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Sports See other Sports Articles Title: When the SWAT team you founded kills your son-in-law Decades after starting a SWAT team, Utahn William "Dub" Lawrence is now fighting the militarization of American police Former sheriff: 'I felt betrayed by my profession' 4:58 DAVIS COUNTY, Utah – William “Dub” Lawrence doesn't shy away from dirty work. Unclogging the drains of sewage pits isn’t exactly how the 70-year-old planned to spend his golden years, but neither is his work investigating killings by police officers. “I witnessed my son-in-law killed by the SWAT team I founded,” he said. In 1974, Lawrence was elected sheriff of Davis County – in the northern suburbs of Salt Lake City. A year later, he launched the department’s first SWAT team, a specialized unit he envisioned for deescalating high-risk situations. His preference was to resolve conflict without force, and his reputation for integrity became local lore. (He once wrote himself a parking ticket.) “Andy Griffith is the right way to do it,” he told America Tonight, referring to the classic small-town sitcom cop. “He defused everything. He was a peace officer.” But what happened one afternoon at his daughter’s home in Farmington, Utah, was a far cry from life in Mayberry. In 2008, Lawrence’s son-in-law, Brian Wood, 36, had a mental breakdown after a fight with his wife, barricaded himself in his truck when police arrived and threatened suicide. What followed was a 12-hour standoff, covered wall-to-wall by local media. Lawrence arrived quickly, responding in seven minutes, he says. He offered help, but was told to stand back. The former sheriff assured his family they could trust the two officers on the scene. But that confidence evaporated as the police presence quickly grew to dozens. More than 100 police officers showed up including 46 from the SWAT team Lawrence founded. Sharpshooters perched on nearby roofs and military hardware rolled in. Far from defusing the situation, the SWAT team’s actions were actually escalating it, Lawrence said, counter to everything he had preached decades earlier. “I was cursing, saying, ‘What the hell are you doing? What the hell are you doing?’” he said. Police tried using tear gas and flash-bang grenades to get Wood to surrender. Lawrence said that his son-in-law was both badly wounded and unarmed as the standoff continued. By 10 p.m., Wood was dead, killed by police gunfire. Lawrence says the final shot was fired by a sniper on the ground. William "Dub" Lawrence William "Dub" Lawrencecourtesy: "Peace Officer" In local media coverage, police officials said they didn't intend to make the scene resemble a war zone. “Basically, I felt betrayed by my profession,” Lawrence said. Wade Lake, a longtime friend of Wood's, called the situation horrible, telling the Deseret News police behaved "just like someone tormenting an animal in a cage." Law enforcement and the Davis County Attorney's Office ruled the shooting as justified. Wrongful death lawsuits filed by Wood’s family were dismissed. Lawrence maintains the police were too quick to shoot. With so many officers surrounding his son-in-law, they should have been able to walk him out without shooting him. From 2010 to November 2014, 45 people were killed by police in Utah – more than the number of Utahns killed by child abuse or gang- and drug-related violence. All but one were found justified – and but the criminal charge was dismissed, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Lawrence is investigating a handful of those shootings and says he thinks he can prove they defied official police protocol. One case is scheduled for civil trial in July. Basically, I felt betrayed by my profession. William "Dub" Lawrence Convinced Wood’s shooting was unjustified, Lawrence has been on a mission to prove that. In an airport hangar that serves his command center, Lawrence stores hundreds of photos, binders and videos, all of which he’s studied meticulously. “This is all the evidence the police missed,” he said. “All of this should have been collected and placed in [evidence] because you have a homicide. Sometimes, the police don’t collect evidence because it may incriminate them.” Filmmakers Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber made Lawrence the centerpiece of “Peace Officer,” a documentary detailing the militarization of American police. On Tuesday, the film was named the grand jury winner in the South By Southwest festival's documentary feature competition. “We like the metaphor with him owning a septic tank company and he’s kind of doing the dirty work in our society,” Christopherson said. When he’s not running his septic business, Lawrence has become a one-man police watchdog – investigating other shootings, uncovering what he says is evidence of cover-ups by law enforcement. He has also become a critic of the increasingly military posture of police, including the SWAT team he created. Thanks to military surplus shopping, many police departments are beginning to look like they are better suited for Fallujah than Farmington. “Congress never voted to militarize the police and I think that catches people off guard,” said Barber, one of the “Peace Officer” filmmakers. “They don’t remember being consulted as citizens as to how Special Forces would be used in an increasingly military way and no states right now are looking at serious reform, or at least public oversight. Utah is one of the first that is even tracking how they are being used.” Lawrence says there is a legitimate reason to have a SWAT unit. But the present- day incarnation of that team is not what he envisioned. “They’ve gone too far,” he said. “People across the country are experiencing the same thing I’ve experienced and they have no voice.” Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Ada (#0)
What's interesting about this, if not funny or ironic, is how none of these people crying up crocodile tears, and I include the founder of Blackwater, is that they were all seemingly perfectly fine with this police state making the inroads that it had while on their watch for whatever their reasons, likely plural, were. Either they're too stupid to recognize developing patterns and trends, in which case they were too stupid to do what they did, or they're infinitely disingenuous. It's their mess, hopefully it hammers on them the most! Period. Then let them lead the charge in spilling the most blood, or their own kin, in cleaning the shit up! I have no patience for dishonesty, lack or morality, much less highly developed idiocy.
Yeah, that's right, there's been a whole helluva a lot of "should have's" during the entire cycle, much of which you were a big part of. Funny, kinda like all of the people working for, and making tremendously handsome incomes and retirements, from crafting the very products and services that will soon render their own liberty obsolete. The river of crocodile tears starts usually when they retire.
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