Wes's thoughts on Julie Schroeder and Don Doyle

It appears that Chief Knee has received his marching orders from the City Council and City Manager, or that Chief Knee has absolutely no faith in his officers.

The "activists" have demanded the ritual scapegoating of an Austin police officer and the High Priest, Stan Knee, has offered forth Officer Julie Schroeder to absolve the Department of its leadership failures.

It is true that the mere possession of marijuana and/or an active warrant for theft from a person probably do not warrant a summary trial and execution in the field. It is also true, though, that engaging in criminal activity and embracing a criminal lifestyle do have certain consequences. One of these consequences is, inevitably, heightened attention from law enforcement. With such attention and when engaging in criminal activity, the possibility of confrontation does increase exponentially. In short, the risk of being shot, whether by law enforcement or by another criminal, is a very real risk of being a criminal.

Chief Knee claims that Daniel Rocha had no criminal history to indicate violence. He then uses this reasoning to support his allegation that Officer Schroeder should not have shot suspect Rocha. I question this spurious logic. First, the mere absence of a conviction for a crime of violence does not indicate that one is peaceful. In addition, the active warrant that suspect Rocha had for "theft from a person" clearly indicates that the suspect was willing to physically take property from another person. This is but a small (and questionable) step from the violent crime of robbery.

Officer Julie Schroeder and Sergeant Dan Doyle have both been tried and convicted by the media (particularly the anti-law enforcement fishwrapper that calls itself Austin's daily newspaper), the militant minority activists who are nothing but apologists for the thug culture infecting East Austin, and the "civil rights" community which believes in due process for everyone except law enforcement. In such a politically charged environment, Knee was either ordered or placed under pressure to indefinitely suspend (i.e., fire) Officer Schroeder and suspend Sergeant Doyle.

One can only hope that due process will prevail should Officer Schroeder choose to exercise her right to appeal to an independent arbitrator. In fact, her chance of success may be better than expected, as Officer Scott Glasgow was reinstated after being politically sacrificed on the altar of expediency by Chief Knee.

Why does APD have issues with the use of deadly force? I would assert that APD's use of force policy is far stricter than is necessary under Texas state law. I would refer one to Chapter 9 of the Texas Penal Code, which authorizes deadly force in many more situations that APD policy allows. Interestingly, at one point, the Texas Department of Public Safety's use of force policy merely referred the trooper to Chapter 9 of the Penal Code. Second, APD may apparently have a training problem, either in the academy or in the field training program. I find this may be the case, having seen that APD academy staff are at least partially "hand-picked" by APD management to present a politically correct training program. The field training program has been broken for years, namely by the lack of experienced officers remaining in patrol slots, and many of the current crop of FTOs having as few as two years patrol experience.

Chief Knee himself states in his press release that Officer Schroeder and Sergeant Doyle have been truthful throughout the entire investigative process. As I have understood it, the prime quality for any public servant should be integrity. Since Chief Knee had no reason to doubt the integrity of Officer Schroeder, I find it difficult to believe that he does not think her career is completely unsalvagable. Rather, Chief Knee has determined that the firing of an honest officer and the long-term suspension of another is the Danegeld that he must pay to avoid further repercussions from the activists in Austin who will not be satisfied until APD is thoroughly emasculated in its efforts to address street crime.

There are two lessons that continue to ring true in this case. First, engaging in criminal activity has very real consequences, up to and including death. Suspect Rocha chose his path and the results are clear. Second, Stan Knee and his bosses (Toby Futrell and the City Council) choose to pander to a vocal minority who would rather see the police toothless than to see a productive police force. The results of this are clear as well. There are many areas in Austin jokingly referred to as "no white boy zones." This is not racism, but rather a gallows sense of humor in recognizing that a criminal element controls these areas of Austin.