Don’t Let Them Claim Uvalde’s Police Failure Was Just a Local Problem
One remarkable aspect of the coverage of the Uvalde shooting is how quickly the narrative has gone from one of praising police heroics to one of exposing complete, total, and shameful failure on the part of the law enforcement agents. Simultaneously, the excuses made by police apologists have repeatedly changed as well.
Among these excuses has been the claim that the Uvalde police were just a small-town force, and that with better funding—they always call for more funding—then police won’t make these “mistakes.” It is also claimed that larger, state and federal police personnel would never have the same problems.
Thanks to the report released this week by the Texas Department of public safety, we now know that a majority of law enforcement officers at the Uvalde massacre were from state and federal agencies, and the total number of law enforcement personnel numbered a remarkable 376 officers. Yet, even as these “first responders” continued to amass personnel and equipment, they chose to prioritize officer safety over the safety of children.
Clearly, the excuses offered about an “underfunded” and undersized local police force hold no water. The presence of dozens of well-armed state troopers and federal officers did not lead to immediate action against a single untrained gunman. This was a systemwide failure of law enforcement. Yet, unfortunately, the narrative over the behavior of law enforcement at Uvalde has zeroed in making excuses based on the idea it’s all entirely the fault of a small number of local officials.
Nearly 400 Law Enforcement Officers at Uvalde
This was no matter of a small police force being overwhelmed by events. According to the Texas Tribune, the state’s report on Uvalde:
reveals for the first time that the overwhelming majority of responders were federal and state law enforcement: 149 were U.S. Border Patrol, and 91 were state police — whose responsibilities include responding to “mass attacks in public places.” There were 25 Uvalde police officers and 16 sheriff’s deputies. [School district police chief Pete] Arredondo’s school police force accounted for five of the officers on the scene. The rest of the forc
Article from Mises Wire
