376 Cops
There were more cops present than rounds fired during the terrorist attack in Uvalde, Texas on May 24
An interim report issued by a Texas House Committee shows nearly 400 officers were present during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. State and federal law enforcement were on the scene along with local police amassing a major force from more than a dozen agencies and jurisdictions. The findings were highly critical of all agencies for waiting over an hour before engaging the mass shooter as he executed 19 children and 2 teachers.
The report further validates the theory that came about in the aftermath of the attack pointing to police prioritizing their lives over the victims' lives. The video from the school that was recently released also adds substantial evidence to this theory despite some of the law enforcement officers having children who attended the school. Newly released bodycam footage also confirms rumors that came about in the initial days after the attack that many officers assisted with evacuating the school while dozens of others waited to engage the shooter.
“These local officials were not the only ones expected to supply the leadership needed during this tragedy", the report said. "Hundreds of responders from numerous law enforcement agencies - many of whom were better trained and better equipped than the school district police - quickly arrived on the scene… [Other responders] could have helped address the unfolding chaos," the report continued.
Certainly, every agency bears responsibility and criticism. But, pundits arguing federal agencies should have taken control from school police chief Pedro "Pete" Arredondo without any clear guidelines for them to do so are ignoring the "systemic failures and egregious poor decision making" that were highlighted in the report. The true failure began when local and surrounding agencies didn't adhere to their active shooter guidelines and failed to provide leadership.
While the report points to systemic failures indicating that the focus will likely move to address where the so-called "system" broke down and how we're going to address it moving forward, it also unintentionally highlights blatant negligence by the police. Alongside the video, it exposes the indifference shown in that hallway for 73 unnecessary minutes as children were executed. It points to the cover-up culture behind the blue wall of silence and the damage it does.
It adds to the collective evidence that once again exposes the broad top-down disregard for human life in the US law enforcement apparatus. From the officers seemingly smiling or laughing to the officer getting hand sanitizer out of a dispenser in the hallway to the cops who fist-bumped each other, their behavior seems to border on the criminal. Yet, there has been very little in terms of disciplinary action against officers.
Absolving Uvalde Police
Chief Arrendondo was forced to resign from his newly elected position on the city council due to public pressure and wasn't placed on leave as chief until late June, nearly a month after the May 24, attack. Lt. Mariano Pargas, a Uvalde Police officer who was the acting police chief during the massacre, was placed on administrative leave after the most recent report was released.
After Pargas was put on leave, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin indicated that an investigation was being launched to determine whether Pargas should have taken command of the scene. In light of the new report, McLaughlin also assured the release of all body camera footage from Uvalde police that was recorded during the shooting. Offering yet another viewpoint into what happened that day and in an effort to seemingly absolve local police of wrongdoing.
At this point, including another perspective is unlikely to serve its intended purpose of vindicating the Uvalde police. The evidence we've seen has already proven damning in myriad ways. Worse than the ultimate display of cowardice is the proof that local police lied and continued to lie for weeks. There’s substantial proof of an obvious cover-up that other agencies - such as the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) - weren't interested in being a part of.
For all the misinformation and delays in providing the truth behind the investigation, the tit-for-tat war between McLaughlin trying to clear Uvalde cops of misconduct and Texas DPS boss Steve McCraw criticizing the police response has yielded powerful evidence on its own. As we learn more from this latest preliminary report that lays down a more definitive timeline, we must be careful to not shift away from the individual responsibilities of each officer.
“Other than the attacker, the Committee did not find any ‘villains’ in the course of its investigation,” the report said. “There is no one to whom we can attribute malice or ill motives. Instead, we found systemic failures and egregiously poor decision making.”
The report is somewhat contradictory when it states there was only one villain while also suggesting that it is plausible some victims could have survived if not for the over hour-long wait. A delay that the report says shouldn't have happened had the officers followed protocols, their training, and attacked the attacker rather than leaving innocent people to die.
Instead, we are left with an indifferent militarized police. One that for decades has been under heavy infiltration by white supremacists and extremists. A profession that allows so-called "warrior" training in a culture that breeds an "us versus them" mentality. Training that treats citizens as an enemy instead of members of the community. Armed with military weapons and gear they'll likely never use - either statistically or due to outright spinelessness - so they can pretend to be badasses when most of them are just coward-like bullies with badges.
More Money, More Problems
Just two years after the Civil Rights protests of 2020, when the problematic system of policing was spotlighted, we find ourselves giving them more federal funding than at any other time in modern history. Police derive most of their budget from city and sometimes state coffers. But in today's society, that’s quickly changing.
U.S. taxpayers already spend more than $1 billion a year settling police misconduct cases in addition to police using half of a city's budget in many cases. COVID provided the federal government an opportunity to allow the use of up to $350 billion in funding as part of emergency funding to help the country sustain itself through an unprecedented pandemic.
While police departments were never “defunded,” Joe Biden ensured the U.S. "re-funded the police" with COVID relief funds that would have better served the poorest citizens with rental, food, and inflation assistance. Even now, Biden wants to increase that funding by billions more allowing police to continue purchasing military equipment, guns, and vehicles. The U.S. police state is as healthy as it's ever been and it's growing.
Local police are more powerful than ever. For years they've been deploying surveillance technologies once only used by intelligence agencies to access cell phone data and trace phone calls. They buy data you gave a corporation such as Amazon ownership over without the need for a warrant. Armed with more access to our personal information than ever before, they still can’t protect people from domestic terrorists because that’s not what they’re trained for.
The report indicated that the Uvalde terrorist never fired a gun before the shooting. Yet, police training, largely based on handling weapons and shooting them proved useless when a first-time shooter pinned down dozens of incompetent police officers in a school hallway. Cops don’t need more training, more money, and more weapons. They have more than enough of that. Especially in a society seeing an explosion in extremism and domestic terrorism.
The normalization of radicalized thinking has become ordinary in online culture. The report highlight instances of this when the shooter’s online community jokingly referred to him as a “school shooter” because of his dark and terrifying ideas. In a text message with a German online acquaintance, the shooter told her “I just shot my grandmother in the head,” and intended to “shoot up” an elementary school. She replied by saying, “cool,” and later deleted the text.
Despite him being known in online circles, his behaviors were also known in his community and they went unacknowledged by the school and police. Granting police more power and handing them more money isn’t how we solve the explosion in domestic terrorism. Community programs, mental health access, and early intervention by parents and friends are critical and come at minimal cost compared to the billions upon billions of dollars we spend on policing each year.
376 cops responded to the terrorist attack in Uvalde armed with militarized gear costing tens of millions of dollars.
They proved to be all but useless.
Arturo is a journalist navigating the intersection of politics and race and the publisher of The Antagonist Magazine. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. If you’d like to read more of Arturo’s work and the work of thousands of others, you can join Medium here.