Why do police wait so long before confronting wacko gunmen of v-tech or columbine?

Why don't police get into the situation faster and not stay outside for so long while people are being murdered, liker in v-tech or even columbine?? yes i realize its dangerous but they (police) are heavily armed and outnumber shooter(s).


none of the students or staff can defend themselves??

Why do police wait so long before confronting wacko gunmen of v-tech or columbine?
Why do people blame the police? First of all, they acted appropraitely, the recieved a call for the first shooting reportingt as a domestic dispute, an isolated incident and they could not predict that the gunman would open fire again inside another building. Also, the doors were chained shut by the gunman which does slow the police. Also, are you going to run into a building where there is a guy opening fire on innocent people, i bet not for a number of reasons. Why would you run in and get shot as well, not going to help the situation. Also, for all you know if you run in the gunman could have hostages that he is not going to harm but if you run is as a police officer you could set him off and cause the loss of even more human life. It is easy for people to sit back and second guess the police because you have never had to deal with what they do and you were not on the scene of a very intense crime. Stop trying to blame the police, the only person at blame is the sick a** who murdered 32 people. The police did their job, asked responsibly, and think about what they went through having to count the dead and injured. Had they rushed in and the gunman opened fired and took more innocent lives then you would all be sitting hear bashing them for reacting to strongly.
Reply:Police, once they receive the call have to assess the situation before just storming in and most likely causing a worse problem by not knowing at least a little of what they're dealing with.





But you did say a mouthful with your statement "none of the students or staff can defend themselves". Imagine the situation at VT where just one person held a carry permit for a handgun, the college had no carry restrictions, and that person was actually carrying. Then, the gunman most likely would have been stopped long before killing 32 unprotected, innocent people.





Police can't be everywhere. When we're face to face with a criminal, we're pretty much on our own. By the time anyone would be able to get to us (even under the best of time response), it's usually too late.





To quote coumnist Charley Reese, "What could have stopped the killings at Virginia Tech was another gun in the hands of a professor or a student. Unfortunately, they all became new victims of the gun-control crowd."





Maybe it's time for us to have the oportunity and right to be responsible for ourselves instead of depending on and expecting someone else to take care of us.
Reply:I understand that they arrived quickly. But the killer acted even more quickly.
Reply:The police arrive on the scene very quickly. Usually they wait to formulate a plan before entering a dangerous situation even though they are heavily armed.





It only took Cho Seung-hui 9 minutes to shoot 60 people in Norris Hall 3-5 times each. Thirty of his victims died. When he heard the police coming, he shot himself.





After arriving at Norris Hall, police took 5 minutes to assemble the proper team, clear the area and then break through the doors. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...





The police use a shotgun to break through the chained entry doors. Investigators believe that the shotgun blast alerted the gunman to the arrival of the police.


The police heard gunshots as they entered the building. They followed the sounds to the second floor.





*9:41 a.m.: As the police reached the second floor, the gunshots stopped. Cho's shooting spree in Norris Hall lasted 9 minutes.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...


Police officers discovered that after his second round of shooting the occupants of room 211 Norris, the gunman fatally shot himself in the temple. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/22/va.tech... http://content.clearchannel.com/cc-commo...





One of the police officers who arrived on the scene realized that he did not have his protective vest so he waited to enter the building until after the shooting had stopped.





None of the students or staff could shoot back, but they did barricade the doors and jump out the windows.





In 2002, at the Appalachian School of Law, Peter Odighizuwa, a disgruntled student, shot and killed Dean Anthony Sutin and professor Dale Rubin. At the first sound of gunfire, fellow students Tracy Bridges and Mikael Gross, unbeknownst to each other, ran to their vehicles to fetch their personally owned firearms. The two students were able to subdue and apprehend Odigizuwa.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian...
Reply:cant understand that either....in september when there was a school shooting here in montreal at dawson college (100000 students) the police had the school surounded in 3 minutes....and incident was closed in 30mins the gunman was killed. This happened in the middle of the busy downtown area....it makes no sense that they took so long there.
Reply:Good question. But the problem is this -- If the students and staff COULD defend themselves, maybe someone could have stopped him before so many were murdered. We've had several situations in the last decade or so where a citizen with a gun stopped the criminal, but that part of the situation is never or rarely reported in the news. Criminals, as Cho himself proves, can always get guns, and they don't usually get them legally - again, as Cho proves -- his guns' serial numbers were filed off -- these were not guns legally gotten! More GOOD GUYS need to be armed, and criminals will think twice about opening fire. I mean, who wants to open fire on a mass of people who are all armed? Ask any criminal whom he would rather hold up - an unarmed or an armed citizen -- what do you think his answer would be?!
Reply:There is such a thing as no weapons allowed on school property, is there not? Who at the college is responsible to that code? someone always blames the outside group when things go wrong inside. You have an inside issue there...