How Many Cops Does It Take To Bring A Secured Suspect To The Courthouse?

For those who haven’t caught the news of late, this guman allegedly killed a judge, court reporter, a deputy and a federal agent.

This thread is not about if he did it, why he did it, etc.

It’s about why after he was captured and secured it took a cadre of cops, cars, vans, cops on cycles to transport him to the courthouse? At the time of his capture and transport there was no known evidence he was part of a larger group that might set out to free him enroute. All evidence, even this morning, indicates he acted alone.

Yet we watched on cable news yesterday of his transport to the courhouse. One might have thought there was a G7 summit meeting in Atlanta with the amount of firepower surrounding this guy. Why? Should out tax dollars and community protection be better spent by the authorities with a smaller number, have him transported unannounced to the public to the courthouse?

A show of force to deter others? Bulls*** Was this a macho thing? Sure, cops really get up in arms when one of their own goes down and I’m not arguing with that.

Or perhaps a too late response to something that should never have occurred in the first place? I say this because those same cable news shows that showed him being transported to the courthouse later began reporting that security at the courthouse had been terrible for years, and this tragedy was just waiting to happen. In fact, a number of former law enforcement officials went on camera to state the local authorities (sheriff?) should be drawn and quartered for their poor courthouse security. But that’s a separate issue.

So why the phalanx of cops during transport?

I’d say it was probably to reassure the public. If they had done a quiet transport, and something happened, they would have been crucified. This was probably a way of showing the public that they were being ultra-careful, and wouldn’t let such a thing happen again.

Secondly, it sounds like they practically called out the US Army when they arrested the guy-- the rest of the cops were probably just following along afterwards.

Did you see the footage of Lee Oswald getting shot by Jack Ruby? The Atlanta cops probably wanted to make sure that particular piece of history didn’t repeat itslef.

Complacency is always the fly in the ointment. Any job that is done over and over gets to be routine, nothing ever happens and people get complacent. That’s why airlines and the military are so strict about aircrews using the damn checklist. You do it over and over and it becomes a yawner and you start to get slapdash about the checklist and then IT happens.

Afterwards things tighten up. And time passes and it becomes routine … and the cycle repeats.

I didn’t see the footage. I saw it live. :slight_smile:

Oswald was escorted through an unsecured area through a bunch of people who were also not checked. It was an incident waiting to happen.

The suspect in the OP was being transported in a secured vehicle not only surrounded by other vehicles, but the roads were blocked, there was a large motorcade in front and rear and I will assume observed by police helicopters. More dangerous scum have been transported by lessor means.

How Many Cops Does It Take To Bring A Secured Suspect To The Courthouse?

50! Two to hold the suspect, and 48 to look tough for the cameras! :slight_smile: