Sheepdog Union

03/03/2018

Harris County at its finest! The cost of a human life isn’t what it used to be.

A 20-year-old woman suspected in a deadly drunk driving crash in Clear Lake is walking freely among us after being released on bond.

02/27/2018

Deputy Scot Peterson,

I have never been one to mince words and I will not start today. I do not know what caliber of Deputy you have been for the last 32 years. I know not of your accomplishments or shortcomings. What I do know is that on February 14, 2018, you failed. You failed your brothers and sisters in law enforcement; you failed the families that charged you with their children’s care, and you failed your community. They needed you. They expected you. They called for you. But you didn’t come.

There is no taking back the fact that when 17 young souls needed you most, you did not answer their pleas for help. They wanted you to come. They needed you. They expected you. But you didn’t come. You sat outside from your “position of cover”. You know that you knew where the shots were coming from. You knew tragedy was unfolding and yet you did nothing. You handed keys to SWAT?! You helped officers access video cameras?! What you did sir, was open the doors for the real Sheepdogs to save lives. You cowered behind their blue shield. You cowered behind their bravery.

Today you allowed your attorney to give a statement on your behalf. Yet another cowardly act. Your attorney referred to the loss of life as their “untimely passing”. No sir, they were murdered. They didn’t slip away into God’s hand peacefully in their sleep. They were systematically murdered, frightened and alone, waiting for you. They died before they should have, waiting for you. They needed you. They expected you. They called for you. But you didn’t come.

I want you to know that I am not writing this words from a position of disadvantage. Many will tell you what they would have done when they know not what they would do themselves. I am not one of those people. I have toed the line with you for over 15 years. I have seen the same tragedy, loss of life, hardship, and misfortune you have. I have been angry, saddened, grateful, and fearful right alongside you in the chaos that unfolds in this world while others sleep. I want you to know that they needed you. They expected you. They were waiting for you. But you didn’t come.

If I can thank you for anything, it would be that your inaction will serve as the bedrock for future positive action by law enforcement agencies across the nation when something like this happens again. Should this happen again, and it will, “I’m no Scot Peterson” might be someone’s battle cry as they charge into an active shooter situation and end the unfolding tragedy. You will be reduced to a bullet point in an action plan of what not to do. You will serve as a reminder of what we are not.

I am not interested in your excuses; your reasoning; your defense. The public will judge you from a position of emotion and ignorance. They will misrepresent facts in your favor or against you. I will ignore them. But I will always remember you, not by name, but in thought, as the man who hid from a “position of cover” while children were murdered. I will strive in all that I do not to become you. I will toe the line. I will run towards the screams for help. I will run toward gunfire if there is even a remote possibility I can save just one life. I will bring those who have charged me with their care to a “position of cover”, fight to my last breath, be the relentless defender, and let God decide my fate.

Member of the Sheepdog Union