A major clusterfuck. I didn’t think cops carried their guns into interview rooms? For exactly this reason. Just like prison guards don’t carry guns when they are in rooms with inmates.
Facts are still coming out slowly. Yesterday they wouldn’t even disclose names or what happened. Now they aren’t admitting exactly where it happened? :rolleyes: They need to give the press the whole story and stop stalling. It’s a big enough screw up already.
In my very learned opinion…
Murder suspects should always be considered dangerous, and have at least 2 people watching/holding them at all times. Now that they’re cornered, they have nothing to lose.
Level 3 retention holsters aren’t just for the street. Cops get complacent far too often. They pay dearly.
Weapon retention refresher class every 2 months. Chief to newbie, no exeptions.
I watch The First 48 every week as they follow real homicide detectives through cases. I forget how many cities they’ve filmed, Miami, Memphis, Birmingham, and Dallas for sure. Seems like every time there’s two cops in the interview room and there’s a room with cops watching a monitor during questioning. Often the cops in that other room strategize and suggest alternate questions for the suspect.
I’ll have to watch more closely to see if the cops carry guns in the interview room. I don’t think they do, but I haven’t really noticed either.
I feel bad for the cop’s family. His mistake cost not only his life but also the suspects. The best outcome would have been questioning the guy and then booking him if the evidence supported it.
I’m always surprised at how calm the homicide cops are. They may have a suspect that just killed a mom and young daughter. The cop will come in ask if they want anything to drink, chit chat a moment and then ask questions. All meant to put the suspect at ease and talking.
I’ve rarely seen cops get aggressive while questioning. Maybe because *The Next 48 cameras *were there, 
but usually the cops use the supportive, I’m here to help, tell the truth and don’t make this worse, approach.
Pretty meaningless, but in all the thousands of cop shows I’ve seen, I don’t recall a single one showing a cop taking his gun off before going in to interview a suspect.
Why would you need a gun whilst interviewing somebody ?
You shouldn’t, but taking the gun off would be a pretty unusual thing in an average cop’s working day. Maybe it would be different for a detective who probably spends more time at a desk in the station than a uniform cop, though.
There’s some cops that post here. They could provide more information on dealing with suspects. The rules may be different for a robbery suspect versus a homicide suspect. I don’t know.
I have seen several documentaries on prisons and they mentioned that guards never carry guns when they are in with the inmates. A group of twenty inmates could easily over power a couple guards and then have weapons. The armed guards are up in the towers where the inmates can’t get at them.