It's the police who failed to stop the Maine shooter.

The New York Times has a deep dive into why no one stopped the Maine shooter before his spree. His family, his Army unit, and the local police, knew that he’d had a mental health breakdown, an alcohol problem, and had literally said “I’m going to shoot people with my guns,” in the months and weeks before the shooting.

From the Times.

His family, his superiors in the military and the local police knew all of this. Yet no one stopped him.

His killing of 18 people with an assault-style rifle in Lewiston, Maine, points to how shortcomings in the mental health system, weak laws and a reluctance to threaten personal liberties can derail even concerted attempts to thwart violence in a country awash in guns.

No idiots. It points to cops not doing their jobs.

Card’s son and ex wife contacted the Sheriff ‘s department and said that he was spiraling out of control. It was not the family’s job to “stop him.” They don’t have Son and Ex-Wife official badges that would have forced him to relinquish his arms under threat of arrest. Instead, they went to the authorities to warn about the danger. His siblings, who also contacted the police, also couldn’t have use their official capacity as brothers and sisters to go into his home with a warrant and take his guns. Imagine being so alarmed you turn in a family member you love and have police do nothing? The story then outlines that the Army commanders couldn’t do much since Card was a reservist, etc. etc. etc.

Only after all the *there are complex and countervailing factors* stuff, the article presents this: “That left the local police with two legal options. They used neither.”

So, it’s actually simple. The police were able to do something, and they didn’t. Maine’s “yellow flag” law allows officers to take someone’s guns away for a year if they present “a likelihood of foreseeable harm.” They also could have put him in an involuntary psychiatric commitment, which would have made it illegal for him to possess guns.

In the long, meandering story we learn about how multiple institutions apparently failed us. But, only one did: the police. The institution of the family certainly did its civic duty by alerting authorities to the danger posed by their loved one. And I’m pretty sure the Army isn’t allowed to militarily operate in Maine. Only the officers had the authority to take away his guns and they didn’t. Why not? I don’t know, but I’d guess they didn’t want to confront a drunk maniac with 15 guns. I don’t want to do that either, but that’s why I’m a blogger, not a police officer.

We collectively shrieked in outrage after seeing footage of Uvalde officers milling around while kids were being murdered. Critics dismissed it as bad cops in a podunk town. But the NYPD, funded at $12 billion, waited an hour and 20 minutes to break into the apartment of 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee as she screamed for help while a man stabbed her in February of 2022. Lee’s family is suing but police inaction is such a hidden problem it’s hard to know how their lawsuit will fare. The CCRB, the NYPD “watchdog” doesn’t have a category for police misconduct when the problem is inaction.

Police refusing to intervene in dangerous situations when lives could be saved? It happens a lot. We just don’t care unless it’s on video.

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