You catch them? When does this happen? After they already raped, killed, or mugged someone?
Thanks for being there to write a report and get those bad guys months if not years.
Go team!
The below is just one example. Suspect had fired shots at his girlfriend, had led police on a pursuit, was about to carjack some innocent citizens who happened to cross his path, had them at gunpoint when the officer took the shot. So yeah, we catch them...
By Claudia Grisales | Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 01:15 PM
Austin police and city officials this morning awarded Cpl. Javier Bustos, who wounded an armed man following a September police pursuit, the medal of valor, a departmental recognition used to honor courage displayed while on the duty.
On Sept. 25, Bustos shot Pat Allen Faith in the shoulder when Faith raised his gun at other drivers in Southeast Austin following a high-speed chase with police, officials have said. Faith then shot and killed himself, police said.
“What was displayed that day was true bravery,” Police Chief Art Acevedo said before presenting the award to Bustos with Mayor Lee Leffingwell at his side. “Cpl. Bustos did what we trained him to do.”
The award comes days after former Travis County Sheriff Margo Frasier, in her first review as the newly installed police monitor, criticized certain actions of officers and raised concerns about a series of communication failures among 911 operators connected to the September incident.
Acevedo has said his department continues to review the events of that night, while Sgt. Wayne Vincent, president of the Austin police union, has described Frasier’s comments as unreasonable “second-guessing.”
In her memo, Frasier agreed that Bustos appropriately used deadly force.
On Wednesday, Bustos expressed gratitude for the honor, following a standing ovation from dozens of fellow officers, family and friends who attended the event at a police training center in Southeast Austin.
“If I could take this medal and break it into little pieces, I would give it to the people involved that night” along with those who trained me, Bustos said upon receiving the award. “Those officers involved that night, those are my heroes.”
Note: This story has been edited to correctly attribute a quote to Sgt. Wayne Vincent, president of the Austin police union.