Letter: Why is all the focus on GPD instead of holding suspects accountable when they run?
Accountability, transparency, equity, fairness, Commissioner Walker?!
Your quote on how dogs have been used in the past on African American communities is why our country cannot move forward in a positive direction. I believe most of us are aware there are still race issues. However, race is continually used as an instrument to deflect what the real crime is, and it becomes about race. Criminals are criminals, period.
What happened to Terrell Bradley, was his fault and only his fault. He is a criminal, there’s no getting away from that. He assaulted a police officer, chose to flee because he had a loaded weapon and drugs in the car. He hid for 45 minutes while police were advising him to come out, not knowing if he had another weapon. I’m not sure what people who oppose the K-9 unit expect from situations like this. This man and people of all races and genders are a danger to our police officers that have to deal with them on a regular basis and risk their lives, and these criminals that choose to not follow an officer’s direction are a danger to our community.
2 videos from 2 other states… what is this proving? The statistics presented in the meeting show GPD is well below the average in bite ratio. The dogs are trained to persuade non-compliant individuals, and sometimes that resolves in a bite because they are not following instructions.
Where has Bradley been made accountable? He was very transparent that he was not going to be cooperative, and so how can you have equity or fairness with an individual that is not being law abiding?! I can say that the video I watched of this incident appeared to be all of these things from the GPD side– accountable, transparent, and fair–minus a few officers later in the video who have been reprimanded.
Our community and other communities all over the country are suffering from violent crimes. Unfortunately, the more violent crimes, it seems the criminals are being held less accountable, hence their feeling of being able to get away with and do whatever they want. We are going to end up with a community/country that will not be protected by police officers but will be threatened and terrified by the criminals.
Chief Lonnie Scott, you are genuine man with much integrity, much respect for you.
Christine Smith
Archer, FL
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Spot on!
Thank you, Christine, for a voice of sanity in this upside down world.
Well said!
Committing some crimes and running away from the police isn’t exactly the same thing as running away from the slave master to make it to the Underground Railroad. Let’s get real. Stop committing crimes and then you won’t have to run from the police. As a side note, certain groups of people seem to have a stronger fear of dogs. I’m guessing Commissioner Duncan-Walker would cross the street and maybe even start walking the other way if she saw someone walking a big Rottweiler. I say this as someone who has walked menacing-looking dogs and seen various reactions.
It is CRUEL to use Dogs to hunt criminals and junkies! They could become infected with AIDS, hepatitis, fentanyl, or get fleas, or just stabbed by a needle! We should not treat our dogs this way!
You’re so right. We should use our actual human police to get up close and personal with aggressive, desperate lowlifes from the sewer you just described. What is wrong with you?
Great letter! But….the lefties either were born without logic or choose to ignore logic. Also, people in these crime ridden neighborhoods are partially responsible because they won’t help the police and seem to think this behavior is acceptable. Put a fence around their community and keep them from stealing and hurting those who choose to obey the laws.
Thank you and well said!
Amen. Only in Wokeville is the world upside down. Not in the rural towns or other Fla. cities.
Excellent!
Criminals, and would be criminals (kids, teens, young adults) need to realize that their actions have consequences!
Back our police force (weed out the chaff as needed)!
Christine Smith, you expressed very well what many of us have thought since the facts were made known about this case.
All Mr. Bradley had to do was surrender to the GPD officers at any time before the dog but him, and he would be fine now. He might have spent the rest of the night in jail, but I’m not even sure of that, these days… For him to think attempting to flee from law enforcement officers, and then to think he would somehow be able to evade and wait out a trained K-9 unit dog was stupid. Sometimes when we do stupid things, we pay a price, and occasionally, it’s a very heavy price.
Hopefully, out city commission isn’t so stupid that they disband the K-9 unit and further hamstring those few courageous men and women who are still willing to work as police officers in our city, while knowing that local government does not appreciate them out have their backs.
We the people need to let our city commissioners know that we appreciate the efforts of our law enforcement officers to keep the law abiding citizens of our community safe, and we want them to continue to have the important tool of well trained K-9 units at their disposal.
Hopefully, electing a new city commissioner from my district who has a law enforcement background will help bring some sanity to our new city commission, and hopefully the example of what happened to Mr Bradley will be a deterrent to other criminals who are foolish enough to think that attempting to escape from law enforcement might be a better solution than taking their chances with our current soft on crime local criminal justice system.
And maybe if more of us find the courage, like Christine Smith did, to speak the truth in public, this divisive woke cancel culture will finally become irrelevant and we can go back to pursuing the dream of a culture where it is the content of your character that is important, and not the color of your skin…
Very well said ma’am. Unfortunately, the liberals and Socialists in this community only read the agenda and propaganda put out by the likes of the Gainesville Sun, Yahoo News, AP and other “mainstream media.”
Even while complaining about high GRU rates and taxes, they tolerate the exiting commissioners spending their tax money on vacation trips to the Middle East.
They also elected one of the main causes of their high taxes and electricity as Mayor, for cripes sakes.
Absolutely outstanding letter Christine Smith, you are 100% correct!! 👏
Democrats still control law enforcement in Alachua county. They want to defund police..So investigating them every 2 minutes makes the Cops want to Quit and Move to a safer Republican run County where they get the support they need ..
Only in Gainesville are the innocent guilty, but the guilty are innocent.
In case you haven’t noticed, good ole Alachua county is about as liberal as it gets. Thus the criminal element is protected by the police, prosecutors and courts. Look at the history, it’s there.
After being told by a police officer how to help a person in need, I was called a liar by a different police officer, for doing what I did. I was even working with a lawyer at the time. I told the officer this information and he told me I was lying. He arrested me anyway. Went to jail for 9 days. The moment my appointed lawyer came to see me she said I should not be there and would be out that afternoon. I was. The judge had set my bail at $300,000.00. I have seen murderers with less of a bail. I was helping someone who had been being taken advantage of by their POA. An elderly person that had no family to help her. The officer told me he had been talking to the police officer I was working with “all day”. That was a lie. My husband called the police officer who was helping us after I was arrested and the department said he was on vacation that day. So he was the liar. The arresting police officer had been fired by GPD for lying in the past but he had been hired by High Springs PD. What an experience. I had never been arrested in my life nor had I even had a traffic ticket at 55 years old. Jail is not a place you want to go. Especially when you are innocent. You ARE guilty until PROVEN innocent.
There is a better option. It is the original training for military and police dogs. It is called Shutzhund. It is a bit more expensive than the K9 training of today, but it is far superior and was the original training for all working military or police dogs.
Watch some videos on YouTube and see what a properly trained dog could and should do.
No one is perfect, whether that be human or canine, however, going for the face or throat is never acceptable unless it is the only option to save the life of the officer or the K9. And that goes for human or canine.
I would not want to be a LEO in this culture, tbh. I appreciate what you do. Like I said before, there are exceptions to every rule and some bad seeds in the bunch, but for the most part, they are good people trying to protect and serve their communities and get shat upon more than they’re appreciated.
That’s my $0.02.
Defiance is the new entitlement.
GPD is responsible for taking lives as well. Good cops vs bad cops. We all make mistakes. After receiving a felony charge for changing a date on a prescription, (not receiving the medication) and being labeled a Danger to Society by DCF, this person became very depressed that their life had ended. He had gone to college and earned a four-year degree with honors. Straight out of college he was hired for three different positions with the state. They said should be no problem the felony. Until DCF said he was a danger to society. For changing a date on a legitimate prescription. He became very depressed and wanted to take his life. It was over. He goes out to a wooded area where cops are called to assist. They talk him down and reassure him time after time by one of the homicide cops that he WILL NOT be arrested, they will get him help. There is an act called a BAKER ACT, where when someone talks about killing themselves or others, they are to be BAKER ACTED. Where they go to a hospital and receive help for their feelings. He received help all right. They took him straight to jail. They put him in a Pod with people that are mentally ill, where they do not receive their medications. When you go to jail you do not receive your medications that you have been on for years. Those stop no matter what you say. He was locked in a tiny cell with murderers. 23/7. The conditions in this Pod are beyond horrific. So you have a man that wanted to take his OWN life, he hurt no one but himself, and he is punished to the max. For three months. He was on track to go to prison for minimum 5 years, but by the grace of GOD, we were able to get him out. So now he has two felonies and a life sentence for changing a date on a prescription. No attorney in this state is able to help him in this situation. Try making any sense of that situation. In ALL of this, he only hurt HIMSELF, but he is treated as if he committed murder.
I support the police. But these dogs are not trained to bite people in the head area. In addition the handler did not give verbal commands to release and had to use the breaker bar. The videos speak for themselves. There was also evidence presented that this dog has been aggressive in the past. All charges against Mr. Bradley were dropped. He will sue. Insurance will settle with him and raise their rates. I am NOT against police use of K-9s but this specific dog needs to be retired and the police handler removed from the K-9 division. This is NOT a liberal vs conservative issue, it is a human rights issue.
The charges have not been dropped.