Las Vegas officers dismayed, defensive about latest shooting

originally by: ReviewJournal.com
published: 16th December 2011

Las Vegas cops are on the defensive. In the past two weeks, they’ve endured a critical Review-Journal investigation of officer-involved shootings, one of the most troubling shootings in Metropolitan Police Department history and calls by civil rights groups for a federal investigation.

“The cops feel like they’re under attack,” one veteran supervisor said. “They feel like they’re being attacked by the media. They feel like they’re being attacked by the ACLU and NAACP.”

The Review-Journal spoke with several current officers to gauge how the confluence of negative events and publicity is playing out within the organization. They agreed to speak only if their names were not used.

They talked about feeling like an agency under siege, the specter of looming federal oversight and the problematic shooting that brought it all to a head.

Monday’s shooting of Stanley Gibson left many officers second-guessing the decisions and tactics that ended with the death of the disabled Gulf War veteran.

Gibson, 43, was off his anti-anxiety medication and stricken with paranoia as he tried to find his new apartment Sunday night. In his confusion he ended up at an apartment complex a few blocks away, prompting suspicious residents to call police about a prowler.

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Posted by Kushi Amlak-Sakhu on 22/12/2011. Filed under Police Brutality & Killings,Police Corruption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry