Police chief admits force 'mishandled' investigation into teen truck driver who hit six cyclists

The bullshit is so strong in this I can smell it from here

Here's some comments from the DA's statement: https://jalopnik.com/district-attorney-accuses-waller-police-of-mishandl...

DA wrote:

This case was not handled appropriately by the investigating agency. PERIOD. Despite being encouraged by the Texas Department of Public Safety to treat the scene as a crime scene and to contact the D.A.‘s Office for advice on how to proceed, the investigating agency chose not to do so. The actions of the Texas Department of Public Safety on scene were professional and we are thankful they were there to assist. We are also working with the Waller County Sheriff’s Office to gather the evidence they are able to provide as they arrived on scene to backup Waller P.D. Sheriff Guidry has been most helpful in this regard.

Also

DA wrote:

There has been some online and community speculation that the incident was handled in the manner it was because of connections between the motorist and Waller city officials. At this point we can confirm there are some connections, but have yet to see evidence of a city official directing the officer on the scene as to how to handle this particular situation. We will continue to look for any such criminal interference as the investigation proceeds.

I'm puzzled as to how the perp's family arrived on scene before the police did.

"To put it quite simply, they were due to a lack of knowledge on our part and those shortcomings are being dealt with internally and will not be repeated..."

Lack of knowledge that driving into cyclists and seriously injuring them is a crime?  Sorry, they're going to have to try a bit harder than that.

Still all sounds like a load of shit to me. Like someone trying to save themselves. What's worse, corruption or pure ineptitude? The whole police force should be fired because you can bet they'll have done something like this before and will no doubt do it again.

The problem with the UK police is that its populated with pure fuckwits who couldn't be arsed doing anything even if the law allowed them to.

It is encouraging that a police chief faces the issues and takes the hit to some extent.  However, a degree of back-pedalling as you cross the finish line will lose the race:

Quote:

"A large part of being professional, is being accountable... however; none of the deficiencies that have been identified were due to poor policy or procedure within the department.

"To put it quite simply, they were due to a lack of knowledge on our part and those shortcomings are being dealt with internally and will not be repeated...

So they were due to poor policy/procedure, because officer training and review is, or should be, part of that policy & procedure. The fact that those are apparently being addressed now is positive, but it does not mean this was solely the responsibility of an individual or group of individuals.

Quote:

Because officers use a sense of humour as a protective measure and because they have to prioritise their mission over sentiment, they are often accused of being insensitive.

Unless a police force sees its mission as including being sensitive to the untrained victims of incidents, then it is failing its mission.

Barrack room bants is OK in the barrack room - we all get that it goes on and why; but if that attitude spreads out onto the street or social media, or it prevents officers completing an effective investigation, then they are not only insensitive but negligent.

Do you know what -  on the basis of that I would be prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, providing someone is charged soon.

It seems more honest than the PR massaged anodyne statements you would get from Ms Dick or another UK Chief Constable.