CNN wrote:
-- The Florida police sergeant fired for possessing shooting targets resembling Trayvon Martin defended himself Sunday and said the targets were meant to be used as training aids for "no-shoot" situations.
Sgt. Ron King was fired from his job as a firearms instructor for the Port Canaveral Police Department on Friday after an internal review determined he possessed the paper targets and offered them to fellow officers for use during a firearms training session earlier this month.
"When informed of the basic facts, (I) found the entire situation unacceptable," John Walsh, the interim chief executive of the Canaveral Port Authority, told reporters Saturday. "It is not the type of behavior that I want a police officer to have on both a personal and professional level. I find his conduct intolerable and I demanded that the chief immediately start procedures to terminate this employee."
The paper targets show a faceless black hooded sweatshirt with a bull's-eye on the chest. In one hand is a can of iced tea and in the pocket is a pack of Skittles candy, the same items Martin was carrying when he was shot and killed last year in a case that has drawn national attention.
King, in a video statement posted online, said he bought the targets because the two items -- the Skittles and iced tea -- were not threatening, which meant the target could be used to help train officers when not to shoot a suspect.
King did not say where he bought the targets, but similar ones caused a controversy when they were first sold online a year ago.
"While others have used it as a novelty, I view it as a tool for scenario-based firearms training," King said. Using "real-life situations" as training scenarios is not uncommon for firearms instructors, he said, and they help teach police how to respond to incidents in the future.
Sgt. Ron King was fired from his job as a firearms instructor for the Port Canaveral Police Department on Friday after an internal review determined he possessed the paper targets and offered them to fellow officers for use during a firearms training session earlier this month.
"When informed of the basic facts, (I) found the entire situation unacceptable," John Walsh, the interim chief executive of the Canaveral Port Authority, told reporters Saturday. "It is not the type of behavior that I want a police officer to have on both a personal and professional level. I find his conduct intolerable and I demanded that the chief immediately start procedures to terminate this employee."
The paper targets show a faceless black hooded sweatshirt with a bull's-eye on the chest. In one hand is a can of iced tea and in the pocket is a pack of Skittles candy, the same items Martin was carrying when he was shot and killed last year in a case that has drawn national attention.
King, in a video statement posted online, said he bought the targets because the two items -- the Skittles and iced tea -- were not threatening, which meant the target could be used to help train officers when not to shoot a suspect.
King did not say where he bought the targets, but similar ones caused a controversy when they were first sold online a year ago.
"While others have used it as a novelty, I view it as a tool for scenario-based firearms training," King said. Using "real-life situations" as training scenarios is not uncommon for firearms instructors, he said, and they help teach police how to respond to incidents in the future.
So, the firearms instructor says he bought the targets as a way of teaching when not to shoot. But the "chief executive" (whatever that is within a police department), claims that the investigation shows conduct unbecoming.
So either the instructor is a douchebag for shooting at these or he was perfectly responsible and the chief is a douchebag for overreacting and being a weiner.
Here's a picture of the targets.
What say you CSFMB?
first thing i thought of too