Texas State Police Deflect Blame, Downplay Their Role In Uvalde Shooting Failures

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1431363

Explain it to me like I’m an elementary school student who deserves the absolute truth

  • why was this so poorly handled?
  • who failed to do their jobs

… and are there any genuine “Bad Guys” - other than the ones who were frozen with fear and rendered incompetent … and the ones trying to cover their own ass & blame others ?

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Not sure current Texan officials understand what personal responsibility means.

But at this point, the lawyers and insurance underwriters are doing all the talking.

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Thank you for your cowardice.

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One of the most important survival skills one needs to develop in order to survive in the bureaucratic jungle, is the ability to point fingers.

“Not my job” is not just a figure of speech, it’s a way of life.

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Nobody in the Texas State Police lifted a finger to help poor Hispanic kids in a rural school. Wonder why? Because the community was rural, the kids were mostly working class or they were Hispanic and their parents might have voted Democrat? Inquiring minds want to know.

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The “Thoughts and Prayers” model is specifically designed to blame the victims and no one else.

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From the beginning, Governor Abbott has pushed back against any suggestion that the failure was the state’s failure. Push it down onto the local police. Clearly the state police should have taken charge, but doing that means also taking responsibility. The failure is the state’s failure, from the very top. That’s the scandal here - it’s on Abbott.

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I live in Texas.

A friend thought the goal of the 223 round was to kill with a single shot.

Wrong

Its goal was to wound grievously an enemy soldier with a single shot as a wounded soldier was more of a burden that a dead one.

Each Uvalde child was was shot so many times that only DNA could accurately identify some.

The cowardice of the State Police will be hard to live down, as it should be.

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Every LEO in Texas should hang their head in shame over the handling of the shootings at Uvalde
Those directly involved should never again work anywhere in law enforcement. They should be thoroughly investigated and charged as appropriate.

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The shooter had a powerful weapon capable of rapid fire. The police knew that.

It’s hard to get past the idea that the police were deterred by fear of that weapon.

No one can be sure about these things, but I think the police probably would have gone in sooner if the shooter had been holding a revolver instead of an assault rifle.

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Ladies & Gentlemen: This is your Republican GQP Kakistocracy in action…and inaction.
Incompetence, Cowardice, Irresponsibility, Coverup.

Voting Republican anywhere throughout the country in November will get more of same.
Vote early; vote often.

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What I can’t still wrap my head around is the fact that Pete Arredondo thought he could continue on being on chief of the school district’s police force, and a member of Uvalde’s City Council.

And I realize that Texas is a big state, but damn they have so many law enforcement agencies. Where I live I have my city police, then there’s the county police, and the state troopers. The county police do partner with some of the smaller cities and act as the local police. And since Texas has an international border I get why some of those agencies have their own law enforcement units, but still too many cooks in the kitchen and they still couldn’t deliver a proper meal.

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There is an investigation going on but I worry it will be whitewashed.

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That’s in part because DPS leaders are controlling which records get released to the public and carefully shaping a narrative that casts local law enforcement as incompetent.

That uh doesn’t seem like a stretch.

Also, I work with overlapping governments so not at all surprised for power (and responsibility) to be concentrated locally and diffuse outward.

That said, there is no earthly reason to have a school district PD and this one demonstrated why they really should not exist, they both do nothing and stop other agencies from doing anything. Wow.

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Bless their cowardly little hearts. All those babies murdered and all those big bad cops standing around. ‘It’s not MY fault!’ Disgusting.

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Is there any doubt that the police will insist it was removing God from public schools is what really caused this?

ACAB.

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Welcome to ‘small town politics’ in Texas - or any state.

In most local governments the distribution of power and the control of funds is intoxicating and always concentrated to a small group.

In small towns, particularly when there is a small middle class and more lower income residents who are too busy just keeping food on the table, those who have amassed some wealth (larger AG landowners) insist on being in control - just like it has been forever.

Unfortunately, many of them are not always experienced or worldly enough to bring good government to their community. And, they don’t like any interference from the outside.

The results often surface publicly but Uvalde is a most horrific example.

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Speaks to colossal corruption.

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