Big excitement in Upper Falls this afternoon though details are pretty sketchy so far. According to a Newton Patch report, “SWAT teams descended on Newton Thursday afternoon after a knife-wielding man reportedly barricaded himself inside a building. Police said the incident happened at Elliot Street at Mechanic Street.“
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
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Sorry, Jerry…I looked and it wasn’t up on Village 14. Scooped! Hope it ends peacefully and non-violently.
This update just came from the Mayor’s office:
Let’s hope and pray for everyone’s safety and a speedy resolution.
I just took a walk down there. As I arrived a policeman came up to give an update to the assembled reporters. The man in question is now on the front lawn talking to a police negotiator. It sounds like they believe that it all will be resolved soon.
Sounds like an unfortunate man with some mental issues rather than a criminal situation
These guys were right outside our house, and the police said that we couldn’t come out- not even on our own porch (when I did I got yelled at). At the same time though, their was a huge crowd of people right across the street. S.W.A.T vehicles, police cars, and ambulances lined the street, no one was allowed to go anywhere. Even saw a Homeland Security vehicle. Seemed a bit over-reactive to me.
Good news:
I fixed the link.
Reading the account from Boston Globe and looking at the level of law enforcement assets on the street, is it any wonder there was a three hour standoff?
When and why did America start to use military style SWAT to handle a young person threatening to harm himself with a steak knife? I feel for this family and hope police don’t release names/addresses.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/09/newton-police-warn-traffic-tieups-due-police-incident/rLHSZTjrKdlniEx1TPErzO/story.html
I always want to give police the benefit of the doubt–particularly the Newton police. But this level of response to a non-hostage situation seems like a dangerous overreaction. It’s reflective of the militarization of law enforcement that we’ve seen in other parts of the country. I think it’s imperative that elected officials monitor and evaluate the appropriateness of this type of police response.
I did like my neighbor’s speculation about the root cause of the incident – “I think this guy with a knife was sent “over the edge” by the incessant jackhammering taking place on Eliot that is driving nearby residents nuts :-)”.
If that’s the case, we’re in for a lot more trouble around here. There’s construction going on everywhere in this neighborhood.
@Mike Striar – I agree. The response and the hardware on scene sure seemed a bit over-the-top. The good news though is that the police seemed to handle the situation quietly and patiently. The biggest problem all that equipment on-scene can lead to is the temptation to use it. There was none of that today though from the Newton police.
I couldn’t agree more with Mike Striar and the only comforting fact is that this is the ever cool and professional Newton Police force, and not the group of clowns in Ferguson, Mo. The over militarization of our civilian police disturbs me and many other people I know. It first hit me while I was looking at a televised news broadcast from Watertown during the hunt for the two Marathon bombers. A young reporter from one of the local TV stations was interviewing some swat team types from the Henniker, New Hampshire Police Force who were driving something that looked something like a cross between a small tank and an armored car. The young reporter commented that the vehicle was “cool” and “awesome”, but my thought was “Why the Hell does Henniker, New Hampshire need a tank”.
I’m glad more people are waking up to this. The issue is really far-reaching, however. First, I fully support police having what they need. I think rifles, level IV body armor and plates, and the occasional armored vehicle (note, not military surplus tanks/APCs/Humvees, armored vans is what I am thinking) are fine.
The bigger problem is the way in which they are used. A hostage situation, sure. A man hunt… OK, to a degree. The war on drugs? A little googling shows how many are killed both on the LE and civilian side over this modern day prohibition.
The other issue is the general overuse of this equipment, some of which is completely asinine. Half the time it looks like the police are trying to put on some show of force. Do we need state troopers walking around in camouflage during big events. Keep a rifle close by in the car, or have a team standing by somewhere out of site. This “I’m bigger than you” image needs to go away. Walking around in camouflage, driving armored humvees around, etc, is inexcusable.
Unfortunately I think Watertown showed us that people will happy role over and be ordered around “for their safety.”
http://jimbovard.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/watertown-gun-aimed-at-photogrphaer-923495_10200611106256641_1972215990_n.jpg
This picture is inexcusable. Over 6 years as a Marine Corps infantryman, a combat deployment to Afghanistan, and 4 years of civilian experience as a firearms instructor and experience in the firearms industry and I’ll be damned if some yahoo cop is point a rifle through the window of my house at my family. Out of an up-armored humvee no less. All it takes is googling “Watertown Manhunt” to realize what type of problem we have. It’s a MIRACLE nobody was killed by accident.
Most cops are great well meaning guys, a lot of my close friends are LE, but the civilian powers that be need to make sure police in general are not acting like this. It’s inevitable that this country will experience terrorist attacks going in to the future. If this is the expected response going forward, then I guess they already won.
Mike
Never thought I would ever be in a position to say I agree with Mike (not Striar) but I do agree 100% with him as well as Bob Burke. The Watertown manoeuvres took me back to Northern Ireland under the dark days of the Thatcher administration. Thank you Newton Police Officers for your diplomacy and resolution of the situation. Please take down the patient’s address, Newton Police and Village 14. It serves no useful purpose here.
I guess you wouldn’t agree with me that women should have the right to choose, people should be able to marry whoever they want, and the government shouldn’t be tapping your phones either. I may not want you touching my AR15 and 30 round magazines (unless of course you want to learn how to shoot it), but I also don’t want you telling Jim and Bob they can’t get married.
The bigger issue remains that the majority of people seem to be fine with it. I was told by one friend that “I wouldn’t understand what it was like and I would have been happy to let the police search my home.” Don’t get me wrong, if I came home and my door was kicked in I’d be happy to call the police to have them take a look around. That is quite different than allowing them to rip through my house and escort me and my family out at gun-point because they think someone came in despite my having been home all day.
Another note on scary police tactics, you guys should all take a look at Civil Asset Forfeiture. It’s been features lately on the Daily show and John Oliver, it’s some pretty scary stuff.
Mike
@Marie. It’s funny you mention Northern Ireland and the troubles when Maggie Thatcher launched her clueless and counterproductive enforcement action there. The scenes from so many places over here have brought back memories of shots from Derry and Belfast. Sad.
What Mike (not Striar) said. I didn’t know much about Civil Asset Forfeiture until I saw the eye opening piece on John Oliver. I particularly didn’t know it was done on MA. Two things, that guy testifying about why LE does it and the stories from people who have had their money/assets taken, made me realize something needs to be done to get rid of that law.
The display in Newton was rudiculous. So happy everyone stayed calm.
I remember the photo from Watertown and the interview with the person recording the scene who had the gun aimed at him at the time. It was horrifying then too. The military/federal government making the above things, surplus, or otherwise, available for purchase from civilian LE only creates an atmosphere in which some LEOs believe they need it and know when and how to use it (without military training) and percipitates a fear and distrust of government in those who didn’t feel that way before.
There is a small town in Vermont that bought a tank. When asked why said the fallback answer, because we could.
I have a couple major problems with these surplus procurement programs. First, certain items simply put have no business in the hands of police. First, as was mentioned, some require specialized training. More importantly, however, regardless of the training, some items are simply not needed by law enforcement. I can think of no instance where an LE agency should have fully-automatic weapons.
The other issue I have is that there are tons of guard, reserve, and regular military units who need equipment. I know my reserve unit had multiple deadlined humvees, to the point where we had to rotate platoons through the working vehicles during certain training excercises. We used literally these exact same Humvees: http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIO2OZ0CQAA42hx.jpg
They have no business having more than ONE armored vehicle. Any large scale operation that would require multiple GUN TRUCKS would be repelling an invasion, in which case the real armed forces would get involved. I could go on and on
Again I don’t mean to seem like a cop hater, or one who thinks that cops should be ill-equipped. The decision to not give BPD rifles was a terrible one in my opinion, though ironically it was a result of the police-departments own anti-gun propaganda scaring the politicians. There are certainly certain items and training that should be available to all LE, but there is a line, and it’s been crossed so far long ago that it has had a transformative effect on many police agencies.
@Bob Burke – Many years ago, my wife Marie made a kids feature film called “End of the World Man” (in US it was called “Bulldozer Brigade”) shot it Belfast during the “Troubles”. It was the story of some kids trying to stop the glen that they play in from being turned into a parking lot. The story could have been set anywhere but what made the film sort of startling was that this kids tale played out with a virtual police state as the background.
While the kids are having adventures, getting into trouble, etc there’s camouflaged soldiers with machine guns running through their back yards, tanks on the streets, checkpoints everywhere and the kids are pretty much oblivious to all that – too busy doing their kid stuff and that’s just the world they live in.
From my short time living in Belfast it was startling how quickly you can acclimate to the most intrusive police state apparatus in your day to day life.
I do think it’s important for people to continually question each incremental increase in our security apparatus and procedures. Each little step tends to be easy to add and hard to get rid of once people adjust to it – just look what security procedures everyone now takes for granted at airports these days.
@Bob Burke,
While it’s somewhat comforting that our Newton Police force remained, as you say, “ever cool and professional,” the mere sight of this over-reaction in armament could, in other circumstances, provoke a crazy, not-cool, escalated response from whomever is in their sights. And the image of this mobilization in this current case could inspire, subliminally or directly, a more dangerous, theatrical stand-off in the future by someone who is really into military confrontations. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know the specifics of this case, but if the equipment and armament in this photo were deployed in response to one person barricading himself in a building, armed with a knife, then I think an external review would be called for.
We need more police bikes. It’s not a joke – it builds community trust, demonstrates leadership on responsible and safe biking practices, serves as role models for our kids, and is in fact the most coveted patrol assignment in jurisdictions that use them as part of the overall mix.
I hoping tomorrow’s Globe or Weds Tab will include a follow-up on this one. Is it now going to be commonplace for military-style presence in Newton neighborhoods on occasion? Could we see this happen at a school next??
Assuming there was a very serious threat made or perceived, why didn’t the SWAT get called back when it seemed things could have been handled by a few police and an EMT? If mental illness was at play here (I don’t know), the presence of that many armed officers could trigger a worse case scenario (panic, weapons used, innocent people hurt).
Newton’d PD is a fine group but it’s unsettling that whenever there is some question about practices arises, we never hear from the Chief. Why doesn’t the press try to get statements from the top?