'Better financially' to kill suspects than wound them, Sheriff says

[PilotsError 2338]

The sheriff of a California county with an outsized number of police shootings once said that it was "better financially" to kill suspects than wound them.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood was looking for an endorsement in 2006 when he posed the question, "When a deputy shoots somebody, which way is better financially? To cripple them or kill them for the county?"

"Kill them?" someone off camera asks before Youngblood answers "Absolutely."

"Because if you cripple them you have to take care of them for life and that cost goes way up," he said.

The damning video was released Monday by the Kern County Detention Officers Association, one of three officers' unions that had endorsed Youngblood's upcoming election opponent and chief deputy Justin Fleeman.

Officers said that the county force, once labelled "America's deadliest police," was "in desperate need of positive changes."

The Guardian profiled the county after 13 people were killed by police in 2015. The county had less than 900,000 residents at the time, but more fatal shootings than New York, which had nine the same year.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood once said it was "better financially" for deputies to kill suspects rather than wound them. (Casey Christie/ZUMAPRESS.com)

Monday's video, reportedly taken during an endorsement consideration interview, also saw Youngblood turn the loss of life at the hands of the police into a matter of dollars and cents.

"When a guy makes a bad shoot on somebody and kills them, $3 million dollars and the family goes away," he said, comparing it to a jailhouse beating where many officers are present.

Youngblood then went on to compare the costs of killing someone versus wounding.

The sheriff told Bakersfield.com after the video release that his words were taken out of context and that he "never inferred that we should shoot to kill."

He added that he wishes he had used different words, though Chris Ashley, the director of the KCDOA, told the Daily News that the comments were an example of "poor leadership" that has included shutting himself off from the union as well.

"They were not taken out of context. If he meant it or not you'd have to ask him ... but his feelings and his comments in no way represent the members of the Kern County Detention Officers Association," he said.

 

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/better-financially-kill-suspects-wound-sheriff-article-1.3925449

[Nivek 17041]

 

This isn’t exactly new information, but pretty dumb to admit it.

[futureman 22565]

in china this is an accepted practice by their driving populace. 

[immortal13 4059]

Cops are dumb. Water is wet

[Guest Lobo]

So now there's Math Heroes?  

[Surly Bevo 25523]

Also known as the Commercial Airline Carrier Model

[Asithappens 974]

A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

 

Or so I've heard.

[RollLeft 5045]

Dorry Wongblood

[AUS-97HORN 11878]

and this is news because????

I mean hell, since around the Civil War, its been figured out by every army out there that a wounded soldier takes up a shitload more of the opponents resources than a dead one.

That was the entire strategy of the Viet Cong.

[Earl Haffler 611]

2 hours ago, Asithappens said:

A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

 

Or so I've heard.

 

Pinto?

[futureman 22565]

[MrPhlegm 3413]

and this is news because????
I mean hell, since around the Civil War, its been figured out by every army out there that a wounded soldier takes up a shitload more of the opponents resources than a dead one.
That was the entire strategy of the Viet Cong.

This is also why m-16s shoot 5.56 lightweight bullets instead of 7.62 heavy bullets.

[bernorange 8375]

"When a deputy shoots somebody, which way is better financially? To cripple them or kill them for the county?"

In my department, we believe in gun control.  Our professionals maintain a regimen of extensive training for marksmanship.  One shot, one kill.  That's our motto.

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

On 4/21/2019 at 12:52 PM, PilotsError said:

he "never inferred that we should shoot to kill."

Now I've got two reasons to vote against him.