Police Officer Shot in Head During Training Exercise

[Saticon3]

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/201...-select-lounge


Incredible. Someone really f'ed up.
Can you imagine being there, or worse yet, being the instructor that fired the shot?

[BiggSeth]

probablly not as bad as being the cadet who was shot.....

[dialtone]

probablly not as bad as being the cadet who was shot.....

Right.

[Wizard777]

Top commanders unaware of training where officer was shot

Top Baltimore police commanders, including the director of the agency's training academy, were unaware that training exercises were being conducted at an Owings Mills facility where a rookie University of Maryland officer was shot in the head and critically wounded, officials said Wednesday.

Anthony Guglielmi, the city Police Department's chief spokesman, called the training at a former state psychiatric hospital a "communication breakdown in the chain of command," and said the department has identified multiple problems — including the fact that there were no supervisors on site.

The revelations came as Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said there was "no acceptable explanation" for the incident.

[Wizard777]

Baltimore police identify training instructor in shooting probe

Baltimore Police say an 18-year veteran is the training instructor being investigated in the shooting that critically injured a University of Maryland officer.

Officer William Scott Kern, 46, has been suspended and state police are conducting a criminal investigation.

The shooting occurred Tuesday afternoon at an abandoned state psychiatric hospital in Owings Mills, where sources have said police were conducting so-called "active shooter" training exercises in which where live ammunition is not used. The circumstances of how the live round was fired remain unclear.

[Wizard777]

Damn, just damn.......

Instructor may have injured officer outside of training drill

State investigators are exploring whether a Baltimore police instructor who shot a trainee this week was horsing around and not participating in a drill when he accidentally reached for his service weapon instead of a paint-cartridge pistol, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

Baltimore police identified the instructor Thursday as Officer William Scott Kern, 46, an 18-year veteran on the force. City police union president Robert F. Cherry said Kern has worked in the training academy for more than a decade and his "integrity was always beyond reproach."

Kern has been placed on medical suspension with pay as Maryland state troopers continue a criminal investigation into the shooting, which critically injured a University of Maryland campus police officer training with city police at a shuttered state psychiatric facility in Owings Mills.

[Tootsie]

What does medical suspension mean?

[Wizard777]

So if this account is accurate. Kern basically intended to shoot someone with a gun that is supposed to be treated as a real weapon. Except he screwed up and shot them with a real gun he was not supposed to have on him. Damn, just damn.......

[Lawman 27]

So if this account is accurate. Kern basically intended to shoot someone with a gun that is supposed to be treated as a real weapon. Except he screwed up and shot them with a real gun he was not supposed to have on him. Damn, just damn.......

Wiz, my young friend..how you doin?

The firearms training in the City was always beyond reproach and I am trying to figure out how this ever happened:


For classroom training:

ALL live ammo is removed before entry into the class.
Training weapons (that have no firing pin) are used in class and are identified by their red handles.
Even without a firing pin, the 'red handled' weapons are treated as loaded until proven (by both an instructor and a random student) that the weapon is safe.
Instructors NEVER point a weapon at any person.

____________________________________________

Assuming that this was a practical exercise then the questions become:

How did a live weapon get into the exercise?
How did live ammo get into the exercise?

[Wes]

I'm hearing this may have been a practical joke gone bad......

[Steveg85321]

The instructor implicated was highly experienced with training and weapons, but he F'd up being careless and thoughtless. Sometimes people who know the rules very well can let their guard down and think due to their expertise they're in control. Bad mistake, will certainly cost an otherwise probably good officer his career, if not prosecution.

[yeah]

maybe someone swapped his fake gun out for a real gun to fk him over...weird story all around

[Wizard777]

Wiz, my young friend..how you doin?

The firearms training in the City was always beyond reproach and I am trying to figure out how this ever happened:


For classroom training:

ALL live ammo is removed before entry into the class.
Training weapons (that have no firing pin) are used in class and are identified by their red handles.
Even without a firing pin, the 'red handled' weapons are treated as loaded until proven (by both an instructor and a random student) that the weapon is safe.
Instructors NEVER point a weapon at any person.

____________________________________________

Assuming that this was a practical exercise then the questions become:

How did a live weapon get into the exercise?
How did live ammo get into the exercise?

"young friend" You should save that butter for something that's not as old and crusty as I am.

His students are only going to take those rules, regulations and proceedures as seriously as he does. If he's teaching them that they are a "joke." Then eventually chit will happen and somebodies gonna get hurt. Oh look! Right there they bloody well are.

[Tootsie]

I'm hearing this may have been a practical joke gone bad......

I hope your joking ( no pun intended )

[Saticon3]

probablly not as bad as being the cadet who was shot.....

Right you are, of course.

[Wizard777]

This is not good at all. They need to get a writ of mandamus.

Police refuse to release policies in wake of training shooting

The Baltimore Police Department said it will not release policies and procedures related to training exercises, after being told by a federal judge last week in an unrelated case that its policies are not protected from disclosure.

In response to a request from The Sun, the agency agreed that its standard operating procedures were public documents. But its chief legal counsel concluded that they would not release the policies because there is an internal investigation into whether any were broken during this week's shooting of a trainee at a state facility in Owings Mills.

Police say investigations give them broad discretion to limit disclosure of information.

[Wes]

I hope your joking ( no pun intended )

Unfortunately this is what is being reported.......

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/mar...,6928580.story

[Saticon3]

This is not good at all. They need to get a writ of mandamus.

Police refuse to release policies in wake of training shooting

The Baltimore Police Department said it will not release policies and procedures related to training exercises, after being told by a federal judge last week in an unrelated case that its policies are not protected from disclosure.

In response to a request from The Sun, the agency agreed that its standard operating procedures were public documents. But its chief legal counsel concluded that they would not release the policies because there is an internal investigation into whether any were broken during this week's shooting of a trainee at a state facility in Owings Mills.

Police say investigations give them broad discretion to limit disclosure of information.

That's ridiculous. That's like saying they could keep the homicide statute secret if they were investigating a homicide.

[Wizard777]

That's ridiculous. That's like saying they could keep the homicide statute secret if they were investigating a homicide.

Exactly! Also if they don't release the policy. When they say, unfortunately he shot someone in the head. But he didn't do anything wrong. Then no one can quote them chapter, paragraph and line on everything he did wrong when they call BS!

I also have to say that a "joke" doesn't involve anything that fires a projectile. You can put an eye out like that.

Soooooo who teaches them about the reasonable professional standard?

[Saticon3]

Also, Wiz, even when using simunition rounds in training exercises, any one that could be hit- or that the weapon would be pointed at- is supposed to be wearing protective gear. At the very least, eye protection.

They need to put a penalty into FOIA other than just ordering release of the info.
But its to their detriment anyway, usually when they try to keep public info. out, it eventually gets out anyway and they look all the more stupid for trying to hide it in the first place. Remember that report on the domestic violence between a former comissioner and his fiance'?