted, honest officer. This officer did not enter that yard, gun drawn and seeking to kill. I assume that he entered the yard as I have done hundreds of times, with gnawing anxiety dreading you may actually be the one to find what everyone fears, and are relieved when you don't. As far as shooting the dog, I was not there and I do not know all the facts. All I can say is that it sucks that it happened.
I am sad for the dog and the dog?s family. I am sad for the officer and his family, and all the death threats and ill will they have received. I am sad for society and at what we have become. Law Enforcement is not a perfect science, yet we are expected to be right- all the time. Split second decisions can be armchair quarterbacked all day long. Split second decisions can also cost lives on both sides of the coin. There are some bad cops out there. They make the profession look bad and they endanger me. They are the exception, not the rule. No one gets more upset at bad cops than the good ones, yet in most cases we can not discuss it and must remain professional. But, bad cop behavior seems to be the only thing that is news worthy. And cop hating is the cool thing to do.
But, I guess it is our job to be shot, hit, spit on, bitten, sworn at, threatened, ran over and have no emotion over all the violence and trauma we experience. It is also so soothing to think that at any moment, someone fed up with ?those ##### pigs? may shoot me just because of the car I drive or uniform I wear. How dare me. Can there be such a thing as a good cop?
I am here to tell you that there are good cops. And they bear the emotional and physical scars of the job, with little praise or thanks. Add that to an unforgiving public full of hatred and an unrelenting media who prefers to report emotion over facts.
So, keep criticizing us. Keep calling us pigs. Keep threatening us. But please, when your car gets stolen, go find it yourself. When your house is broken into, investigate it yourself. If your child goes missing?well, please still call us. And, yes, we are just dumb enough to risk our lives to help you even though you despise us.
Why? Because it's the right thing to do. Please, take care of each other, and we will continue to strive to take care of you.
Several years ago I found a missing little girl. In someone?s backyard. Luckily, there were no aggressive dogs.
It was a ridiculously hot summer day. The little girl was around 5 years old, blond with blue eyes. She was lying on freshly cut June grass which was sharp and crunched under your feet. The day?s heat was emanating off of it. She could not speak. She could not say her name. She could not tell us where she lived. Her teary eyes darted around at the gathering ?big people? standing over her. Dirt stuck to where tears had dried. Her pants and underwear were around her ankles.
This innocent little girl was walking to a friend?s home half a block away. She was snatched by a teenage boy with mental problems. The boy took her into his backyard. After trying to rape the girl repeatedly (I'll spare the details), the boy became worried he would get caught because she was crying. In order to silence her, he strangled the little girl until she stopped breathing. Unbeknownst to him, she had merely passed out and had not died. The boy then discarded the girls lifeless body over the 6 foot cinder-block wall, letting it fall into a neighbors back yard. That is where I found her. In someone?s backyard, where I did not shoot an animal.
Have you ever searched for a lost, missing or abducted child? I have, sometimes several times a month. Have you ever seen a dead child? It is sickening. Have you ever seen what terrible things other humans are capable of doing to children? It is terrifying.
I respect the ##### out of the Forth Amendment. I also love my dog as one of my children. The poor traumatized dog owner whose dog was shot keeps spouting ?Probable Cause? in his video. Please, from a Constitution loving lawman of the people, understand ?Exigent Circumstances? and ?Scope of Search?. I'm all about having PC to enter your yard to search for evidence of a crime. But, more urgent than a ?reasonable expectation of privacy?, are the preservation of life and the safety of our smallest and most defenseless citizens.
Geitz was a beautiful animal. The SLCPD officer who took the dog?s life is a good hearted, honest officer. This officer did not enter that yard, gun drawn and seeking to kill. I assume that he entered the yard as I have done hundreds of times, with gnawing anxiety dreading you may actually be the one to find what everyone fears, and are relieved when you don't. As far as shooting the dog, I was not there and I do not know all the facts. All I can say is that it sucks that it happened.
I am sad for the dog and the dog?s family. I am sad for the officer and his family, and all the death threats and ill will they have received. I am sad for society and at what we have become. Law Enforcement is not a perfect science, yet we are expected to be right- all the time. Split second decisions can be armchair quarterbacked all day long. Split second decisions can also cost lives on both sides of the coin. There are some bad cops out there. They make the profession look bad and they endanger me. They are the exception, not the rule. No one gets more upset at bad cops than the good ones, yet in most cases we can not discuss it and must remain professional. But, bad cop behavior seems to be the only thing that is news worthy. And cop hating is the cool thing to do.
But, I guess it is our job to be shot, hit, spit on, bitten, sworn at, threatened, ran over and have no emotion over all the violence and trauma we experience. It is also so soothing to think that at any moment, someone fed up with ?those ##### pigs? may shoot me just because of the car I drive or uniform I wear. How dare me. Can there be such a thing as a good cop?
I am here to tell you that there are good cops. And they bear the emotional and physical scars of the job, with little praise or thanks. Add that to an unforgiving public full of hatred and an unrelenting media who prefers to report emotion over facts.
So, keep criticizing us. Keep calling us pigs. Keep threatening us. But please, when your car gets stolen, go find it yourself. When your house is broken into, investigate it yourself. If your child goes missing?well, please still call us. And, yes, we are just dumb enough to risk our lives to help you even though you despise us.
Why? Because it's the right thing to do. Please, take care of each other, and we will continue to strive to take care of you.
