We have a disagreement on our editorial board and welcome your view.
Here’s mine:
When a covey of quail feeds in my backyard, one quail perches on the highest nearby point and stands watch. If he spots potential danger, he sends out the alarm. We ask our police departments to stand watch. When they don’t send out the alarm, they fail us. Who is to say Issurah Jackson would not have read or seen the news that a person had been stabbed at Fiesta Mall on Sunday and been more aware of his surroundings when he went there on Monday? Who is to say that that awareness would not have saved his life? The Mesa police department failed Issurah Jackson.
Here’s editorial page editor Bob Satnan’s view:
If a random act of violence occurs in a public place, but we have no description of the suspect, what or who are we to look out for? Everyone and everything? Are we to avoid the area where it happened? Because in this case, there was no suspect description and the second assault happened on the opposite end of the mall. Other than saying that someone was stabbed at Macy’s at Fiesta Mall, there was no other information police could release because that was all they had at that point (according to our stories).
Yes, Mesa Police failed us by not releasing the bare-bones information they had on the Sunday stabbing more quickly. Maybe Issurah Jackson would have avoided the mall if he knew about the Sunday stabbing. But in the end, all that would be different is the victim, because Bernard Allen bought a knife and was going to use it on someone. There are people with bad intentions out there, and unfortunately we don’t know who they are until they inflict harm AND someone catches them.
Here are links.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/112651
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/112705
