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There was an incident in St. Paul a little earlier where a vehicle tried to ram into the Federal Building/Courthouse no fewer than six times. The vehicle description was of a SUV with no plates and a dealer placard. By the time the call went out to the cops, the vehicle had left.
When the dispatcher was giving out the call an update came back in that the vehicle had returned and was trying to ram the building again. The building is undergoing construction and the cement planters/bollards are not installed yet. All that is protecting the building is chain link fencing.
I just got back from looking at the fence and it is heavily damaged, but the vehicle didn't break through from what I could tell. A citizen followed the SUV and kept the cops abreast of the location. No less than a dozen St. Paul squads responded to the call and were able to take the driver, a female, into custody about a mile away from the federal building.
The federal building contracts with GSSC last I heard and I know the officers there are armed. I don't know if any Federal Protective Services officers were there or not.
I got to thinking whether or not in today's climate, deadly force would have been an option. With the precedent of people driving trucks loaded with explosives into federal buildings and there probably being a skeleton crew of people inside the building the officer may well have been justified in thinking that if the vehicle hits the building people may die.
Of course the training always says that you cannot use deadly force to protect property.
Kind of a different situation to be sure. What are your thoughts? If you were an armed officer on duty tonight at that federal building what would you have done? I would hope that their training covered this very scenario and that they have clear rules of engagement, but you never know.
When the dispatcher was giving out the call an update came back in that the vehicle had returned and was trying to ram the building again. The building is undergoing construction and the cement planters/bollards are not installed yet. All that is protecting the building is chain link fencing.
I just got back from looking at the fence and it is heavily damaged, but the vehicle didn't break through from what I could tell. A citizen followed the SUV and kept the cops abreast of the location. No less than a dozen St. Paul squads responded to the call and were able to take the driver, a female, into custody about a mile away from the federal building.
The federal building contracts with GSSC last I heard and I know the officers there are armed. I don't know if any Federal Protective Services officers were there or not.
I got to thinking whether or not in today's climate, deadly force would have been an option. With the precedent of people driving trucks loaded with explosives into federal buildings and there probably being a skeleton crew of people inside the building the officer may well have been justified in thinking that if the vehicle hits the building people may die.
Of course the training always says that you cannot use deadly force to protect property.
Kind of a different situation to be sure. What are your thoughts? If you were an armed officer on duty tonight at that federal building what would you have done? I would hope that their training covered this very scenario and that they have clear rules of engagement, but you never know.
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