LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY

Following the shooting of Ashley MacDonald in Huntington Beach, the city and Police Department received many e-mails, telephone calls and letters that were critical of the officers actions. Some referred to the police officers as “cowards,” “murderers,” “out of control,” etc. One even suggested that he was going to have a party to celebrate the next time a police officer was killed. Many people in the media were also critical of the officer’s actions and seem to have made up their mind based on the articles I’ve read.

I agree that the shooting was tragic and sad. I also agree that the conduct of law enforcement officers (and law enforcement agencies) should be carefully reviewed, especially when deadly force is used. What I cannot agree with is the decision many people have made about the conduct of the officers based on the limited information that is available today. Generally, there is an expectation that police officers should be able to resolve a situation where a suspect is armed with a dangerous weapon without resorting to the use of deadly force.

During my tenure in Huntington Beach, police officers have done that many times. At some point, however, police officers are authorized to use deadly force to protect themselves from the possibility of serious injury or death, and the reality is that an 18-year-old female armed with a knife is capable of seriously injuring or killing a police officer. The one murder we’ve had in Huntington Beach this year involved a 20-year-old female armed with a knife who killed an adult male. Quite frankly, the information available today is not sufficient for you or me to make a reasonable determination about the conduct of the police officers.

At the request of the Huntington Beach Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigates our officer-involved shootings. Some correspondence has suggested that the investigation by the Sheriff’s department may be biased or incomplete. I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. The investigation will be comprehensive and thorough, and it will provide a good basis for making a decision regarding the conduct of the police officers. After the Sheriff’s department investigation is completed, it is reviewed by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office where a decision is made regarding whether the officer’s use of deadly force was justified. Having the Sheriff’s department investigate the shooting, and the District Attorney’s office review the investigation allows for two separate independent reviews of the incident.

Following a decision by the district attorney’s office, the police department will conduct a use of force review board where the tactics of the police officers and the use of force are reviewed.

One unfortunate fact is that the investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, and the review by the District Attorney’s office, will take some time. In my view, it is more important that the investigation be thorough and complete than that it be completed quickly. Also, I know that the Sheriff’s investigators and the district attorneys are working on multiple investigations, and they cannot dedicate all of their time to this case. In closing, I want you to know that none of those characterizations of these officers is correct. Both of these officers were hired during my tenure as chief of police. They are both fine police officers who have done an excellent job since being hired. I am sure that neither officer wanted to be involved in a shooting that morning and neither had any desire to shoot an 18-year-old female. However, now that the shooting occurred, their actions from the time they received the radio call, until the final shot was fired, will be closely scrutinized by other law enforcement officials, by prosecutors, by their supervisors within the police department and by members of the public. We’ll all have months to question, second-guess and debate actions and decisions these officers made within seconds. I want to point out that there were some decisions the officers had no control over. They had no control over the decision Ashley MacDonald made to walk into a public park carrying a knife, waving a knife and acting in a strange and bizarre manner causing members of the public to call the police department. They had no control over the decision Ashley MacDonald made not to drop the knife when repeatedly asked to do so, and they had no control over the decision she made to charge and lunge at them with a knife in her hand. We all wish that this incident hadn’t occurred. Now that it has, I wish the officers would be treated fairly, and people would withhold making a judgment until all the facts are known.

KENNETH W. SMALL

Chief, Huntington Beach Police Department