Editorial: Bad Police Training Behind Federal Killings

The horrible and tragic deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good earlier this month at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota echo the killing five years ago of Ashli Babbitt at the US Capitol.

In all three cases, unarmed civilians (or in the case of Pretti - a disarmed civilian) were gunned down by heavily armed federal officers who pumped multiple rounds into a protesting civilian US citizen.

Many readers will object to drawing a parallel between the Good and Pretti killings, and the Babbitt killing - but the common thread is that none of the killings should have occurred had federal officers been properly trained to respect protesting US citizens - and had proper training in crowd control.

In Minnesota, the ICE officer who killed Good should never have been there: He had just recently suffered a traumatic assault during a protest where he was dragged and injured. 

And the scene was like something out of the Keystone Cops - with ICE officers openly brandishing pistols (normal police training is to not draw your pistol unless directly threatened) and mingling among the protestors and their vehicles. 

Crowd control ? Police tape ? Closed streets ? Secure perimeters ? None of these "normal" police procedures were being followed.

The Pretti killing was another horror - federal border agents tackled and pinned Pretti, took away his holstered - and licensed - handgun, and then pumped ten (10) bullets into him while he lay face-down on the ground.

Ashli Babbitt was an unarmed 35-year old Air Force veteran who went to the US Capitol in January, 2021, and was shot dead by a Capitol Hill Police officer while trying to climb through an interior window.

All three victims were engaging in a sacred right of Americans - our right to speak and protest.  None deserved to be killed.

In all three cases the lack of proper police training was obvious:  the January 6th Capitol protests were abetted by grossly inadequate crowd control and unprofessional antagonistic actions by the Capitol Police inciting mostly peaceful protestors; the ICE and CBP melees in Minneapolis saw federal officers exchanging juvenile insults and assaulting protestors.

The deterioration in America's federal police professionalism has been commented upon before by this newspaper - looking at the grossly incompetent job done by the Secret Service in 2024 that almost lead - twice - to the assassination of then presidential candidate Donald Trump.

It is long overdue that we re-discover what we have lost - and do vigorous professional training of the federal officers to whom we entrust the power of deadly force.  And stop killing US citizen civilians.