Discovery Channel's LAPD--Comments

[chiz45]

I am watching the Discovery Channel's show on the "Real LAPD." Pretty interesting inside view of LAPD, discussing the gangs, Venice Beach, and even an Officer funeral. What horrified me about the show was their footage of the annual shooting qualification! An officer was shown at the firing line, and her gun jammed for whatever reason. She was continuously racking the slide, and the gun would either not go into battery, or the rounds would jam, i could not see which. She laughed about it, and stated " I should clean my gun. When you don't clean it, you get malfunctions." I believe she followed with "well, i guess i will have to qualify later."

I was shocked to actually SEE that on screen. You always hear about such things, but man, to see it on TV. Horrible to imagine how long that weapon sat in her holster BEFORE the qualification...

 

[dvc]

I've heard about that episode before, but today I finally got to see it for myself.

That poor woman, I hope she never has to use that gun to defend herself. I hope she doesn't have a family.

I've shot many Beretta's over the years, and I've never seen one fail to fire. Seemed like her firing pin was broken.

The sad part was, she stuck the gun back in her holster and continued with her agenda never giving it a second thought.

"I guess I'll have to qualify later..."

sigh

 

[Mal H]

"I guess I'll have to qualify later..."

Yeah, maybe after her partner's funeral, if it's convenient.

 

[smoney]

I hate to see such things happen, especially to cops that are protecting us! now see why i carry a gun, so i can shoot back when the cops all get their guns jammed. its sad to say, but a lot of civilians are trained to shoot better than cops also.

Police officers have very hard jobs, but they need to train a little bit for real life. marksmanship won't help them too much on the street, its great, but firing from cover, one handed, etc all need to be worked on as do cuffing techniques and chemical spray techniques. nothing is fool proof, there is always a fool that can prove it isn't.

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454Casull when it absolutely Has to be destroyed.

 

[Mike Irwin]

I got the impression that the officer, Shannon Reese, if I remember correctly, was something of an idiot/moron/dimbulb all rolled into one.

She started talking about how it was time to clean her gun, as if she hadn't bothered cleaning it for awhile.

Also, some of her reactions during the rest of the show were kind of indicative of my above categorization. I would hope that I'm wrong, but...

She was a cutie, though.

 

[45King]

"I guess I'll have to qualify later..."

Seems to me she's already qualified....for an early grave.

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Shoot straight & make big holes, regards, Richard at The Shottist's Center

 

[Will Beararms]

I may get in trouble for this but here goes anyway. If the she were a caucasian male, she would have been pulled off the street immediatley and re-assigned to a desk job and maybye given the chance to re-qual.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."

 

[MikeFromIowa]

dvc: She DOES have a family! twin boys, they are shown about 15 min. into the show.

The real question is why the LAPD allows this show to be replayed over and over again. It's not just officer Shannon, but some of the other officers shown seem to be of the "dimbulb" catagory also. I personally can't stand it because too many of the production details annoy me.

--MikeFromIowa

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I tuned in for a minute and tuned out when I saw a big male macho idiot discussing bean bag rounds in his shotgun. He said something like: Oh, with this when someone has a knife you can shoot him with the bean bag and stop him. Oh, you can shoot the knife out of his hand.

While this may be exact - it doesn't speak well for the male officers also.

I've seen plenty of male gun idiots on cop shows. Bet they weren't fired after the show aired.

 

[funinsun]

This issue has been hacked out before when the show first aired quite a while ago. I think this is the third or fourth time they have aired it. The officer does stick out as totally inept to handle her position, her "oh well" attitude, is ok for Burger King but not LEO. Wonder if she is still on the beat.

 

[dvc]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MikeFromIowa:
dvc: She DOES have a family! twin boys, they are shown about 15 min. into the show.
[/quote]

Wow... I guess I didn't catch it from the beginning. I just saw the part where she was attempting to shoot the Beretta.

Poor kids...

 

[pete80]

Of course they had to show a slow division like Venice. Discovery channel couldn't stand to document a hard division like Rampart or 77th. Afraid of real police work.

 

[Tecolote]

Will Beararms,

Sorry but that's a no go. I've seen white male cops that could barely hit their targets at the local range. And they don't seem to be getting pulled off the streets.

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So many pistols, so little money.

 

[mrat]

Most departments let officers do a remedial qualification (at a later date) before pulling them off the streets.

I saw that same episode and unfortunately I could believe it. I have a female partner who once said "I have not cleaned my gun since BEFORE our last qualification" as we were heading out. I told her I am not going anywhere with you until you clean your gun. I then sat down and waited for her to clean her gun before we hit the streets. I even inspected it. What irritated me was I have to rely on her to possibly save my life and she doesn't take the time to take care of her equipment.

 

[Will Beararms]

Tecolote:

I am an equal-opportunity type of guy. If the white boy can't shoot, he needs to be off the street for the sake of his partners and bystanders.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."

 

[Will Beararms]

Did you guys notice that the Venice Patrolman who was fighting cancer at the time was using something besides a Beretta 92FS. It appeared to be a Smith 4516 .45ACP. I noted that in the short time the film crew was with him he cleaned his weapon.

I also noted that he had a dog and he kept a riot gun at bay in his dwelling for his down time. Maybye I'm wrong, but he seemed to be an intense player in the game where the winning score is life.

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"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."

[This message has been edited by Will Beararms (edited May 16, 2000).]

 

[Tecolote]

Will Beararms,

Agreed. If people don't qualify they don't belong.

The guy fighting cancer was apparently threatened by some gang members. I hope he won his bout with cancer. He did seem very professional and a no nonsense type of guy. The right kind of person to watch your back.

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So many pistols, so little money.

 

[gunmart]

i wonder if lapd training officers even teach malfuntion drills.?does anyone know.?if they dont that is execatly what is going to happen in the street.her gun malfuntions and she throws her hands up and quits.!that might be yours or my kid she is trying to protect.if i lived in the la district i would fire off a letter to the department demanding that she be taken off the street untill she had further training.i feel certain that she feels that the gun is just another part of the uniform and she probably doesent even have the mindset to fight so i guess enything you would do would be just going through the motions but it cant hurt.

ed

 

[PLASTIC SIG]

The woman was a moron. She seemed to have plenty of time to hit on that T.V star but dont have time to clean her gun. She should have been fired on the spot, or been placed cleaning up the locker rooms. Maybe to be nice to her, I would have put her on gun duty. I'd make her clean every gun the dept owned so she could get some idea of what its like to clean her own.

Tim

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Why dont you get rid of that nickel plated sissy pistol and get yourself a glock. :::Tommy Lee Jones. U.S. Marshals:::

 

[Correia]

Anybody notice the guy at the end whose wife was having a baby. He looked like he seriously worked out, and was wearing a HK shirt. I would be willing to bet that he can shoot.