By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green Police Chief Tony Hetrick remembers well the two times he came close to shooting suspects. One was a BGSU student with an airsoft gun. The other, a man wielding a samurai sword.
In both cases, the situations were resolved without any shots being fired. According to Hetrick, most police officers don’t take lethal force lightly.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time we are doing very routine things,” he said. “It’s scary “when a call comes in about someone with a gun.
Two officers on the city police department have had to shoot to kill. “It’s devastating to them,” the chief said.
But around the country, the last few weeks again saw black men being killed by police. And while the Bowling Green city and university police chiefs are very open about answering community questions, a special evening is being set up to allow for a community conversation with police.
The event, called “It’s Just Us: Real Talk with Real Cops,” will be sponsored by Not In Our Town BG on Oct. 14, at 6 p.m., in the BGSU Student Union theater, Room 206.
“The community, the whole county is starved for this kind of conversation,” said Rev. Gary Saunders, of NIOT.
The event will be an opportunity to talk with city and campus police about their policies and procedures.
After the shooting deaths in Tulsa and Charlotte, the local Not In Our Town organization released a statement.
“Not In Our Town BG stands with all who grieve following the deaths in Tulsa and Charlotte last week. We also witness to the deep feelings of anger, frustration and fear that these events have generated among people of color and others here in Bowling Green and on campuses and in communities around the country.”
The statement continued, “The tragedies of last week underscore the value of the cooperation and the partnership of the two police departments with NIOT-BG since our origin. But they also show that we in Bowling Green must continue with the hard work required to reject prejudice and violence in our town, and to become a community in which all people are not just included but are respected and safe.”
In an effort to keep communication open between the community and local law enforcement, Not In Our Town has helped sponsor the Coffee with Cops events. The forum on Oct. 14 is intended to give the community a further chance to talk about local and national issues.
Hetrick explained this past week that Bowling Green’s officers have gone through state-mandated training on diversity and implicit bias.
He also explained that most police use deadly force as a last resort. There are times when it may not appear so, but it is necessary. National standards allow police to use deadly force if a fleeing felon poses an imminent risk to the officer of someone else. As an example of this, Hetrick told of the escaped prison inmates in upstate New York last year.
But Hetrick added that the videotaped shooting of a man running from an officer in South Carolina did not qualify.
“That was totally unjustified,” he said.
“I think it’s important to note that mistakes happen,” the chief said.
Police are also justified in using deadly force if the person has the clear opportunity, intent and ability to do serious harm.
“They don’t have to shoot at you first for you to respond,” Hetrick said.
Many cases of controversial police actions are later found to be reasonable, the chief said.
“They’re all tragedies. I don’t want to minimize that.”
One of the times Hetrick came close to shooting a suspect occurred when a student had an airsoft gun that looked exactly like a real gun. When asked if he had a gun, the student replied, “yes,” and reached behind him to pull it out of his pants. He threw the gun to the side and lunged to the ground to surrender.
In the other incident, a man with a samurai sword was threatening officers. “He kept asking us to shoot him,” Hetrick said.
In both cases, Hetrick refrained from shooting and was glad he had. But he also realizes that not all situations can be resolved peacefully.
“They are very tense situations,” he said. “There’s not much time to think things through. You revert back to training.”
“It becomes very personal, very fast,” Hetrick said. “We all want to go home at night.”
Later in the month, Not In Our Town will hold a reaffirmation ceremony for the organization on Oct. 20. A Peace March will begin at noon at the corner of Main and Wooster streets, then walk on the sidewalk to the BGSU Student Union.
Later that day, at 4 p.m., the reaffirmation ceremony will be held in the Falcon’s Nest at the Union.
