In reality, police officers in the United States are the most looked into and evaluated persons around. Both physical, mental, background, personality, family, etc are tested, screened, interviewed, evaluated, compaired. ect....

What other occupations are like this? Not many.

It can take a year to get a LE job in most instances due to the screening process.

***Though, the screening process is not perfect*****

I can speculate on how and why anyone would hire a 20 year old to be an officer. Not enough life experience IMO. There may be instances when hiring guys from the active military, who have been around on their own and in rough situations, yet are young, as officers. I just have yet to know many early 20 something's with the maturity and life experience to be placed in such a variety of situations police officers now days are.

IF I am rambling, sorry. Lack of sleep.

I know the cops in Germany are screened well. The ones I ever saw were atleast 6 feet plus tall, lots of muscles too.

Then again there is no such thing as police brutality in Germany. You do as they say or you get a baton across the head.

It happens elsewhere, too. Like in my town (Finland).

A police captain, (not sure if that is correct title, it´s "kommissaario" in finnish) lost it when his wife wanted divorce. One night he went to the police station to get his service weapon. Then climbed via the balcony in to his ex-wifes apartment and shot and killed her. Then shot and wounded ex-wifes new companion (he survived) and finally killed himself.

They left two children. Imagine what they felt loosing both parents like that.

I agree with you on this point. Saying "Another major shooting incident in Crandon, Wisconsin" makes about as much sense as saying "Another major shooting incident in Dunblane, Scotland." Wording it that way is just being provocative in my opinion. No surprise there though.

A side note, the suicide rate for police is going up at an alarming rate ( stat source ). Why? Who knows. I have my own ideas, but might be wrong (I was wrong once, years ago, but that is another story). In this (and related) case, it just might be that a suicidal cop decided to take someone along with him...

Question...what does all this have to do with survival/preparedness?

What we should be discussing:

Could this tragedy have been prevented? What steps could the victims have taken during the incident to get away and/or defend themselves?

"Is it just my perception or are more people choosing to kill innocent people whenever a girlfriend dumps them or they feel slighted or under-appreciated?"

America has become a nation of children. The last couple of generations are truly scary. If they want something, they just take it. If someone insults them, they kill them or destroy their property. They have no sense of responsibility, no morals, no respect for others, little real education ... in other words, a bunch of two-year-olds having temper tantrums.

There was a section in a book I read about the division and lack of real interaction of the family: kids are imprisoned in schools for much of the day (to no real beneficial effect), both parents work, the old people are incarcerated in old-folks' internment camps. When families were together, they had support, they had sounding boards of other opinions to fall back on, life knowledge that could be passed on from the ones who had been through it. When you were going through a scary part of life, there was a hand on your shoulder to guide and assure you, you knew someone was there, that someone cared.

Now, the kids grow up by themselves. The parents are out of touch with what is really going on, with what their kids are really doing. The old folks look at the photos on their table, long for their family and wish for a quick death.

We are ruled by greed and idiocy, and allow it to happen. Divide the family and conquer the country.

Rome fell. America is on the verge. If this isn't survival-oriented, what is?

Sue

The last couple of generations are truly scary.

I'm among those generations, and me and my friends turned out OK. Please try not to be so general in your accusations. There were more murders and violent crime per capita in the 60's/70's (when the baby boomers were coming of age) if I'm not mistaken. I think these things get more attention because of the ease/variety with which the images and stories can be delivered to us...200 channels of TV, the Net, phones, everyone has a video camera, etc.

But back to the real topic of discussion...could a simple locked door helped prevent this tragedy? A concealed weapon? Many of the details are sketchy still, but my guess is that no one saw this coming.

Hi NightHiker,

What an absolute tragedy. So many young lives cut short once again. Emotional imaturity and mental instability coupled with easy access to assault weapons is a heady mixture. It appears there are are no easy answers in preventing this or future incidents.

an hour and 2 x 911 calls with no police showing up.....

although i can't say I'm too surprised, last time I had to call 911, i was first put on hold then transferred 3 times, and finally had to call back (yes, to be transferred many times again) to get a word on the incident resolution.

One thing certainly prevails here, and that is the absolute pointlessness of any gun control argument. Or would we really want to go about disarming our law enforcement groups?

I am also reminded of Brigette Fonda's role in "Point of No Return". She started out just being a wasted murderer, got shot in the leg just to get her attention, then finally found something to live for.