Wounding Public Confidence in Police : Orange County deputy’s fatal shooting of colleague demands quick and full explanation

In a time of rampant gun violence, the public must be confident that at least the police are trained in using weapons properly and follow that training. That’s why the fatal shooting of an Orange County sheriff’s deputy by a field training officer is so disturbing.

The incident occurred during a Christmas Day exercise in which the shooter was conducting a demonstration of procedures for stopping a car. Incredibly, it took place not in a secure facility such as a police academy but in a movie theater parking lot. The choice of this site defies common sense, and using a loaded pistol that came to be pointed toward someone during training is worse.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has increased the confusion over this display of poor judgment through the delayed, incomplete and even inaccurate information that it has provided. It took 27 hours before the department issued its first official explanation, far longer than usual in fatal shootings. It took another day before announcing that the shooter was a training officer, and then only after reporters had learned this fact elsewhere. The department even managed to spell the victim’s name wrong at first. It also has yet to release its training guidelines and referred all questions to the county district attorney’s office; the district attorney routinely investigates officer-involved shootings in Orange County and just as routinely limits information as much as it can in those cases.

In the absence of further explanation, the public might be left to assume that Sheriff Brad Gates authorizes deputies to conduct exercises in parking lots, regardless of the likelihood for panic and trouble among people who happen to be nearby. A Los Angeles Police Department instructor said his department’s training is done at headquarters, the Police Academy or other city property. He said that using a public parking lot is “just not done.”

Universally in police work, the first rule of handling a gun is always to assume it is loaded and not to point it unless you’re prepared to shoot. Those are the same rules that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is supposed to follow.

Elected officials in communities patrolled by sheriff’s deputies are understandably upset by the shooting and have questioned the training procedures.

Gates should make a detailed public report on what happened at the Lake Forest movie theater parking lot, what his department’s training guidelines are, whether they were violated and, if so, whether the shooter will be disciplined. This kind of incident, left inadequately explained and without proper corrective action, undermines public confidence in the department.