2:02 am—Shooting erupts at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

2:09 am – Pulse pastes a warning on Facebook.

2:22 am – Shooter calls 911.

5:00 am – Orlando SWAT made entry into the Pulse nightclub.

Three hours passed from the time the Omar Mateen pulled the trigger for the first time until police stormed the building to end the situation. During that time period 49 people were killed and 53 were wounded. Many have questioned why police waited so long to engage the shooter.

After all, studies have shown that in a typical mass-casualty shooting, one person is killed every 15 seconds, and we all know that terrorists aren’t likely to let hostages live. And when terrorist do enter into negotiations, it’s merely an attempt to prolong the situation in order to prolong their time before the media.

Some wonder why this was not treated as all other active shooter scenarios where first-responding police officers are trained to not wait and to rush toward the gunfire to hopefully save lives.

So why did police wait so long? Should they have entered the club sooner?

First, it’s important to understand that no two incidents are the same. The motivation behind each situation varies. Surroundings also play a part in how law enforcements reacts to a given scenario.

In Orlando, police knew a shooting situation was underway, yes, but what set this event apart from a typical active shooting situation (it’s a shame that we’ve seen enough active shooting situations that there is now a “typical”) is that the shooter,  Omar Mateen, was in contact with the media and the police throughout, and what he was telling people was that he had hostages, he was armed with explosives, and that he was loyal to ISIS.

He was a terrorist and ISIS has taken credit for his actions.

During the incident, Mateen posted several comments to social media relating to ISIS and his hatred for the U.S., such as …

“You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state vengeance.”

And …

Mateen’s Facebook posts and comments to police and the news media were likely factors in the decision-making process of the police on the scene.

Initially police treated the event as a hostage situation. Protocol typically (there’s that word again) suggests that unless people are being killed officers should slow things down and try to communicate with the suspect. In Orlando, obviously the shooting had stopped, at least for a while, so police settled into “standoff” mode. This stance is often necessary because police do not know what’s going on inside and it’s possible the suspect is ready and waiting for police to rush in without any sort of planned course of action.

Besides, a threat of explosives inside the building would be more than enough cause for police to slow things down to give them time to bring in specialized equipment and personnel.

By the way, the equipment needed for these extremely dangerous situations is the very equipment the federal government has taken away from police. But that’s a topic for another day.

Mateen told police that he’d strapped bombs to four hostages and was placing them in the four corners of the building. Calls from people inside the club confirmed that Mateen was talking about the bombs and that he was preparing to put on an explosive vest.

During the three hours, Mateen made at least 16 phone calls.

So, when the armored vehicle arrived along with the SWAT unit, police crashed into the building where they found the dead and the wounded. Mateen was killed by police. When they approached him they saw a battery pack near his body along with a bag of some sort—indicators of an explosive device and detonator.

We cannot second-guess the actions of police on the scene that night because only they know what they were facing at the time, and it’s obvious there was a possibility of imminent death had they rushed into the building unprepared. Dead officers are of no help to anyone. Had there been explosives, well, the end result could have meant a number of deaths far greater than the already devastating loss of the 49 victims.

Did Orlando police make the right call when they elected to wait? Many armchair detectives and Monday morning quarterbacks say no, or yes. Others, who are experts in hostage situations and terrorism also say yes, or no. And the reason for varying responses is that there is no definitive textbook answer to the question.

Hindsight can provide better answers and ideas, of course, Unfortunately, hindsight is not available in the heat of the moment.

Omar Mateen was a terrorist, and his final word to the people of the U.S. was …

*I offer my condolences to the family and friends of those who lost loved ones in the Orlando shooting. I can’t begin to imagine your pain. I can only hope that you will find a way to move forward and find some sort of comfort now and in the coming days, months, and years.

And, as always, I offer my support and thanks to the officers and other first responders, and our military, who continue to face danger, risking their lives each and every day so that we can remain free and safe. 

*Please remember that this blog is not the place for arguments about politics, gun control, race issues, and other hot-button topics. However, I do welcome and encourage comments and discussion. We deal in facts here, not emotional responses to current events. The latter is often why I wait a couple of days before addressing some issues.

 

In the days before semi-automatics took center stage in the world of law enforcement, police officers carried revolvers as their weapons of choice. Cowboys called them six-shooters, and many modern gun enthusiasts often refer to them as wheel guns. Shooting enthusiasts love them. Even Deputy Barney Fife, one of my favorite all-time cops, carried a revolver while keeping the good folks of Mayberry safe and sound.

Why, then, if everyone loved revolvers, did police agencies make the switch from six-shooters to semi-automatics? Well, the answer is simple—law enforcement officers were often outgunned by semi-automatic-toting bad guys.

Most revolvers are capable of firing only six rounds of ammunition before needing a re-load (there are exceptions). Semi-automatics can pop off fifteen or sixteen rounds as fast as a shooter can pull the trigger. Therefore, during a gun battle officers had to reload two or three times before the crook emptied his first magazine.

Needless to say, reloading a revolver during a shootout was a problem.

Cops back in the pre-semi-auto days (me included) carried spare ammunition in rectangular leather containers called dump pouches. Dump pouches typically hold six bullets, or so, and are attached upside down to the officer’s utility belt.

To access the extra bullets, officers simply unsnapped the pouch cover and the contents “dumped” into their waiting non-gun hand. The officer then fed the individual rounds, one at a time, into the open slots in the revolver’s rotating cylinder. Needless to say, this is far easier said than done when someone is shooting in your direction.

In the photo above, Barney’s left hand rests on one of the two dump pouches on his utility belt. His index finger touches the other. The deputy-in-training also carries two dump pouches on his duty belt. Both are directly below the ticket book. Release snaps are clearly visible near the bottom of each pouch.

*Note – The thin vertical leather strap (with center snap) located to the right (your left) of the deputy-in-training’s belt buckle is called a belt keeper. Its purpose is to attach the duty belt firmly to the regular dress belt. Keepers are used to prevent the gun belt/duty belt from sliding down over the hips. In the above photo the keeper is there, but it’s obviously not used properly.

To solve the problem of slow reloading came in the form of speed loaders. Speed loaders hold six rounds of ammunition that are perfectly aligned with the bullet slots in a revolver’s cylinder. A twist of a knurled knob on the end of the speed loader releases all six rounds at once. Shooters could now easily and quickly re-load their revolvers in tense situations, even in the dark.

Revolver, speed loaders, and speed loader pouches. The pouches attach to a police officer’s duty belt.

A revolver’s cylinder is designed to swing out for reloading. The knurled button between the hammer and the wooden grip is the cylinder’s release button.

Speed loaders position rounds so they line up perfectly with the bullet slots in the cylinder.

A twist of the knob in the officer’s right hand releases all six rounds at once.

Speed loaders are a wonderful tool. However, they don’t solve all revolver woes…

There’s been much said about how killers use assault rifles and other semi-automatic weapons because of their capability to deliver a large number of rounds in a short amount of time. However, those guns are only able to fire a round when the trigger is pulled—one round for each pull of the trigger—and they’re only able to fire the number of rounds loaded into the weapon. They are NOT machine guns. I repeat, they are NOT machine guns.

But, what about revolvers (six shooters) when they’re in the hands of a trained shooter? How fast can wheel guns be fired? Well, watch closely. Don’t blink!

 

 

If you had twenty minutes to spare, what you do with those precious 1,200 seconds? That’s 1,200 seconds during the course of our very brief time on earth. A tiny sliver of time that to many people is not much more than a walk around the block.

Perhaps you’d use that time to phone a friend who’s recently received bad news. Maybe you’d hit the home gym for a bit of cardio, or read a chapter or two from a book in your to-be-read- pile.

Before continuing, I ask that you play the following video in the background as you read. The recording lasts a approximately 20 minutes, the same amount of time a young, unconscious woman endured a violent sexual assault. So please, click the PLAY button and then read on and try to imagine what the victim went through during the same amount of time.

Whatever it is that you’d choose to do during any given 20 minute time period, I’m sure it wouldn’t be to force yourself sexually on someone who’s unconscious, right? I mean, come on, what sort of person … well, I think we all know what sort of person would do such a thing. It would be someone who has no morals. A person who has no respect for others. It’s a person who is a R.A.P.I.S.T.

Where I worked as a police detective, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the law regarding sexual assault is pretty doggone clear.

§ 18.2-67.5. Attempted rape, forcible sodomy, object sexual penetration, aggravated sexual battery, and sexual battery.

A. An attempt to commit rape, forcible sodomy, or inanimate or animate object sexual penetration shall be punishable as a Class 4 felony. B. An attempt to commit aggravated sexual battery shall be a felony punishable as a Class 6 felony. C. An attempt to commit sexual battery is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

§ 18.2-67.3. Aggravated sexual battery; penalty.

A. An accused shall be guilty of aggravated sexual battery if he or she sexually abuses the complaining witness, and 1. The complaining witness is less than 13 years of age, or 2. The act is accomplished through the use of the complaining witness’s mental incapacity or physical helplessness, or 3. The offense is committed by a parent, step-parent, grandparent, or step-grandparent and the complaining witness is at least 13 but less than 18 years of age, or4. The act is accomplished against the will of the complaining witness by force, threat or intimidation, and

a. The complaining witness is at least 13 but less than 15 years of age, or

b. The accused causes serious bodily or mental injury to the complaining witness, or

c. The accused uses or threatens to use a dangerous weapon.

B. Aggravated sexual battery is a felony punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for a term of not less than one nor more than 20 years and by a fine of not more than $100,000.

As I stated, the sexual assault laws in Virginia are quite clear. Force yourself on a victim and you go to prison for not less than 1 year or up to 20 years. The Commonwealth is quite serious about the ugly and very nasty crime of rape and/or sexual assault.

A sexual assault is a crime of violence. It’s a crime that leaves victims with a lasting filth that cannot be washed away, and not just from the outer body. The act is forever etched into the minds of the victims. It, like murder, has a permanent effect. When a thief steals a wallet he could always give it back, but when a rapist steals a woman’s body and mind … it’s, well, it’s a forever crime.

But, on the opposite side of the country, in California, a former Stanford swimmer, Brock Turner, was recently convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman and subsequently received a sentence of 6 months in a county jail. He’ll most likely be released much earlier due to good behavior and/or overcrowding.

Turner committed the sexual assault behind a dumpster. He probably pulled his unconscious victim to the ground where he removed some of her clothing and then penetrated her body. He knew his actions were wrong because when discovered by two passersby he tried to flee. Thankfully, the two men chased and tackled the rapist and held him for police.

The sex was definitely not consensual. He cared nothing for the woman, obviously. Otherwise he wouldn’t have left het lying on the ground, partially nude, with pine needles and other filth sticking to her nude body and hair while he tried to escape.

This was a despicable act of violence toward another person, a person who could not speak or otherwise defend herself.

So Brock Turner was arrested, charged, and convicted.

Then the story grew even worse when Turner’s father sent a letter to the judge prior to his son’s sentencing. The message was a totally shameless attempt to paint Brock Turner as a victim instead of attacker.

The father wrote that his son is gentle and quiet, and that he’s a good athlete. He said that Brock broke down during a Christmas break, saying he didn’t like being away from home. That he fell into the drinking and partying culture at Stanford because of the Stanford culture, and that the model of upperclassmen likely played a role in his actions the night of Jan. 17/18, 2015. (the night the sexual assault occurred). He was merely trying to fit in, but couldn’t.

Then dear old dad, Dan Turner, went on to say that since the night of Jan, 17/18, 2015, Brock is so sad and depressed that he can’t bring himself to eat things such as steak or pretzels or chips. And that he’s now worried and anxious.

Next came one of the most insensitive statements I’ve ever seen (Dan Turner, speaking of the possible incarceration of Brock Turner). “This is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life. What I know as his father is that incarceration is not the appropriate punishment for Brock. He has no prior criminal history and has never been violent to anyone including his actions on the night of Jan 17th 2015.”

There is no “20 Minutes of Action” defense. Sexual Assault and Rape are not akin to the “5-second” rule where it’s okay to eat an M&M within a few seconds after it hits the floor.

Sexual assault is violent. The unwanted assault and penetration of the body by another is an act of violence.

To put Turner’s sentence in perspective, let’s do a quick comparison of the sentence Turner received for a crime of sexual violence against the sentence received for, say, possession of drugs.

Brock Turner, a first-time offender, was convicted of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.

He received a sentence of six months in jail.

A first-time offender was arrested, tried, and convicted for possession of just under 5 grams of crack cocaine. He was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison. Five grams of crack cocaine weighs the same as five packets of sweetener.

 

Brock Turner still has not shown remorse for his actions. Instead, he blames his college buddies because their drinking and partying and dancing with girls influenced him the night he assaulted the highly-intoxicated woman behind a filthy dumpster. Their fun “made him do what he did.”

By the way, the victim’s blood-alcohol content (BAC) was three times the legal limit. That would place her BAC level around .24 or .25, or so.

1. BAC = .02 – Drinkers begin to feel effects.

2. .04 = Most people begin to feel relaxed, sociable, and talkative.

3. .05 = Judgment, attention, and control are slightly impaired. Ability to drive safely is limited. Sensory-motor performance is impaired. People are less able to make rational decisions about their capabilities. They think they can drive without difficulty but probably cannot.

4.  .08 = This is legal level/limit for intoxication in some states. There is a definite impairment of muscle coordination and driving skills.

5. .10 = This is legally drunk in most states. There is a clear deterioration of reaction time and control.

6.  .12-.15 = Vomiting usually occurs, unless this level is reached slowly or a person has developed a tolerance to alcohol. Drinkers are drowsy.

Drinkers display emotional instability, loss of critical judgment, impairment of perception, memory, and comprehension.

Lack of sensor-motor coordination and impaired balance are typical. Decreased sensory responses and increased reaction times develop. The vision is significantly impaired, including limited ability to see detail, peripheral vision, and slower glare recovery.

7. .15 = This blood-alcohol level means the equivalent of 1/2 pint of whiskey is circulating in the blood stream.

8.  .18-.25 = Disoriented, confused, dizzy, and have exaggerated emotional states. Vision is disturbed, as is perception of color, form, motion, and dimensions.

Drinkers have increased pain threshold and lack of muscular coordination. They stagger or lose the ability to walk and have slurred speech. Apathy and lethargy are typical.

9. .25-.30 = Near total loss of motor functions, little response to stimuli, inability to stand or walk, vomiting, and incontinence. Drinkers may lose consciousness or fall into a stupor.

10.  .30-.50 = Complete unconsciousness, depressed or absent reflexes, subnormal body temperature, incontinence, and impairment of circulation and respiration.

Death may occur at .37% or higher.

BACs of .45% and higher are fatal to nearly all individuals.

 

Brock turner will someday “find the courage” (extreme sarcasm here) to once again enjoy a steak dinner.

I can only hope his victim will find a way to do the same.

Now, is the song still playing? Yeah, and on went the assault on Turner’s defenseless victim…

Every crime fighter and crime scene investigator works from a checklist, even if it’s an imaginary one they’ve tucked away in the corner of their mind. The wheels are in constant movement—What do I collect first? Should I take a photo of that object? Fingerprint the light switches? Collect the creepy crawling things?

Here’s a quick set of ten must-do tips for the CSI in your life.

1. Clear firearms before packaging. If the firearm is contaminated with blood and/or tissue, then mark the outside of the container with a biohazard label. No surprises for the lab tech.

 

2. Collect a sampling of all maggot sizes. But the largest ones will be the ones that normally indicate the time of death

3. If the dirt is moving, collect it. There’s a bug in there that could make your case.

4. Record the temperature at the scene. Certain insects grow at certain temperatures.

5. Don’t forget the small stuff! Paint chips, plant seeds, leaves, soil, broken glass, tiny scraps of paper, etc. Either of those items, or a combination, could play a crucial role in identifying a suspect.

6. Photograph, photograph, photograph! And then take a few more pictures. You can never have too many.

7. Take impressions of tire and tool marks. BUT, do take a photograph of the impression before you cast it in case something goes horribly wrong with the casting material.

8. Map the scene. Fortunately, this can now be done electronically. Unfortunately, not all agencies have that luxury, therefore a hand-drawn diagram will have to suffice.

9. Search, search, search, until your feet simply refuse to take another step. Then, you may want to consider crawling. Do not leave any evidence behind!

10. Don’t rush!

 

All Aboaaarrrd!!

Before we begin, let’s all stand to sing a few verses of  the Anycity Transit Authority’s brand new theme song. Leading us today is train conductor I.M. Listnin.

Is everyone ready? Oh, by the way, it’s to the tune of the theme song of the 60’s TV show Petticoat Junction. In case you’ve never heard the song…

Okay, let’s count it off!
1.2.3. And off we go…

Come ride the little train,
that is listening to your words,
it’s their function.

Forget about your rights,
it is time to submit,
it’s their function.

Lotsa ears, you bet.
Even more, when you get,
to New Jersey.

There’s a scary old thing,
called the Big Brother,
it’s their function.
Government Function.

It is run by Feds,
come and be their guests,
at the prison.
Government Function.

And that’s Agent Joe,
he’s a listening to your words,
it’s his function.
Government Function.

All right, here’s the scoop. In addition to the video recording devices we’ve all become accustomed to seeing everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, including on public transportation (buses and trains), authorities are stepping up the surveillance game by adding audio recording capabilities.

That’ right, officials are now recording your conversations. In case you didn’t catch that, I’ll repeat it. Government officials could be/are listening to your private conversations.

Those of you in New Jersey who use the light rail to commute between Camden and Trenton…yep, the audio recordings are happening right now.

Actually, New Jersey Transit is just the tip of this audio-spying thing. Maryland Transit Administration also records conversations of their riders. However, they say they rarely listen and most likely delete conversations after holding the recordings for 30 days or so. The purpose of the audio, they say, is in case they need it to investigate specific “incidents.”

Other areas where both audio and video recordings are used on public transportation include California, Virginia, Oregon, Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut, Georgia, and New Hampshire. (1)

In the state of Washington (a beautiful place, by the way), all King County Metro buses equipped with video surveillance are also equipped with audio surveillance.

The recording systems are a step above the typical recording devices in that those who listen in have the capability of filtering out background noises and to zero-in on a specific conversation. The audio and video sync together which enables the technician to watch and listen at the same time. And, all of this could be done in real time since the onboard black box transmits wirelessly to the command center.

The cost to purchase and install the audio surveillance systems is provided by grants via Homeland Security, and this stuff is not cheap. For example, it cost $1.9 million to install them on New Jersey’s Hudson-Bergen and Newark light rail trains. Another $750,000 to install them on River Line trains. (Source – NJ.com)

Add this to the growing list of ways the heroes and villains of your stories can track one another and to listen and watch their foes as they move about between the pages of your latest book.

Or, fictional hackers could alter a recording of your train-riding hero by inserting things she didn’t say, such as making it appear that she confessed to a murder she didn’t commit, or one she was “plotting” with a conspirator. How’s that for a plot twist?

(1): Source – ACLU, Washington, D.C.
Other information – NPR, and my own personal knowledge.