Readers React: San Bernardino shooting: In praise of the police response

It’s impossible to find a silver lining in a tragedy such as the one in San Bernardino on Wednesday, in which two gunmen killed 14 people at an office holiday party before the suspects were pursued and eventually killed by police. But some readers have found something to like: the police response.

Since Wednesday, nearly all the letter submissions on the shooting have debated gun control or terrorism or have lamented what the writers believe is a society sickened by gun violence. Instead of expressing outrage or sadness, a small handful of readers chose to thank law enforcement for acting decisively to prevent further deaths.

Here are some of their letters.

Culver City resident Lincoln Gable Riley lauds the police for their bravery and tactics:

I am so proud of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the San Bernardino Police Department and the Redlands Police Department. Their conduct, professionalism and discipline shined so brilliantly when faced with heavily armed shooters in what became a running battle in city streets, and though reeling from eight years of financial crisis and the near inability to keep current with equipment, they demonstrated without a shadow of a doubt their superior teamwork, selflessness and ability to rapidly overwhelm the enemy and render the public safe.

I am particularly impressed and thrilled with their total lack of indecisive moments, their high efficiency without any wasted movement and the speed with which they reconfigured themselves to confront the threat and maintain the upper hand through superior force and tactics. They are truly brothers and sisters who watch each other’s back and stand shoulder to shoulder against crime.

These officers should stand tall, for they’ve earned much respect from this action. I imagine many in police work were shocked and surprised, first at the amount of devastation the shooters created, and even more with the incredibly exquisite response in kind.

My only regret is that the suspects lost their lives, which renders them unable to provide insight to further improve the response and prevents us from easily gaining information about how the structure of their action works. Their deaths also make it more difficult to see if they are part of a larger group.

Glen Hovey of Redlands compares his local police with the attention those in other jurisdictions have received:

With all the bad publicity police nationwide have been getting, I just want to thank all law enforcement involved in the San Bernardino shooting for keeping us safe.

Newport Beach resident Mark Larson praises San Bernardino’s top cop:

The police chief of San Bernardino, Jarrod Burguan, is to be congratulated. Since the shooting he has been professional, articulate and classy.

What a great example of what all in law enforcement in the United States should strive to be.

The citizens of San Bernardino should be proud of Chief Burguan.