re: #87 Shiplord Kirel, live from behind wingnut lines

Missed tip on Florida shooter. I don’t think there’s a connection but it reminds me of a procedural fad in law enforcement back in the 80s: refusing unsolicited tips and information from the public. They did this by forcing the informant to jump through hoops before they would take the info, essentially reversing the dynamic by pretending that the informant was asking THEM for a favor, rather than the other way round. For instance I called to report a freakazoid who was posing as a DEA agent so he could solicit sexual favors from college students. I had the guy’s name, workplace, and vehicle description and license number. The cops said they would not take the report unless I could also tell them where he lived. Of course I had no idea and could not find out without launching a private investigation on my own. A full year later the guy was arrested after he flashed his fake badge and drunkenly threatened officers who were responding to a brawl at a local saloon.
Another time a young friend of mine spotted a fugitive bank robber on the street, noting that the man had changed his hair color. In my presence he called the cops to report the encounter. They told him that they could not take the report unless he put it in writing and came to the station and presented the report in person. This set off my ex-cop alarm bells and I advised him not to go. A month later, the fugitive was apprehended.
Media reports noted that he had changed his hair color. They fawningly attributed the capture to “good police work.” This was around the same time the Lubbock cops engineered the false rape conviction of Timothy Cole’s, who died in prison before he could be exonerated.

There were also multiple failures before 9/11. I thought that they had addressed issues of tips and field office reporting.