20/20 HINDSIGHT IN POLICE SHOOTING

It never ceases to amaze me that all the Monday morning quarterbacks
come out of the woodwork whenever there is a police shooting.

Case in point is the Sunrise SWAT team shooting of a young, alleged
drug dealer. In Michael Mayo's commentary in the Aug. 16 edition he
quotes two such quarterbacks. The first is retired Judge Eleanor
Sockett, who was quoted as saying, "What the hell were they doing with
a SWAT team?" It is evident that she never donned a SWAT uniform and
had the sworn duty to go after a drug dealer who was known to be
armed. Hopefully, she read the rest of Mr. Mayo's commentary where he
answers her question: "Given the August 2004 killing of Broward
Sheriff's Office Deputy Todd Fatta in a child pornography-warrant raid
gone bad, Sunrise's inclination to use SWAT for a suspect known to
have weapons was understandable."

Thanks, Mike, for that sobering thought.

As for the other quarterback, retired New Jersey narcotics officer
Jack Cole, he of all people should realize the dangers involved with
serving drug dealer-related warrants. Maybe the drug dealers in New
Jersey didn't carry weapons. When serving these things you normally do
it in the wee hours to try to catch the suspect(s) at home and
off-guard. You don't do it on the street, as Cole suggested, because
if the suspect is armed and the shooting starts, there will be too
many innocent civilians to worry about.

Lastly, the SWAT team members knew that the suspect had at least one
weapon, and they were serving a felony warrant. I'm sure that when
they went through that door, they were wondering if they might be
alive at the end of the ordeal. Every time a life is taken it is a
tragic event, but don't blame the police for trying to protect their
community and their lives. Before opening your mouth, wait for the
State Attorney's investigation to be finalized.

Peter K. Eckert

Retired SWAT Captain Sunrise Police Department

Plantation, FL