opinion

Your Turn: Tempe police chief shouldn't have said Uber crash was 'unavoidable'

The Arizona Republic headline was simple.

"Tempe police chief: Fatal Uber crash likely 'unavoidable' for any kind of driver."

Well, if the Tempe police chief Sylvia Moir said it was unavoidable, then it must have been.

Moir might be right. She could also be wrong.

But is it the duty of the head of a law enforcement agency charged by law to investigate a homicide to render a public opinion “based on an initial police investigation and a review of video” less than two days after the death that has brought worldwide attention to the safety of driverless cars and Tempe?

Did Moir influence the investigation?

What happened was a homicide, and the matter should be treated with the utmost care, objectivity and professionalism.

Finger pointing by police at the woman who died this early on is wrong.

Beyond the obvious the discussion has included questions of law and criminal and civil liability – liability that might very well extend beyond Uber.

ROBERTS: Why wasn't that Uber operator paying attention?

ALLHANDS: Uber pedestrian death can make us safer (but only if we let it)

DIAZ: Operator in autonomous Uber vehicle was a felon. So what?

Moir’s comments surely gave Uber, and maybe the City Council that welcomed the driverless cars with much fanfare, a good feeling after the person charged with investigating the homicide said what she said.

But did it also send a message to officers investigating the homicide that work for her what she expects the outcome to be? Were her statements an example of command bias?

I’ve seen it before where command officers or even a first line supervisor influences the outcome of an investigation by putting forth an opinion based on incomplete facts and bias.

Speak only facts. It's a matter of trust

Just like kids want to please their parents, employees want to please their boss. In this case, it just happens to be the chief of police.

Moir should remain 100 percent objective in her comments and decisions until all of the facts are in. And in this case, that might include facts from the ongoing investigation being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

Tempe's police information officer was doing an excellent job of fielding questions from global media outlets. There was no need for the police chief to step into the limelight.

As the public struggles with issues involving trust in government and policing, now more than ever it is essential that those in power not speak until they have all of the facts. In a complex case like this where authorities are dealing with something that has never happened before, there’s no need to rush to judgment and offer opinions, especially by the police.

And there’s absolutely no reason to share personal opinions with the press about a matter that’s ongoing and could take months to completely investigate.

Like Dragnet’s Sgt. Joe Friday said, "Just the facts, ma’am."

Bill Richardson is a retired Mesa police detective. Email him at bill.richardson1@mac.com.

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