Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Police Officer Bob Murphy watched everyone a little more closely Monday when he stopped at a convenience store for a Mountain Dew.
The killings of four Seattle-area police officers in a coffee shop Sunday morning lingered in the back of his mind, reminding him that he, too, could be a target while wearing his uniform in public.
“I kind of looked around more, just watching who was coming and going,” he said. “Every time the door opened, I looked to see who it was.”
A gunman killed the officers as they worked on their laptop computers at the beginning of their shifts. He spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop about 35 miles south of Seattle before fleeing, possibly with a bullet wound in the torso inflicted by one of the dying officers.
The suspect, Maurice Clemmons, 37, was described as increasingly erratic in the last few months and had been arrested recently on charges of assaulting a police officer. A sheriff’s spokesman told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons “made comments the night before to people that he was going to shoot police and watch the news.”
The apparently unprovoked deaths weighed on many Kansas City officers’ minds Monday as they went about their duties. Supervisors handed out copies of news articles Sunday and Monday to remind officers that the precautions they take every day are necessary.
“It’s a wake-up call,” Officer Megan Laffoon said after her roll call Monday at the East Patrol Division. “I don’t want to take things for granted.”
Officers can be most vulnerable while writing reports in their cars, where their laptops are mounted, said Capt. Rich Lockhart, a Kansas City police spokesman.
“Your attention is diverted from what’s going on around you,” he said. “You’ve got your head down, and you’re typing. Any other time, you’re usually expecting danger.”
To protect themselves, Kansas City officers back their cars near a wall before filling out reports so criminals cannot sneak up from behind. Officers try to find a place with two or three walls, if possible, to minimize the number of directions from which an assailant can attack.
At night, officers use dim lights in their cars while writing reports so as not to draw too much attention or make it hard to see out into the darkness. They also unbuckle their seat belts — to be ready for a quick exit.
In restaurants, officers prefer to sit in the back, facing the door.
Laffoon won’t meet relatives for dinner while wearing her uniform because it would be too hard to watch and protect everyone.
“That makes them a target, too,” she said.
Officer Michael Holsworth said people accuse officers of acting paranoid.
“We have a pretty good reason,” he said. “When I go into a room, I find all the exits and scan the crowd.”
Even while not wearing a uniform, Officer Andrew Henry said, police officers must be prepared for the worst.
“Who’s to say you’re not going to run into someone you arrested who recognizes you?” he said. “Only now, you’ve got no backup and no police radio. How we act at work is the same off duty as well.”
Sgt. Jonathan Hess said he was able to relax a little when he was assigned to the department’s internal affairs unit a few years ago. The building had limited access, even for officers, and he wore a business suit to work.
“A lot of the stress came off,” he said. “I didn’t have to be on guard always. I hadn’t realized how tense I was, and how my head was on a swivel constantly.”
But now Hess is back on the streets, supervising a crew of officers who discussed the Washington state shootings as they prepared for their night shift Monday. That crew included Laffoon.
“What strikes me is that it affects my family more,” Laffoon said.
“It heightens their concerns. They know I’m not just in danger when I’m on calls, but just sitting in my car, too.”
Copyright 2009 Kansas City Star