Cincinnati Police Say 'Hands Are Tied'
Story by channelcincinnati.com



Cincinnati police say they want to take care of the "bad guys," but they say they are not getting the support they need from city leaders to do their job.

Kathy Harrell, president of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police lodge, said police officers feel that their "hands are tied" from aggressively enforcing the law.

"There's a frustration by all officers that are active and assigned to Cincinnati Police Department," said Harrell.

Harrell cited an August undercover drug bust involving Cincinnati police officer Tom Rackley as a main source of that frustration.

Video of the incident is posted on a law enforcement Web site .

Rackley received a three-day suspension from the force and was placed on desk duty for using a Taser gun on a suspect.

"A lot of officers are upset by that outcome," said Harrell.

The cruiser camera video shows Rackley using a Taser gun on a man who was suspected of selling crack cocaine to a confidential informant.

The video shows the man getting out of his car with his hands in the air. The man then puts his hands down and turns toward the car.

"There's an officer yelling 'gun, gun'," said Harrell.

The video then shows Rackley use a Taser gun on the man.

"There was a gun recovered in the vehicle in which it appears he was going for," said Harrell.

Harrell said even though a gun was recovered, Rackley was suspended for using his Taser gun.

"The Cincinnati police officers were given that Taser to be able to use that Taser," said Harrell." "Now, they use the Taser, and they're put on desk duty."

In a posting to the law enforcement Web site, Rackley stands by his actions.

"If I had to make the same split-second decision with the information that I had at the time -- my training, my experience and my understanding of the procedures that I am bound by -- I would have tased the subject again without hesitation," Rackley wrote.

There are hundreds of other postings, many of them anonymous, that support Rackley.

One poster wrote, "It's an example of the routine second-guessing that aggressive, proactive police officers in our department face."

Another poster said, "This is wrong. It is time the good police officers are allowed to do their job without being punished."

Another poster wrote, "What part of a drug dealer with a 45 doesn't the brass understand?"

Harrell said she hopes a new mayor and a new city council will respond to the frustrations of Cincinnati police officers.

"Hopefully, officers will feel that they're not as handcuffed, and that they are going to be backed and not second-guessed," said Harrell.

WTF? Drug dealer starts to go back into the car for a weapon, the cops saves his life by TASERing him rather than shooting him, and they suspend the cop for 3-days!?

Cincinnati has a race relations problem.
Worse than most other big cities.
There have been mini riots in recent past years.
I bet the cop was white and the perp was black.
That would explain the PC punishment.

Hell, just shoot 'em, it will be cheaper in the end anyway.

"There was a gun recovered in the vehicle in which it appears he was going for," said Harrell.

The officer should be punished for not using enough force!  Instead, in the liberal world where right is wrong and black is white, he's punished for the opposite.

It's such a terrible job that we wonder why all the good cops leave and we're left with mostly thugs.  It's not the cop's fault.  Liberal local politicians are at fault for driving away the good ones with idiotic actions like this.z

Quoted: "There was a gun recovered in the vehicle in which it appears he was going for," said Harrell. The officer should be punished for not using enough force!

Yep. In fact i have pressured my employer to stop giving awards to officers for "restraint" that is really bad tactics and improper equipment selection/use.  Those kind of awards get people killed.  new guys remember someone getting a medal for disarming a knifer with a wrist lock or baton, so they try it themselves and get stabbed/killed.  

The proper response is a written reprimand for the officer and remedial force options training.

Quoted: Hell, just shoot 'em, it will be cheaper in the end anyway.

+1  

Now they have to find room for the perp in the jailhouse.  They will have to put him on trial; feed him 3 squares a day.

After all of the trouble and expense, he will be back on the street in few months.

Quoted: Quoted: Hell, just shoot 'em, it will be cheaper in the end anyway. +1   Now they have to find room for the perp in the jailhouse.  They will have to put him on trial; feed him 3 squares a day. After all of the trouble and expense, he will be back on the street in few months.

Months?  Days or weeks is more likely.

The Gov of Illinois signed a law mid-2005 (that came into effect Jan 1, 2006) that requires you to meet firearms sales qualifications to buy a Taser or stun-gun. That means it now requires an Illinois Firearm Owner's ID, and an instant police check.
,,,,
Illinois already had a law for some years now that said that carrying a taser or stun-gun concealed was carrying a "lethal weapon", and of course doing so was prohibited.
,,,,,
Now if you weren't a total idiot, you would suppose that if one wanted less bloodshed in the streets, one might make it easier to allow people to buy any weapon that was less lethal than a firearm is.
But not in Rod's world.
He has now applied all the state restrictions of firearms onto tasers and stun guns.
~

There’s something missing here.

I can’t imagine even a marginally competent supervisor saying a bad guy should be allowed to grab a firearm and shoot an officer.

What's that I'm told all the time?

Oh yeah, the press doesn't have the whole story. We should wait for more details.

Quoted: The Gov of Illinois signed a law mid-2005 (that came into effect Jan 1, 2006) that requires you to meet firearms sales qualifications to buy a Taser or stun-gun. That means it now requires an Illinois Firearm Owner's ID, and an instant police check. ,,,, Illinois already had a law for some years now that said that carrying a taser or stun-gun concealed was carrying a "lethal weapon", and of course doing so was prohibited. ,,,,, Now if you weren't a total idiot, you would suppose that if one wanted less bloodshed in the streets, one might make it easier to allow people to buy any weapon that was less lethal than a firearm is. But not in Rod's world. He has now applied all the state restrictions of firearms onto tasers and stun guns. ~

WTF?

The cop should've hit the perp two handed, taser in one and pistol in the other, John Woo style. That's a man-stopping combo right there: bleeding and convulsing.