“In the five years since 20 students and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Connecticut State Police have been unable to complete a report that law enforcement across the country look for when preparing for future incidents of extreme violence,” cbsnews.com reports. While I have nothing but contempt for Sandy Hook hoaxers . . .
the delay suggests that the Connecticut State Police are engaged in some kind of cover-up, most likely of their own incompetence. Check this:
The status of [the State Police’s] after-action report, which would likely include analysis of any mistakes made during the police response, is a mystery — as first reported by the Hartford Courant.
Former State Police Col. Danny Stebbins, who before his retirement in 2014 oversaw the investigation into the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting, said in a phone call with CBS News that a draft of the after-action report was completed at least two and half years ago . . .
In response to questions from CBS News, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut State Police confirmed that a draft of the after-action report was completed, but that it has yet to be cleared by [Connecticut State Police commissioner Dora] Schriro.
The spokeswoman said the agency is unable to provide an estimated completion date, and wouldn’t comment on which departments or troopers are still working on the report.
The delay raises questions about the State Police response to the spree killer’s attack. Quoting “sources familiar with the [unreleased] preliminary report,” the Courant highlights several issues, including this:
State police dispatchers at Troop A in Southbury were inundated with calls from troopers seeking directions to the school, causing calls to be transferred to the Litchfield barracks, which could have led to critical delays in response.
The attack’s official timeline reports that the school called 911 at 9:35am. A Newtown police officer arrived on the scene just four minutes later. The “final shot” is heard one minute after that. Four minutes after the shot, nine minutes after the first 911 call, two officers enter the school.
According to this sequence of events, three Newtown officers “lost” one minute of time when they could have entered the school and interrupted/eliminated the shooter.
Who knows how many students could have been saved if the first or eventual three Newtown police officers had proceeded straight to the shooter? But we know that not doing so was a mistake.
A strategic error that police around the country have been warned against, with the Columbine massacre held as an example of what not to do.
As for the State Police and their missing report, we don’t know exactly when their officers arrived on scene. I suspect that the admission that there “might” have been “critical delays in response” accounts for the CT State Police’s ongoing and shameful lack of transparency.
The Sandy Hook spree killing could have been — should have been — a teachable moment.
We know for a fact that the killer, a deranged boy with a lifelong history of serious mental health issues, was ignored, neglected and isolated; allowing his murderous plans to fester. We know that Sandy Hook Elementary school was completely defenseless against an armed attack.
And we must suspect that the police response to the attack was less-than-ideal.
We owe it to the memory of all those who lost their life in the attack to face any and all shortcomings that enabled this horrific violence. A debt that I suspect will never be paid.