Pubdate: Sat, 17 Feb 2001
Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Copyright: 2001 Denver Publishing Co
Contact:  400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204
Feedback: http://cfapps.insidedenver.com/opinion/
Website: http://www.denver-rmn.com/
Author: Bill Johnson

BLAME RESTS SQUARELY ON RECKLESS JOE BINI

Drunken drivers get punished worse than was Joe Bini.

And they -- well, many of them -- don't kill anyone. Those who do kill at 
least go to the slammer. Not only does Reckless Joe get his job, gun, badge 
and nine months of pay back; he also pretty much gets an apology from the boss.

To tally it up, the cost to Joe Bini for recklessly doing his job and 
getting Ismael Mena killed totals three months' salary, 150 hours of 
community service work and some court costs.

No, not a single day in jail or an hour or two in lockup. It's just: 
"Here's your badge and gun, get back out there and don't do it again!" Now 
I know why they keep lady justice blindfolded; it's so we can't see her weep.

And here's the topper: Turns out Ismael Mena's death in his own home at the 
hands of SWAT officers wasn't Reckless Joe's fault at all!

It was the Police Department's fault. Manager of Safety Ari Zavaras said it 
the other day.

The department, he said, is to blame for putting Bini in a situation he 
wasn't properly trained to handle. Properly trained?

Wait a second.

He is a 32-year-old seasoned officer. He knows he is working with drug 
informants -- not Rhodes scholars, who, incredibly, are trying to figure 
out the address of the house where they bought dope by counting rooftops as 
they roll through an alley on a bicycle.

It's a safe bet these gentlemen never attended university. What's certain 
is they got the address wrong.

Does Reckless Joe bother even to check, to ask if they got the right 
address? Maybe he didn't because he was out sick the day his academy 
instructor lectured: "Before you summon a SWAT team carrying automatic 
weapons to kick in a door and enter a home, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE PROPER 
ADDRESS!"

Perhaps this was covered in an advanced training class for which Bini was 
not yet eligible. Of course this is inane. It is Policing 101.

It is common sense.

It, too, is galling for the manager of safety to lay this tragedy at the 
feet of improper training, and expect us to buy it.

"He was put in a position he shouldn't have been put in," Ari Zavaras said. 
"And I won't make a scapegoat out of anyone."

No one asked that he should. What should be demanded, though, is 
recognition and acknowledgment that any officer permitted to call in deadly 
force ought to be able to get an address correct.

Joe Bini wasn't in over his head. Perhaps he wasn't the greatest narcotics 
investigator. Maybe he wasn't well-versed in preparing search warrants. He 
knew, or darn sure should have known, where the bad guys were.

An officer too lazy or reckless to ensure such a basic thing has no 
business being in police work.

This is what frustrates, tears at the gut, through every step of this 
tragedy. It is never anyone's fault.

Except Ismael Mena's. A cop in the paper the other day said it again: Well, 
if he hadn't had a gun, he'd be alive today.

No, it's Joe Bini's fault. It is insulting enough the penalty for taking a 
man's life is but three months of pay, a few classroom speeches and court 
costs. It is a slap to the dead man's memory, his wife and nine children, 
to place the blame elsewhere -- on policy, on the entire department, on -- 
please! -- "poor training."

No, it's all Joe Bini's fault. And only his.

What's sad is, you'd hardly know it.
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