Retired police officer: The Renee Good shooting was a failure of tactics and law

As a retired St. Paul police officer, I watch body-worn camera footage through a specific lens. I look for what officers are doing right and where they deviate from best practices. The recent death of Renee Good has left me questioning whether the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents involved possess even a rudimentary understanding of basic policing tactics or the legal principles governing them.

Good’s death highlights a glaring lack of tactical skill. A fundamental rule of training is simple: Do not stand in front of a running vehicle. Despite this, agent Jonathan Ross positioned himself directly in front of Good’s SUV during the confrontation. This move was especially perplexing given that Ross violated another basic rule in another incident last summer: Don’t reach into a running vehicle. Ross received 33 stitches in that incident, yet he still chose to physically take on Good’s 4,000-pound vehicle.

Then there are the legalities. Both case law and best practices discourage “officer-created jeopardy” — situations where an officer’s own unnecessary actions create the “need” to use deadly force. Furthermore, in Tennessee v. Garner (1985, and a foundational case in police use of force policy), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that deadly force may only be used if an officer has probable cause to believe a suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious injury to the officer or others.

Nothing in the videos made public indicates Good posed such a threat had she simply driven off. Standing in front of her car was both tactically and legally unwise.

I have done police work in riots, in front of heckling bystanders, and with aggressive, uncooperative suspects. These situations test your patience. But the public trusts us with the power of arrest and the authority to use force; that trust requires a higher standard of conduct.

Related: ‘My eyes were stinging’: The chemical tactics used by ICE when they confront protesters

My strategy was always to do the most professional work possible to achieve the desired outcome. If I succeeded, I counted it as a win. If a suspect insulted me while I drove them to jail, I didn’t care. I had already won. They were in custody; their attitude was the only thing they had left.

How much of this ICE behavior and tactics is incompetence and how much is a result of the impunity granted to the agency by the current administration? It is likely a mix. Regardless, their tactics indicate no desire to build trust. I felt for the Minneapolis police officers sent to the scene to manage the aftermath. They have worked tirelessly to rebuild community trust, only to have ICE undermine that work in a split second.

Imagine if agent Ross had the self-control to let Good drive away, regardless of what she said to anger him. The agents wanted her off the street; by driving away, she was effectively complying. Let her have her words and build community trust — you’ve already won.  Instead, he shot her and everyone loses.

Matt Koncar, a retired St. Paul police sergeant, lives in Lauderdale.

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