What Don said!
Wow, a political agreement between someone from ultra liberal San Francisco
and someone from ultra conservative
Boise, Idaho!
(Not, necessary, implying the political leanings of either person.)
Taking the article at face value (for discussion only, as this was more of a political commentary than a news event) the perpetrator took merchandise from a store and escaped.
No mention that he was challenged or pursued, at the time of the crime. That was an hour ago. It's done. It's over. It's a police matter.
Now, an hour later, he is back. One can call the police. That's about it, for a petty crime. (Different, if he killed someone, an hour ago.) One can watch, and see if he does it, again.
If he does it, again, one can interfere. One could have interfered, the first time, for that matter. In Idaho, one can pursue, if he leaves, and can detain him if one can catch him. Deadly force is not permitted, if the crime was a misdemeanor. If he killed someone, and you saw it, took up pursuit, and are in continuous pursuit, you can use deadly force to protect yourself, in a capture. The event above does not qualify. You cannot start over, hours or days later.
I like this law, as it is. Too many mistakes made, otherwise. I would rather see a crook go free, than see an innocent person convicted.
Case in point: Within days of me switching from plain clothes to uniformed volunteer on the Boise PD, we had a homicide of a young woman. (Details omitted as not fit for this audience.) It occurred on my watch, my patrol area. I was furious!
We had a vague description that fit hundreds of park patrons. I could find no one, that I cared to call in about. Just too many of them!
A couple of days, later, we got a composit drawing. I was just sick! I had seen that guy!
I went out on patrol, drawing in hand. Within an hour, I spotted him. I passed on by, pulled over at what I thought was a distance that would not arouse his suspicion. I called it in. Within minutes I could see patrol cars positioning themselves, strategically. Then, they moved in. and, so did I. We had him!!!
Oops! It wasn't the killer! He had been taken into custody and then cleared, the day before. He saw the drawing, then, and agreed that it was a dead ringer, for him. He complained that he had been stopped five times, that day. He knew it was happening, again, when I spotted him. He had sat there, knowing that if he left, I would follow. He knew that if he ran, the stop would go nasty. He just waited to get it over with, one more time. I felt very sorry for him. Bad enough to be misidentified. Really bad, if it's a homicide.
What if some public spirited citizen had seen the drawing in the newspaper, seen the man who looked so good for it, and decided to - - - -.
Several of us advised him to trim his beard and his hair, a little, at least for a while.
That homicide is the only unsolved homicide left from my 10 year volunteer carreer.
Ray D
