This article is about our Sheriff – yes the same one that said he will never reopen Morgan’s investigation – but he can justify his tank!
America’s most in-demand police vehicle is a 10-officer 16,000-pound armored tank that takes bullets like Superman and drives 80 mph. The federal government buys dozens each year for local police departments. Do America’s local police need tanks?
Published Time: Friday, March 4, 2011 at 11:39pm
Author: About Msnbc.com
And while I would agree that there” is no price tag you can put on the life of a police officer who is out there protecting you” what price tag was placed on the life of our daughter Morgan Jennifer Ingram?
This is ridiculous, yet it’s the truth! I have been saying it a lot the past few years as I have started to “wake up” and not be so narrow minded, but the truth of the matter is most of our elected officials don’t have our best interest in mind, they have their own agendas. Make lots of money for themselves and do it using tax payers money in one way or another. They can spend that kind of money for a tank that in all honesty might be very useful in some places, but probably shouldn’t be at the top of their budget list. They owe it and yes they OWE it to you, your family and Morgan to do what is right and investigate things further and get to the bottom of this sad tragedy. They need to do it to make sure he can’t do it to anyone else and also to really answer the question of what really happened to Morgan so you can at least find some piece of mind or closure. Keep fighting, its not fair that you have to fight so hard just to get people that are meant to “protect and serve” to actually do just that. Everyone needs to fight and put pressure on these people, the ones that make the highest salaries and cause this kind of corruption and injustice. It’s just sad and Morgan deserves to have her real story told, not just label it “natural causes” or “suicide”, because anyone that can read knows that neither of those answers are correct. How many specialists and doctors do you need to have say that cause of death is wrong before they will open up a proper investigation? You have done their job for them, all they have to do is say we made a mistake and now in light of a ton of new evidence need to look further into the cause of death of that poor little girl and find the sick minded individual that did it so he can’t do it again. If it was their own daughter they would be using that tank on a statewide manhunt, but because it’s not one of their own is she or anyone else for that matter that less important? Keep fighting.. they want you to give up, they just don’t know what kind of people they are dealing with. Love you guys and I hope through more people learning about this and hearing her story will help in the fight. Much love to you guys as always and don’t worry Morgan you have the best people around in your corner fighting for you!
Thanks Jon – we will keep moving forward for justice and to try to help others in similar situations. We send you much love too!
I follow your blog about Morgan every day and I agree that some of the things your local police and coroner have done and said are irresponsible and just plain wrong. Morgan’s death was not thoroughly or professionally investigated and it should be re-opened by Colorado State Police along with an investigation in to wrong-doing by the police and coroner in trying to intimidate you with the threat of changing the ruling to suicide.
I am the wife of a police chief. We live in a small city in Texas, and there is not an armored tactical vehicle within less than a three hour drive. My husband has risked his life hiding behind the door of a police car more times that I care to think about, both as a patrol officer and SWAT commander. We have waited for years and finally got the approval and budget to buy one of these life saving vehicles and believe you me, we need it. All it takes is one crazy dude with an assault rifle to massacre a classroom of kids or hold police at bay while an injured civilian lays dying an the lawn with no way to get medical help because those kind of weapons can blow right through a non-armored vehicle.
No city is immune to criminals running drugs or human smugglers, parents cooking meth with babies in the house, or the dude who knows he’s about to go back to prison and decides to hold hostage his wife and kids. Tactical vehicles protect against small arms fire, explosives, chemical weapons and fire. They put the law officer right up in to the crime scene where they can launch an assault, monitor the situation closely, or rescue an innocent bystander.
I hear your message and I agree with you about the citizens of your area being at risk due to sloppy police work and people covering each other’s butts, but I fail to see what that has to do with the purchase of this tactical vehicle, which will save some families, (police or crime victims) from losing an innocent loved one.
In any profession, there will be some who fail to put good ethics and integrity in to practice in the job that they do, and that’s a shame.
I am so very sorry that you lost Morgan this way, and I will stand by you in your campaign to re-open her case!
Susan – thank you so very much for your comment – I do agree with you that if there were a situation that arose that put law enforcement, or citizens in danger I would definitely want them to have, and use the tank, but I guess what I was really trying to relay is that giving the officers the right tools to be able to catch stalkers would not cost anything, and would, in my opinion, not only save girls like Morgan from death or rape, but also save them from emotional trauma, the kind that I have heard over and over again from former, and recent stalking victims. I know in my heart the Patrol Officers that came out to our house constantly did not want to go back to their station empty handed…they really wanted to catch this guy. They really wanted to save Morgan. In fact the night she was murdered the cameras caught the patrol vehicles coming by way more often (almost like they knew, and were worried that this person would be getting more dangerous).
Thanks for standing by us, and I am sorry that this posting that I did was not presented in a better light.
I totally agree with you Toni, although we do not want to put our police officers at risk, that is part of their job. Really, how often do shoot outs take place in most areas? Not often! I agree that some areas with extremely high crime rates may need access to a vehicle such as this. However, your area had zero murders last year so how can an armored tank be an effective use of tax payers dollars there? Seems to me that this money would be better spent finding out why the suicide rate is so incredibly high and on getting help for those people who are in situations like yours!
Sending hope that you get the help you need to solve this mystery!
I like what you said…we need transparency like the Sheriff writes on the Garfield County website. Transparancy using the FBI to come in and do an investigation as to why our suicide rate is so high and there are never any murders????
I believe transparency and the truth go hand in hand…I love it!
Sandy thanks so much! We are starting to get a lot of help and I feel like we are really moving forward with this. Take care!
Honestly it was probably part of post 9/11 homeland security that allowed counties to buy ridiculous things, provisioned only by Homeland Security Department. Rachel Maddow mentioned the idiocy in nthe bill in small Mass. fire dept in her non-fiction book Drift. Really county municipalities were sanctioned a certain amount of money to buy things they didn’t need…but they were only allowed to spend that cash on these on these things.
I just left a comment on your last post about my experience as a survivor of stalking. My family is all in law enforcement. I am filled with disgust, the lack of concern law enforcement displays when it comes to stalking. All because they have “laws to follow” and “protocols.”
It’s time to change those laws!! Instead of protecting the “rights” of stalkers and sex offenders, let’s protect the lives of victims everywhere!!!!
I totally agree!
Have you ever considered filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the suspects? Also, having worked in county government for over 22 years, my guess is they were trying to avoid a lawsuit and that is why all the secrecy and them being unwilling to review anything or reopen. I too lost a child and my heart goes out to you. My son died of SIDS it is something that you never will know the reason why it happened. I cannot imagine your horror in living with this for the months you did. my heart goes out to you
Lori I am so sorry to hear about your baby boy. It is horrible to lose a child – the pain never goes away. Litigation is still an option, but right at this time we are still confident that we can get an investigation into Morgan’s murder launched and then those involved will be put under oath in a criminal trial…we feel like this will happen in the near future. Take care and hugs to you!