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Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: TechMan on November 25, 2013, 04:12:12 PM

Title: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: TechMan on November 25, 2013, 04:12:12 PM
http://www.scribd.com/doc/187053363/Sandy-Hook-Final-Report (http://www.scribd.com/doc/187053363/Sandy-Hook-Final-Report)


Quote
It was fewer than four minutes from the time the first 911 call was received until the first police officer arrived at the school. It was fewer than five minutes from the first 911 call, and one minute after the arrival of the first officer, that the shooter killed himself. It was fewer than six minutes from the time the first police officer arrived on SHES property to the time the first police officer entered the school  building. In fewer than 11 minutes twenty first-grade pupils and six adults had lost their lives.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Ned Hamford on November 25, 2013, 06:00:33 PM
When seconds count the police are minutes away.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 25, 2013, 06:22:30 PM
When seconds count the police are minutes away.

Yeah.

Read the timeline in that report, and then consider that the Newtown chief of police has recently gone on record to defend his officers' response.

Don't ... think ... so.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Boomhauer on November 25, 2013, 06:36:23 PM
Yeah.

Read the timeline in that report, and then consider that the Newtown chief of police has recently gone on record to defend his officers' response.

Don't ... think ... so.

Less than 4 minutes is a damn good response time from 911 call to emergency services arrival.

While of course I agree that one needs an immediate ability to respond to an attacker the speed of police response is not at fault here...the fact that there wasnt an immediate defense mechanism available (i.e., CCW) is the problem.

Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 25, 2013, 06:54:29 PM
Less than 4 minutes is a damn good response time from 911 call to emergency services arrival.

Especially considering that Newtown, CT, is a rather spread-out suburb, on that point I would agree. However --

I just looked at Google maps. The first officer arrived behind the school, on Crestwood Drive. Yes, it's directly behind the school -- but there's no entrance to the school property from Crestwood, the property line has a high fence along it.

More importantly:

The call came in at 9:35:39 and the alert was broadcast at 9:36:06. So far, so good.

First officer arrives (at a place that offers him no access to the school) at 9:39:00 -- three minutes into the incident.

Two more officers arrive, and park near the ball field at 9:39:13. At least they're on the driveway and don't have to scale a fence to even get onto the property, but they're 100 yards from the entrance to the building and I can't help thinking that a patrol car can roll faster than they could run.

LAST gunshot is reported at 9:40:03. Four minutes into the incident (since the alert broadcast), and a minute after three officers arrived at the site.

First officer enters the school at 9:44:47. Irrespective of transit time, over which they had no control, the first officer didn't enter the school until FOUR MINUTES AND 47 SECONDS  AFTER the first officer arrived at the site. Supposedly, the training protocol for active shooters in schools ever since Columbine has been for the first officer(s) on the scene to enter immediately and attempt to engage or neutralize the shooter(s). They are NOT supposed to wait for backup. These guys waited almost FIVE MINUTES before they entered the building, AFTER they were at the scene.

That's inexcusable.

Time line:

Quote
9:35:39 - First 911 call to Newtown Police Department is received.

9:36:06 - Newtown Police Department dispatcher broadcasts that there is a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

9:37:38 - Connecticut State Police are dispatched to SHES for active shooter.

9:38:50 - CSP are informed that SHES is in lockdown.

9:39:00 - First Newtown police officer arrives behind SHES on Crestwood Rd.

9:39:13 - Two more Newtown officers arrive at SHES and park on the driveway near the ball field. Gunshots are heard in the background.

9:39:34 - Newtown officer encounters unknown male running along the east side of SHES with something in his hand.

9:40:03 - Last gunshot is heard. This is believed to be the final suicide shot from the shooter in classroom 10.

9:41:07 - Information is relayed as to the location of the last known gunshots heard within SHES, the front of the building.

9:41:24 - Newtown officer has unknown male prone on ground, starting information relay regarding possibly more than one shooter.

9:42:39 - Newtown officer calls out the license plate of the shooter’s car.

9:44:47 - Newtown officers enter SHES.

9:46:23 - CSP arrive at SHES.

9:46:48 - CSP enter SHES.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Ned Hamford on November 25, 2013, 08:01:33 PM
I didn't intend to denigrate. The response time was amazing. No fault falls on law enforcement in my mind. Any prevention that should have been falls to some different fields.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: RoadKingLarry on November 25, 2013, 08:26:39 PM
Quote
The response time was amazing.

Almost too amazing [tinfoil]
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 25, 2013, 08:53:29 PM
I'll parse the time line to show what was wrong:

Quote
9:39:13 - Two more Newtown officers arrive at SHES and park on the driveway near the ball field. Gunshots are heard in the background.

...

9:40:03 - Last gunshot is heard. This is believed to be the final suicide shot from the shooter in classroom 10. [Obviously, at the time they did not know that this would be the last gunshot heard.]

...

9:44:47 - Newtown officers enter SHES.

That's FIVE MINUTES AND 34 SECONDS between the arrival of the two cops who went to the front entrance, and when a cop actually made entry. FIVE AND A HALF MINUTES.

By contrast:

Quote
9:46:23 - CSP arrive at SHES.

9:46:48 - CSP enter SHES.

CSP is Connecticut State Police. The State Police entered within less than HALF a minute after arriving.

In retrospect, the killing was already done and the shooter offed himself when he heard the sirens approaching. But the responding officers did not know that. The first responders had no reason to believe that there wasn't still an active shooter (or shooters) inside the building. The protocol is supposed to be to immediately enter and engage the shooter(s). The Newtown Police did not do this.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Boomhauer on November 25, 2013, 10:13:17 PM
You and I do not have the details of what transpired in that time. We do not know if the officers were trying to gain entrance to the school, either by forcible entry or finding the main entrance point that had been (as we now know) opened by the killer. The information concerning that time period is not covered in the report.

The CSP time between arrival and entry is great...but did they follow the Newtown officer's point of entry? It's a lot faster to find your way in when someone else has located it or made an entry point for you already.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: cordex on November 26, 2013, 01:42:51 AM
Local doctrine is first three units on scene make entry as a team, not as individuals. It may be they were attempting to locate each other on foot (and probably moving cover to cover the whole way) and having trouble making radio contact because everyone was keying up at once.

I too wish that someone onsite had been able to stop the shooter in a hail of return fire, though.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 26, 2013, 06:21:30 AM
Local doctrine is first three units on scene make entry as a team, not as individuals. 

"Local" meaning local to you, or to Newtown, Connecticut? I have never seen or heard any department, anywhere, espouse this "doctrine" at any time since Columbine.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: griz on November 26, 2013, 08:30:04 AM
What stands out to me is the in the second room the shooter went to, the ones that survived, all kids, ran away.  I've always wondered about the idea of locking down a school in an active shooter situation.  I know there are disadvantages to having people, kids especially, running loose.  But at least this time those people in room 10 would probably have lived if they had left with the others.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: vaskidmark on November 26, 2013, 09:46:40 AM
Without getting into the specifics of Room 10, moving targets are almost always harder to hit.

Along with some very shaky speculatin that spree killers may not focus on moving targets when "offered" stationary ones.  The profilers who put that out a few years ago were never, in my book, very accurate in their guesses but seemed to have a following amongst the professional psychopathic sociologists - and you can pArse that either way.

stay safe.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: cordex on November 26, 2013, 12:26:29 PM
"Local" meaning local to you, or to Newtown, Connecticut? I have never seen or heard any department, anywhere, espouse this "doctrine" at any time since Columbine.
Local to me.  That doctrine is current as of about a month ago when they last did active shooter training.  Well after Columbine, or Sandy Hook even.

"Make entry immediately" is a relative thing.  The old standard was to secure the perimeter and wait for SWAT or its local equivalent to arrive to handle the entry and clearing.  That could take hours from initial call to the first badge through the door.  The new standard is to make entry when the first viable team can be assembled.  Our local doctrine is any 3 officers, but that probably varies from department to department and may well be a single officer in some jurisdictions.  Even at three units the response time is much, much faster than waiting for a SWAT/ERT callout, for everyone to gear up, get caught up and deploy - minutes instead of hours.  Still slower than a teacher dropping the shooter in their tracks, but much faster than waiting for the ninjas to get ready.

Whether three should be the magic number or not is up for debate.  Sending in multiple officers as a team certainly decreases the chances the shooter will kill off responders piecemeal and keep up with their spree, but the flip side is that most of the time when confronted with armed opposition these scumbags end up doing the world a favor anyway - which would seem to imply that going in individually would be better.  Then again, when you get something like the Norway massacre where the bad actor is dressed up like a cop, individual officers running around would make the killer's job easier as he could blend in more easily.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Blakenzy on November 26, 2013, 01:04:46 PM
Yes, you can't look for a magic formula to defeat what will be a wild, random event. In a killing spree, it will always end up being every man for himself.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Ned Hamford on November 26, 2013, 04:50:27 PM
Yes, you can't look for a magic formula to defeat what will be a wild, random event. In a killing spree, it will always end up being every man for himself.

Or kintergardeners...
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Perd Hapley on November 26, 2013, 06:30:42 PM
How is this report going to affect the conspiracy/false flag ideas about the case? Weren't some people basing those ideas (partially) on the fact that the final report had not yet been released?
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Boomhauer on November 26, 2013, 07:07:14 PM
How is this report going to affect the conspiracy/false flag ideas about the case? Weren't some people basing those ideas (partially) on the fact that the final report had not yet been released?

They will claim it's falsified or a coverup...These kinds of people never let go of their conspiracy. They will believe what they claim is true to the end...9/11 Troofers, JFK, chemtrails, FEMA cattle cars/death camps, etc.





Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Perd Hapley on November 26, 2013, 09:36:48 PM
I was hoping for a more specific answer, but thanks.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 26, 2013, 10:28:12 PM
How is this report going to affect the conspiracy/false flag ideas about the case? Weren't some people basing those ideas (partially) on the fact that the final report had not yet been released?

This isn't the final report. This is an interim, summary report. The state police are still working on the final report.

http://www.nhregister.com/opinion/20131125/editorial-sandy-hook-report-both-late-and-incomplete
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: MechAg94 on November 26, 2013, 11:04:40 PM
So was an AR15 used as the primary weapon as reported?  I assume yes, but I didn't seeif that was confirmed.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Perd Hapley on November 26, 2013, 11:08:07 PM
This isn't the final report. This is an interim, summary report. The state police are still working on the final report.

http://www.nhregister.com/opinion/20131125/editorial-sandy-hook-report-both-late-and-incomplete

OK, thanks.


Quote from: article
Sedensky has been given an extraordinarily difficult task: To weigh the public’s right to know details of the slayings against concerns from the victims’ families that they would have to effectively re-live the horror of losing their loved ones upon seeing details of their deaths in the report, and widely publicized in the media.

What the...? Is this the first high-profile violent crime in our nation's history? How do they not know how to deal with this?  :facepalm:
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 26, 2013, 11:22:28 PM
So was an AR15 used as the primary weapon as reported?  I assume yes, but I didn't seeif that was confirmed.

The report does not actually come out and say that. In fact, the report may be a masterpiece of disinformation -- presenting a false conclusion without actually making any completely untrue statements. Since someone (ahem) has mentioned conspiracy theorists, I suppose I could take that as a cue to mention that I know three different firearms trainers who each have contacts within the Connecticut State Police. As far as I know none of the three know one another, but they have all stated that their CSP sources say the AR-15 jammed and that most of the victims were killed with the Glock. That might explain why the AR-15 was found with the sling ripped off at one end -- possibly broken in a fit of anger.

The same three trainers also agree that their sources have said Lanza was buzzed into the school and didn't shoot his way in. Their version is that the responding officers had to shoot their way in because there was nobody in the office at that point to push one of the three buttons to open the front door.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Nick1911 on November 26, 2013, 11:32:08 PM
So was an AR15 used as the primary weapon as reported?  I assume yes, but I didn't seeif that was confirmed.

The introduction starts with:

Quote
On the morning of December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, the shooter, age 20, went to Sandy Hook Elementary School (also SHES) in Newtown, Connecticut, where he shot his way into the  building and killed twenty children and six adults and wounded two other adults, all with a Bushmaster Model XM15-E2S rifle. The shooter then took his own life with a single shot from a Glock 20, 10 mm handgun. From the time the doors of the school were locked at 9:30 a.m. until the time it is believed the shooter killed himself at 9:40:03, fewer than 11 minutes had elapsed.

It seems clear that the AR was the primary weapon.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Perd Hapley on November 26, 2013, 11:33:08 PM
Since someone (ahem) has mentioned conspiracy theorists, I suppose I could take that as a cue to mention that I know three different firearms trainers who each have contacts within the Connecticut State Police. As far as I know none of the three know one another, but they have all stated that their CSP sources say the AR-15 jammed and that most of the victims were killed with the Glock. That might explain why the AR-15 was found with the sling ripped off at one end -- possibly broken in a fit of anger.



If the truth about the weapon used was covered up, I wonder how we will ever know. A lot of people with contradictory evidence are going to have to come forward and confirm that the Glock was used on the children, before it's anything but a rumor.   =|
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Headless Thompson Gunner on November 27, 2013, 12:23:54 AM
The report does come out and say which weapons were used.  It details it right down to what spent casings were found where.  They found 1 10mm case near Lanza's body in the main hallway.  They found 5.56 casings throughout the school: 8 at the entrance, 16 in the lobby, 1 in the hallway, 80 in Classroom 8, and 49 in Classroom 10.

Presumably they have each of these casings tagged and stored in evidence, so it would be pretty hard to falsify the report.  Unless I misunderstand what the conspiracies purport?

Also, thank heavens for bad marksmanship.  Lanza fired 154 rounds, yet he only hit 28 people in that school.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Hawkmoon on November 27, 2013, 08:24:04 AM
Also, thank heavens for bad marksmanship.  Lanza fired 154 rounds, yet he only hit 28 people in that school.

Not poor marksmanship, unfortunately. All of the victims were shot multiple times.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: Blakenzy on November 27, 2013, 09:25:23 AM
Quote
That might explain why the AR-15 was found with the sling ripped off at one end -- possibly broken in a fit of anger.

That's what happens when you put airsoft equipement on real guns.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: T.O.M. on November 27, 2013, 02:14:51 PM
I remember watching the press conference with the M.E., in which he said that the injuries he observed were consistent with high velocity rifle rounds when asked about the weapon used.  He then talked about firearms in a way that made be conclude that he's a shooter, because of the terminology he used and the way he described things. Don't ask for details, as I don't recall.  Just left me with that impression.

As far as the time lapse goes, in my county (suburban/rural area of Central Ohio), average response time by law enforcement varies between 5-15 minutes, depending on where the incident occurred, the weather, the time of day, and a lot of luck (if a cruiser was in the area or on the other side of the county).

Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: vaskidmark on November 27, 2013, 05:46:48 PM
Judge has authorized the release of the 9-1-1 tapes.  DA is appealing the decision o the grounds that it might upset the sensibilities of the families of the victims.

WTF?  When did "sensibilities" get to control the release of public records that are no longer needed for evidence?

(And no, I am not happy with certain celebrities/their families putting a "time lock" on certain public records.  While not pleased, either, with such on personal records, I can accept the legality of doing so.)

I may live long enough to one day be able to talk about stuff I did in the USMC.  Odds are that by then I will not be able to remember what it was I did.  The .gov said it was related to national security, so they put a lid on it for a set time limit.  Seeing as how everything I did has been superceeded by digital technology I'm not sure the time lock really protects anything, but I do not wish to become a long-term resident of a federal prison.

The Sandy hook 9-1-1 tapes?  Pretty sure there is no national security involvement.

stay safe.
Title: Re: Sandy Hook Final Report
Post by: 209 on November 29, 2013, 09:58:06 AM
"Active Shooter" response protocol varies around the country and even PDs within any particular state have different ones. Prior to Columbine, the usual protocol was to arrive and set up a perimeter and wait for a tac team to arrive and make entry.  After the review of the methods used in that incident, and the resulting criticism of the LE methods used, the methods were changed.

The first response developed was to arrive on scene and once another two to three officers arrived, they would form an entry team and enter.  That became the standard policy in much of the US and was used until around 2007 to 2009 known by a bunch of different names, one being QUAD (uses a four officer response as the optimal number). Many 2013 news articles from around the country still show it's being used.

It hasn't been until recent years that some PDs have changed to a single officer response wherein the first officer on scene goes in alone.  The basic principle is that if you arrive and hear shots, you go immediately.  If I recall correctly, I started seeing that tactic starting to be taught in 2012, but maybe it was broached by some trainers in 2010 or 11. The last instructor class I took at the CT Police Academy was in 2011 and they still used the QUAD type response as the model. 

I can't say what the NPD uses as their policy, but my PD has used the "First Man Goes In" policy as the rule since early 2012.  Of course that decision is based on the information gathered from any emergency calls and the assessment of the initial officer when he arrives.  Nothing is carved in stone and there is no one-size-fits-all policy. To write a policy that attempted to do that would be foolish and it would be doomed from the moment the first word was written.