What happened in the city of Uvalde, state of Texas, is unfortunate from every point of view and that is indisputable. It also leaves us with many elements to reflect on, one of the most important of which is the fact that the police officers who were present when the events occurred and who acted did so within the limits imposed by their duty, in application of the axiom that states: no one is obliged to do more than what they were hired to do.
It is necessary to understand that human beings in police uniforms and with the responsibility that this appointment implies, at the end of the day, are only workers complying with what their bosses and the regulations order, taking care of their own physical integrity, avoiding crimes and do no harm to the innocent. The thing about receiving bullets and dying is not written yet.
The investigation that is being carried out will reveal that the law enforcement officers who participated in the events (some 376) did so within the limits of reason and their duty, which is absolutely legal and pertinent. They complied with the protocol and did things the way they were supposed to, just as they were trained. In fact, it happened that one of the members of the police force who responded to the call for help had a family member involved as a victim in the shooting. Apparently he tried to enter and was arrested because he was violating the rules that apply to the police force to respond to this type of situation: the first life that the policeman must protect is his own. For this reason, there are currently so many regulations that protect police officers in vogue, such as the one that says that a citizen must notify the police officers who stop him for "routine" that he is carrying a weapon and immediately place his hands visible and raised, under penalty of being attacked in self-defense by the guardians of the law.
Returning to the Uvalde case, the attacker was not shooting outside, therefore no police officer was forced or motivated to enter. Rather, they were forced to stay outside to protect their own lives and that's what they did. Here, at this point, is where the matter begins to change or turn; Why did no one enter being armed and protected by a vest? Because the vests do not protect the head or the legs and they do not stop the bullet from a rifle at a few meters. No one in their right mind wants to die, be injured, or suffer for years from being shot.
Facing an individual about whom everything is unknown; identity, training, ability to cause damage and additional equipment; with the use of short or long weapons, with ballistic shields and outnumbering him, without knowing if he is a madman who is waiting to attack and massacre the police is not an easy situation, in fact it is a situation of real combat where the surprise is already on the part of the unknown attackers, whose real intentions are also unknown. A moral hell in the concrete jungle. A true urban warfare that no town or city policeman is mentally prepared to face, especially with the legal ballast that means injuring or killing one of the hostages or innocents, whether due to necessity, error, accident, or legitimate confusion. At this point jail is the safe destination for cops trying to act in the style of Marion Cobretti.
Training doesn't solve anything; it is expected that the errors between what is believed to happen, the way in which people respond and the reality of the facts will decrease. That is to say, for each point that reality moves away from the scenarios studied, the distance between the training and the response is separated by 200% of the facts. If to this is added the ineptitude of the police training and action systems to suppress the primary instinct of self-preservation and make the police face with certainty and promptness the threat of harm (not certain or imminent harm) to a third party; we result in disaster every time. You only want to fight once, then comes the reasoning and analysis of the pros and cons. Such aptitude and attitude does not serve nor is it motivating to take the life of another human being even when the reasons are valid. From the tactical and combat point of view, when the opportunity and initial impulse is lost, the possibilities of facing the attacker and defeating him decrease; and in the case of Uvalde, he never fired at the police agents, for whom they never felt threatened and reacted accordingly.
The acting police officers will be tried, yes, they will be tried, but it is almost certain that all of them will be exonerated because no fault has been committed, let alone any crime. Seen from another direction, if any of them had been "brave and daring" he would currently be in custody, because he attacked and killed a person who had surely already run out of ammunition. It is a speculation. I never knowYou will know what could have happened. It is only known for certain what the situation would be. It would be a man who without obeying orders entered and detained the shooter with the use of lethal force. In a classroom with two teachers and more than 25 children, surely some innocent would be killed by the bullets of the now called "happy trigger sick from action movies" who would already be behind bars for entering and disobeying. If something went wrong, even if the milk was cut, he would be to blame for everything. So, obedience and disobedience could have made the difference in this case. It was a tragedy, it is a tragedy and it will continue to be, but a greater tragedy is requiring people to do more than their job is.
On the other hand I think that the only real living human beings that would have entered to do a rescue at that moment would be the firemen.
Because firefighters are trained to enter latent and clear risk situations. They are trained to suppress the survival instinct and consequently face the risks that are presented to treat and in some cases manage to save a life. It must be thought that police officers should receive such mental training. But what would be the consequences of having armed men on the streets with that mentality? I don't know, you know, even so, the difference between firefighters and police officers is clear.
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