Tom_Garrett (Tom Garrett) says…

In case you don't know what happened, here it is in short form:

Sergeant Pat Shearer, a 25-year veteran of the Peoria police, took a photo of some teens out in the desert brandishing weapons and holding a t-shirt with President Obama's image on it. The t-shirt was full of bullet holes and had been used for target practice.

Sergeant Shearer posted the photo on his own Facebook account.

The Secret Service is investigating.

When questioned about it, Sergeant Shearer replied, “I don't think that the shooting of that T-shirt is that big of a deal.”

How do you feel about it?

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

The officer should be fired.
I think he probably took some kind of oath when he became a policeman and I think he went against the oath by bad example and thinking it was alright. He probably instigated the whole thing.

No, I wasn't there but I have an opinion whether anyone likes it or not.

fred_franz (frederick franz) says…

As I see it, the T-shirt was being used for target practice, and not for a political statement. It was used out in the desert where no audience was expected. The police officer is probably guilty of poor judgment, but not an illegal crime? His action is on the borderline? Just my humble opinion, Pat.

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

Printed targets are cheaper to shoot or empty cans work well.
They were trying to make a point of some kind and are probably more dangerous than known terrorist.
No it isn't against the law to shoot holes in shirts if no one is wearing it. Were they in a part of the desert where shooting is allowed?

Tom_Garrett (Tom Garrett) says…

Peoria PD has not put the officer on leave for now, but he is not on street duty. What, if anything else, will happen I don't know, but I'll follow up on it.

I have since found out that the officer said that what he did was a “political statement.” He added, “It's not like they were going to go out and shoot the president.”

That “political statement” thing takes it out of the realm of a mere use of a random t-shirt as a target. The selection of the t-shirt was deliberate. I still don't think the officer intended to shoot the President, nor did anyone else. Nor do I think he meant to encourage the kids to do it, but exactly how the law reads on such a thing I do not know.

According to the valley news media, he faces “a range of violations of the department's electronic media policies.”

Here's the policy: “Employees shall not post, transmit, reproduce, and/or disseminate information (text, pictures, video, audio, etc.) to the Internet or any other forum (public or private) that would tend to discredit or reflect unfavorably upon the department or any of the department's employees.”

I've seen a blow-up of the photograph since I first posted this. I do not think it is going to help that one of the kids is wearing a t-shirt that says, “Just do it.”

To be honest, I'm astounded that a 25-year veteran would get himself involved in something like this. It doesn't sound like any police officer I have ever known—and I've known a few of them. The people I've known, had they come across kids doing something like that, would have told them that it was a dumb thing to do. And they sure as hey wouldn't have posted it on the internet. In fact, I would not believe the statement that he put it up there himself except for the fact that it was done on his Facebook account.

I just wonder if one of the kids is his, and maybe the posting was done by the kid. Otherwise, what was he doing out in the desert with a bunch of kids shooting guns?

I suppose if you put this incident together with the mere putting up of bulls eye stickers on the doors of state senators in another state, where people seem to think it was an actual death threat, then I guess it could become very serious.

Personally, though it shows bad judgment, I hope it gets cleared up without anyone getting hurt, but I have a bad feeling that this is going to have a bad ending. I also don't know what the law is on how old you have to be to shoot a weapon, but since there was a recent case about some teenager giving another one a weapon to shoot, and being charged with a crime for doing it, I wonder.

Does anyone know?

patrandall (Pat Randall) says…

Kids betweem 14 and 17 are supposed to be with parent or an adult and have permission from parents to use a gun for hunting or practice.
See, Gun ownership Ariz. on google.

Tom_Garrett (Tom Garrett) says…

Thanks, Pat. I have not seen this in writing, but it appears that the officer was there with the kids to supervise them. If so, and he was charging nothing for his time, then he was doing a good thing. I may even be that he was not aware of what they were shooting at while it was going on. I wonder if we will ever find out.

I dislike the fact that so much is left out of stories in the major media. By leaving out relevant facts they can control reader opinion. I sometimes see the exact same story, in the exact same words on hundreds of sites.