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Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

washingtonpost.com

21–30 of 123 posts

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a hostage situation. Was the 5 year old boy, not a hostage to his crazed, gun-wielding mother in this standoff? I love Monday morning quarterbacks.

>I love Monday morning quarterbacks. honest question, what does this mean?

Might have something to do with this[0]

>The definition of a Monday morning quarterback is someone who is always criticizing and saying how he would have done something better or differently after the event has passed.

[0] http://www.yourdictionary.com/monday-morning-quarterback

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#22

This seems entirely appropriate. It would be consistent with the practice of news outlets sometimes not showing an ongoing police operation live.

The normal justification (the only I've heard) for that is you don't want to give the suspects an advantage. Clearly that justification doesn't apply when the suspect is the one livestreaming it.

Can you give another justification?

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#23
post #22

This seems entirely appropriate. It would be consistent with the practice of news outlets sometimes not showing an ongoing police operation live.

The normal justification (the only I've heard) for that is you don't want to give the suspects an advantage. Clearly that justification doesn't apply when the suspect is the one livestreaming it. Can you give another justification?

Input received from other viewers that would hinder the police. "Don't forget to check the backdoor", "Your safety is on", "They won't shoot if your child is in front of you".

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#24
> According to a police report from the March stop, which the department released after the shooting, Gaines was stopped when an officer saw that in place of a license plate she had a piece of cardboard on her vehicle. The cardboard declared, “Any Government official who compromises this pursuit to happiness and right to travel, will be criminally responsible and fined, as this is a natural right and freedom.”

So she was a Sovereign Citizen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement)? http://heavy.com/news/2016/08/korryn-gaines-instagram-videos... quotes her spouting more of the sovereign citizen legal gobbledegook. Apparently there's even a black version of all this stuff: http://www.rawstory.com/2014/08/sovereign-citizens-express-f...

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#25
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed - why would social media be treated any differently than disconnecting phone lines or mobile phones during standoffs and negotiations?

Perhaps because it is against the law for local authorities to shut down telecommunications? https://www.publicknowledge.org/news-blog/blogs/why-shutting... "More than seventy years ago, Congress made a choice to take that option away from local authorities. It conferred jurisdiction on the FCC and the state Public Utility Commissions to provide oversight, and gave everyone a federally protected right to access the p…

But to be fair, in this situation they asked Facebook which is allowed to block/disable any account on their service that they want.

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#26
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a hostage situation. Was the 5 year old boy, not a hostage to his crazed, gun-wielding mother in this standoff? I love Monday morning quarterbacks.

The police could have left her alone and come back later. They were in her house, and she was only threatening to harm the officers, not her child.

Again, I love that Monday morning quarterbacking.

Crazed gunman? Come back later. Crazed gunman with a kid? Come back later. Crazed fugitive gunman with a warrant out, with a kid, threatening to kill police? Let them settle down, come back later.

There was outrage in my town over a standoff with a guy (with kids) who was having attempted to be served on him by the cops for the dozenth time after a year on the lam, for driving drunk and unlicensed while out on bail for a previous serial drunk-driving arrest. He shot at the cops, screamed that he wouldn't be taken alive, and the cops secured the area, and the guy shot himself in the head. People said they should have left and come back later.

Makes a lot of sense.

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#27
post #22

This seems entirely appropriate. It would be consistent with the practice of news outlets sometimes not showing an ongoing police operation live.

The normal justification (the only I've heard) for that is you don't want to give the suspects an advantage. Clearly that justification doesn't apply when the suspect is the one livestreaming it. Can you give another justification?

The negotiator is going to try to work with the suspect. If the suspect is communicating with people online that could undermine the negotiations and make the situation much more dangerous for both.

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#28
post #11

I wonder if there was a way to resolve this standoff without her death. I.e. letting her shoot all the shotgun shells she has, or just waiting until she gets tired and slips up, gets hungry, etc. Yeah, it requires a lot of patience but hey, you can save a human life. I don't think she would have harmed her kid so waiting in cover seems like a relatively safe thing to do?

if police are about to shoot, and have good cause to, then it would seem reasonable that they be allowed to use sleep gas or tranquilizer, similar to what doctors use during operation. Seems better than killing them.

Downside could be lawsuites against the police for "damages" that the sleep gas caused.

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#29
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The police could have left her alone and come back later. They were in her house, and she was only threatening to harm the officers, not her child.

Again, I love that Monday morning quarterbacking. Crazed gunman? Come back later. Crazed gunman with a kid? Come back later. Crazed fugitive gunman with a warrant out, with a kid, threatening to kill police? Let them settle down, come back later. There was outrage in my town over a standoff with a guy (with kids) who was having attempted to be served on him by the cops for the dozenth time after a year on the lam, fo…

[deleted]

Re: Police had woman’s Facebook deactivated during standoff

#30
post #7

Tragic and unfortunate, all around. I wonder what FB's policy on this will be going forward. In many ways, these livestreams are a public good and provide transparency and additional accountability in these situations. If people elect to stream them, it seems wrong to shut it down. On the other hand, perhaps there is a public good in not showing an ongoing live police operation? I think I'd lean toward not agreeing t…

> perhaps there is a public good in not showing an ongoing live police operation?

Fair enough, but maybe just delay any posts of an active operation, instead of censoring them?

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