I think about him all the time and think about his family and wish them nothing but the best. I hope that they are doing well. They have suffered alot of loss and I hope that they have some peace in their lives.

Scott may not know it, but he will be very missed by many. He was a good person who was a little lost at times, but did not deserve this.

To his wife, I hope you and the girls are doing OK. You are in my prayers often.

God Bless Scott Osler! I hope that he is resting easy with his Father Bob, Brother Ralph and Uncle Frank and Aunt Ruth as well as his great Aunt Reba and great Uncle Jim.

Rest Easy Scott, you are missed.

I hope we have all learned a lesson from this tragic event.

I was thinking about Scott yesterday and decided to do a search on him today.

You all take care.

Earl in Arlington Texas where it’s not California…

Peace

Hope the following helps in your efforts.

Department of Justice Police Misconduct Pattern or Practice Program

-The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. 14141 (”Section 14141″), authorizes the Attorney General to conduct investigations and, if warranted, file civil litigation to eliminate a “pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers … that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” The Attorney General has delegated the authority to enforce this statute to the Civil Rights Division.

-Section 14141 makes a governmental authority directly responsible for a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct by its law enforcement officers. As a result, a court can order a governmental authority to take actions to eliminate the unlawful pattern or practice.

-Our pattern or practice investigations involve a comprehensive evaluation of the agency’s policies, procedures and actual practices impacting on the areas in which there are allegations of misconduct. Our investigations include examination of specific incidents that may be pieces of an alleged pattern of misconduct and civil rights violations. In general, we review the following kinds of information:

-We conduct in-depth interviews with the police command staff, representatives of police labor organizations, persons who believe that they have been subject to police misconduct, lawyers and community leaders who have dealings with the police department, and individual officers.
-We evaluate the agency’s education and training programs and curricula regarding areas involving alleged misconduct. We may attend relevant education and training sessions.
-We review the agency’s written policies and practices, as well as any systems for reporting or otherwise memorializing specific officer actions in the areas of alleged misconduct. We review implementation of these systems.
-We review the agency’s systems for monitoring and supervising officers, including any procedures and systems to inform supervisors of officer actions in areas of alleged misconduct. We also review any procedures and systems providing for supervisory feedback to officers on the propriety of such actions. We review implementation of these procedures and systems.
-We analyze the agency’s formal procedures and actual practices for receiving, investigating, and adjudicating citizen complaints. We also assess the agency’s records regarding how complaints are adjudicated and whether and to what extent discipline is imposed or non-disciplinary corrective action is taken in appropriate cases.

Ralph:
There is no need to feel for my family, as we are not the ones who lost a dad. I appreciate your criticism of “blaming police” but I clearly stated up front that I was writing from emotion, and that it seemed that it was incompetence or poor training that would result in death by gunfire when threatened with a knife.

Dan:
I feel that your opening line is over the top, nonetheless I will agree that there are circumstances that could have led to the shooting that would be justifiable under the law. Police, like many public employees are under extreme scrutiny especially because of the power they wield.

I respect those doing their best and risking themselves to try and make the world a safer place. If the police in this case are not guilty of negligence or misconduct, I hope that the investigations will rightly determine that.

I didn’t forsee this entry growing into a discourse as it has, and in honor of the family, request that we not debate the case any longer. If you have positive or negative feedback for the PD, send it to them.

I’ll close with a quote from the Ventura PD from the followup story in the Star:

Sheriff’s deputies are not releasing the amount of time they spent trying to persuade Osler to put down the knife because it is under investigation, Nishimoto said.

The department’s lethal force policy is the same for knives as it is for firearms, he said.

“There isn’t a separate policy or procedure with a knife attack versus an attack with a gun — both are potentially lethal,” he said. “When our deputies pull their service weapons, at that level of threat, they are trained to shoot to stop. Sometimes it results in death. Sometimes it results in major injury.”

“A knife attack isn’t instantaneous as with a firearm, but most people overestimate how much time you have to respond with a knife,” Nishimoto said. “Certainly a bullet flies faster than a knife, but our deputies don’t have the luxury of time.”

The Sheriff’s Department will conduct its own investigation into the shooting, as will the District Attorney’s Office. Once both inquiries are completed, prosecutors will determine whether the shooting was justified.

May Scott rest in peace, may his family be surrounded by care and support, and may the whole truth be known at least to them, justice clear and evident.

Do you know how fast a man with a knife can move 10 feet?

Do you realize how many law enforcement personnel are killed or wounded on domestic violence calls?

These are just a few questions I would ask.

If the man would’t have had a knife this wouldn’t have happend, period. I think it’s time for people to take some personal resposability and stop blaming the cops all the time.