Sickening to call school cop a coward
If you haven’t charged into gunfire, don’t judge
I am a full-time law enforcement instructor teaching basic students as well as experienced officers in advanced training programs. I used to be a sworn law enforcement officer. I have responded to shots-fired calls and have been involved in shots-fired incidents. I have walked alone at night in pursuit of drug smugglers. I have responded and assisted county and state police officers on emergency calls ranging from highspeed pursuits with violent felons, to burglaries and assaults in progress, to violent domestic assaults. On some of these calls, I was by myself and the first on the scene. I have attended multiple active shooter training programs. Luckily, I have never needed to fire my pistol or long arm at another human being. There is my career disclaimer.
I write this amid reports that the school resource officer in Parkland, Fla., failed to immediately enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and engage the shooter or shooters. He reportedly stayed outside for four minutes. And now there are reports that up to four deputies were there and did not enter immediately.
A verse comes to mind: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
For all of the news commentators and politicians and law enforcement officers talking about this, do you have similar experiences? For all who are openly criticizing this deputy and calling him a “coward,” have you made the split-second decision, alone, to enter a school with only a pistol to confront an active shooter or shooters with rifles?
Did you learn like I did, and teach trainees like I do, that you never go into a rifle fight with a pistol, only with equal or superior weaponry when possible? This is the opposite of what we teach for an active shooter situation. Under current curriculum, we go in immediately to neutralize the threat and minimize the loss of innocent life.
To so easily refer to this man as a coward is sickening, and those who do should be condemned in the strongest terms. Maybe we should change the famous verse to, “Let him who has nev- er been shot at criticize those making $40,000 a year who also choose not to be shot at.”
I ask all of these “courageous” critics: Do you know how you would react when the rounds start flying near you? Have you been in a building while real shots are being fired at you? I have not, so please fill me in. Do you know how that incredible sound affects your brain and your body? Have you been trained to understand the physiological effects on the human body during and after a shooting incident? Have you felt your heart pound out of your chest while someone is killing people around you, with a weapon that you can’t possibly match in fire power?
Of course, the answer to all of these questions is no. And to those officers who speak as if they wouldn’t hesitate in a similar situation, and so flippantly dismiss this man’s actions, you better have the applicable warrior credentials.
I’d like to think that I would have radioed for assistance, unholstered my pistol, and charged in like the gladiator I think I am. I know how I responded in my previous calls, and I’m proud of my actions. I’ve seen other colleagues freeze under extreme stress and be unable to perform. You don’t know until you are in that position, and the job isn’t for everyone. Once you find that out, and hopefully you do before a mass shooting at a school, you should resign.
Cops are like you; they are just people. We make mistakes every day, but we also take more risks than most of you choose to on a daily basis, in defense of your safety. Often, we still end up charging in as the post-Columbine training teaches us.
Just like all of these children and teachers had families, so did this deputy. Let him live with his decision without hearing about it from the unqualified and spineless peanut gallery. If you’ve got such a problem with his actions and know that you would do better, we are actively looking for recruits to risk their lives on behalf of others each day, all for a lower middle-class wage.
Tim Vogt, a former Border Patrol agent, is a full-time instructor at a law enforcement training academy. The views expressed here are his own and not those of any government agency.