Police Accountability in Fredericktown, MO
This post comes to us from Spirit of 46 – a frequent contributor to CopBlock.org who shares a somewhat unusual story. He notes:
“I think we have all heard that the police have no duty to respond or render assistance. One dept in the USA is holding their deputies accountable. Two deputies have been suspended WITHOUT pay for failing to respond to 911 calls about a man who was injured from an assault. For all the nay-sayers here is a department taking steps that seem reasonable.”
From KY3.com out of Fredericktown, MO:
Two deputies from eastern Missouri’s Madison County are suspended without pay for allegedly failing to respond to 911 calls about a man badly injured in a fight.
KFVS-TV (http://bit.ly/QeEhiQ ) reports that Deputy Luke Nichelson is suspended for 10 days, and Deputy Steve Robinson for five.
Court documents show that earlier this month, David Montgomery was involved in a fight with another man and was knocked out. Two 911 calls were made to Madison County dispatch, but Montgomery says it was 18 hours before help arrived.
He was badly injured with a broken jaw and was airlifted to a St. Louis hospital.
It isn’t clear why the deputies failed to respond. The man who struck Montgomery is charged with first-degree assault.
Madison County Sheriff’s Department
1 Court Square
Fredericktown, MO 63645
sheriff@madisoncountymo.us
573-783-2234
For more related, check out the search results for “police have no duty to protect 911”
What I’d ask you to consider is that this situation – police being held accountable for their failure to provide service, would not be an anomaly if the provision of law enforcement were not monopolistic. To clarify: if you had the ability to choose from different protection providers they’d have an incentive to actually meet and exceed their stated promise. If they didn’t, you could fire them or cancel your contract with them and move on. That, to me, sounds like a better alternative. -Pete
