Deadly Day in South Florida

14 September 2007

Yesterday was not a good day in South Florida.

We had 4 law enforcement officers shot here. That brings the total in the last 10 weeks to 6 locally and at least 7 statewide. According to the Department of Justice more law enforcement officers were shot in the first 6 months of this year than in all last year. (There were 48 officers killed in the line of duty in 2006. That was 7 fewer than in 2005.)

It has been a rough summer for the boys in blue here in paradise. Broward County had two deputies shot in less than 10 days, one fatally and the other still hospitalized with a severe head injury. Then right on the heels of these events a deputy was shot in the Tampa area.

But yesterday was the worst day since 1976, 4 Miami-Dade officers were shot making a traffic stop while working a burgalry detail. The suspect, Shawn Labeet exited his vehicle and fired his AK-47 multiple times, hitting all 4 officers. One officer was fatally wounded, one seriously wounded and the other two were treated and released.

As can be expected the incident and ensuing manhunt was the focus of all of South Florida yesterday. The media was sent chasing leads and stories across two counties, in the end there would be 5 crime scenes and another shoot-out. Late last night law enforcement cornered Labeet in a Pembrook Pines apartment complex. A shoot-out ensued that left Labeet fatally wounded. While the result is a victory for law enforcement it will bring little relief to the families left behind.

All three shootings here in South Florida were law enforcement officers doing routine duties, stopping a driver running red lights/stop signs, approaching a vehicle in a drug store parking lot, and stopping a vehicle that was driving erraticately. This series of recent events highlights that even the most routine events in law enforcement can be deadly. But the more pressing issue is the complete disregard for peace officers and law that these individuals displayed.

Two of the shooters had extensive records, one that while showed a total disregard for authority did not show violent behavior. The other was wanted on an outstanding warrant for aggravated assualt with a deadly weapon. And the third suspect is an unknown.

How did this happen? Why were these persons on the street to begin with? It is my opinion that the courts are to blame. There is way too much poliltics in the court room. If you commit a crime, especially a violent one, like aggravated assualt with a deadly weapon, you should not be walking the streets. And before the excuse of over crowded jails is brought up--which is a whole other blog topic--put them on house arrest then, but keep them off the streets. Violent offenders should not be out on the streets they should be detained by any means available till their court date. And we as citzens need to support our law enforcement agencies by demanding that the courts get tougher on violent offenders.

Let that be the legacy that these fallen officers leave behind.