The real question is why were the police unable to do what should have been so easy to ascertain. Was it complete incompetence, or was it being so hamstrung by leftist policies of political correctness? I mean, when the sheriff is saying there's a fine line, when in this case the line was strikingly bold, something is very wrong. I know, we all know one thing for certain. If anyone makes a video saying they're sick of radical Islam and they're going to shoot up a Mosque, they will get much more than a "wellness check". So we a left to conclude that it is the group being threatened which is the trigger to do something, rather than the threat itself. That is the very premise of political correctness.
How the hell did the leftist or the right wing fail to prevent the problem ? This is another example of the radical habit of turning every issue into a left/right problem. It's a problem, find a solution and stop playing the blame game.
I suspect equal amounts of both. Wasn't he also the son of a big name in Hollywood? No doubt the police were aware of that and didn't want step on toes they should have stepped on.
Easy answer. Who is it, the left or the right, that is concerned about violating the rights of criminals? It is the left! Who is it, the left or the right, which advocates policies that have police hamstrung as to who they can question and who they can't? It is the left. Who is it, the left or the right, that go flat out crazy when they see ONE white guy with a LEGAL gun at some Tea Party rally, but shrug their shoulders when hundreds of black thugs are gunning down hundreds of innocent people in the inner cities? It is the left. Find a solution? That's easy. For a start we can start using some common fucking sense. When a clearly mentally ill person makes threats, the family of that person then warn police and show them evidence of that threat, we might want to do more than a god damn wellness check before giving the all clear sign.
Too much coffee today Captain ? Focus Captain, how exactly did the "leftist" hamper the police in this case? Are you sure it was a "leftist" and not a free speech constitutionalist that helped write the police procedure? There have been people on this site, righties, who have threatened others, did you call out for them to be arrested and stopped before they harm someone, did you do anything. Of course not that would require stepping out of the right wing circle jerk you guys have and would require some honesty. Again the reasonable answer is we really don't have a method or available resources to handle the mental illness problem in America. And even the experts in the field of treating mental illness don't have an answer. This is one of those tough problems where there will not be a perfect solution but we can improve.
You know better than this. Clearly there is a difference between someone ranting on a message board and someone making the type threats this kid did. Addressing the mental illness issue is one problem, but not the whole problem, especially in this particular case. The police were alerted. Why in the world did they not search the kids place? Why did they not bring him in for questioning? Why did he not get a mandatory psych exam? Why was he not put under some type of observation? The reason is, the cops were afraid of crossing some not so imaginary PC line, so they did nothing.
More investigation and info coming out has me leaning towards gross incompetence on the part of the police. Some excerpts below. LOS ANGELES (AP) â Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies who checked on Elliot Rodger three weeks before he killed six college students were aware he had posted disturbing videos but never viewed them before or after determining he was not a threat to himself or others, the department disclosed Thursday. The guns he used in the killings last Friday were stashed inside his apartment at the time, but police never searched the residence or conducted a check to determine if he owned firearms because they didn't consider him a threat. According to the statement from the sheriff's office, four deputies, a police officer and a dispatcher in training were sent to Rodger's apartment after being informed by the county's mental health hotline that Rodger's therapist and mother were concerned about videos he posted online. The visit lasted about 10 minutes, during which officers found him shy and polite. The deputies questioned him about the videos. Rodger told them he was having trouble fitting in socially and the videos were "merely a way of expressing himself." Like many other states, California has a law intended to identify and confine dangerously unstable people before they can do harm. It allows authorities to hold people in a mental hospital for up to 72 hours for observation. Because the deputies concluded Rodger was not a threat to himself or others, they never viewed the videos, searched his apartment or conducted a check to determine if he owned firearms, the statement said. Rick Wall, a retired Los Angeles police captain who created the agency's procedures for responding to people with mental problems, said that law enforcement officers need to look at all the available evidence when conducting investigations. "Not that the final conclusion that they made on that day would have been any different, but something could have changed," he said. The visit with Rodger was brief, but Wall said the amount of time they spent talking to his mother was critical in determining why she was concerned about him, while gathering details of his medical history and past behavior. That information isn't known. "That's going to be the telling piece and where you're going to get the breakdown on the guy's story," Wall said. "Talking to somebody for 10 minutes, you may or may not get the ability to conduct a proper evaluation." Well no shit, a 10 minute talk at the kitchen table might not be enough. One might think that these dumbasses should have viewed the video BEFORE going to see the guy. Every single cop involved in this should be brought up on charges of criminal negligence. These idiots can show up with a Swat Team decked out in military garb, have a armored vehicle at hand, all for a nuisance call, but this? This they just can't handle. Un fucking believable.
Why isn't anyone on the left talking about legislation to control silver hammers? <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MfnpZhJ8exQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>