LAPD Chief Charlie Beck
LOS ANGELES -- City officials offered a $1 million reward Sunday for information leading to the capture of fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner, accusing him of "domestic terrorism'' in targeting law enforcement officers and their families.
Police Chief Charlie Beck said the reward was the largest ever offered in Southern California and includes contributions from businesses and private individuals as well as public funds. Dorner has been accused by police of the shooting deaths of three people, one of them a police officer and another the daughter of a former officer.
"Why so large?'' Beck said. "This is an act, and make no mistake about it, of domestic terrorism. This is a man who has targeted those who we entrust to protect the public. His actions cannot go unanswered.''
USA Today
So, this guy is a terrorist. But just last week,
a white guy in Alabama killed somebody and took a 5 year old boy hostage. A SWAT team had to raid his heavily armed underground bunker in order to rescue the boy. He didn't know these people...just a purely random act of violence and kidnapping. But that guy...he was described as 'deranged.' That guy was 'crazy.' That guy 'snapped.' But this guy, he's a
terrorist. Somehow, he's become a
national security problem.
This is ridiculous on its face. Dorner is pretty clearly going after the LAPD. Random civilians aren't showing up dead. Since they haven't caught a very large well armed black man (astoundingly), now they're trying to hide their own failure behind terrorism. This is the furthest thing from political violence against random civilians.
The LAPD has handled this about as badly as one could expect from one of the worst police organizations in the nation. Shoddy detective work. Shooting up innocent civilians. Ramming vehicles. The LAPD's ridiculous display of hamfisted police work and pathetic attempts at professionalism is terrorising the public far more than Dorner is.
Time for the US Marshall and Federal authorities to take over this manhunt. Make no mistake, Dorner will be found eventually and be brought to justice for his crimes, which are several cases of regular old murder and attempted murder. But after that, federal corruption investigators need to do a thorough probe of the LAPD.