John and Martha King Held By Gunpoint Over Aircraft Tail Num

[tadel001]

Ideally information would always be current. The reality is that millions and millions of dollars and manpower hours are being spent on trying to coordinate numerous databases. They are not coordinated and they won't be for a very long time. Therefore, law enforcement has to do what it can with what it has. The Kings were upset that they were wrongfully detained because of an error in the n-number and upset that their looks didn't prove that they were harmless. I disagree with both statements.

Its amazing how isolated incidents of police exceeeding their boundaries paints all law enforcement bad but isolated events of idiots/terrorist flying planes into building or crashing in populated areas doesn't paint all pilots as bad.

When I was on the ground face down with a gun to my back, I was nervous. However, that trooper was doing his job and did it in a professional way.

[drseti]

LEOs?

In the aerospace industry, that's Low Earth Orbit satellites. (Yes, I know that's not what he meant...)

[smittysrv]

Here what John King has to say:

http://www.funplacestofly.com/blog.asp?ID=269

[tadel001]

I got to the 8th minute and couldn't take anymore. The police department did not do a single thing wrong. Really? you think they should have more comfortable police cars? Are you going to donate the money? Really, you are upset that they handcuffed you when they were told that the aircraft was stolen from the El Paso region? Do you watch the news? Do you have any idea what is going on down there?

I have generally had a lot of respect for the Kings and what they have done for aviation. However, their public display after this event is an embarassment. It isn't easy running a police agencies on a tight budget, ensuring the safety of officers, being kind to its citizens and ask people making less than $40K to put their life on the line everyday. I wish there was a little more respect for what our officers do. The military, police and teachers don't get paid near enough to compensate them for their contribution to society.

[Jim Stewart]

Didn't do a single thing wrong? How about making an arrest based on information received from what they said was a civilian organization? Do cops do that on a regular basis? How about making the arrest without having a clue as to how to verify the aircraft was *not* stolen? As I said earlier, maybe they should have deferred the issue to a federal marshal.

I've known some good police officers over the years and based on what I knew of them, I think they would agree that this was a clusterfsk of the highest order and at the very least, the Kings deserved a heartfelt apology. Your knee jerk defense of bad police work just reinforces the public perception of police robocop mentality.

[tadel001]

Actually, having talked to a number of agencies about this very issue, I have yet to find one say that they acted out of line. Yes, police make arrest all the time based on information from civilians and civil organizations. However, in this case it wasn't a civil organization. It was an underfunded attempt to unify information databases. Of course, everyone wants accurate and seamless information but that is easier said than done. There isn't a lot of money to fund this kind of stuff.

No, police likely are not educated on how to search FAA databases. This isn't something they do a lot. However, based on the interview of the Kings, I don't think they were mistreated. He was asked to face the opposite direction, he was handcuffed and he was placed in a control location (car). That is what you are supposed to do.

My reaction is not kneejerk. I have been in the same position as the Kings (actually mine was a lot more aggressive). Have you? Do you work with law enforcement? Do you think the next time your police department is called about a potential stolen aircraft, instead of immediately responding they should call the Marshalls office? Do you think the Marshalls office has the same level of resources to respond? I think TV is overly influencing our perception of law enforcement.

I don't think an apology is necessary but they got one. I just think the Kings should be more respectful. They resolved the matter at the airport in a reasonable amount of time.

Mistakes were made and they will work to correct. Over dramatizing and knocking the officers that responded to the call is not right.

[frfly172]

What if it had not been the kings? what if the plane had been stolen? What if it had been your airplane that was stolen? What if a police officer or two where shot or killed.We could continue on Forever.It is unfortunate that times have changed in aviation.Every circumstance is different we should focus on the positive in aviation. this is supposed to be fun. Just a thought

[ArionAv8or]

What if it had not been the kings? what if the plane had been stolen? What if it had been your airplane that was stolen? What if a police officer or two where shot or killed.We could continue on Forever.It is unfortunate that times have changed in aviation.Every circumstance is different we should focus on the positive in aviation. this is supposed to be fun. Just a thought

+1, The unfortunate thing is "times have changed" everywhere, not just in aviation.

[ka7eej]

The Kings were not Arrested!. The were "detained".. This occures all the time in law enforcement...It is used for everyones safty while details are figured out. The information was not from a civilian agencey. It was from "EPIC", a federally funded agency under Homeland Security. The officers on the ground did nothing wrong. The mis information and lack of clearing databases is at fault. Maybe some clerk forgot to hit the enter key after entering data, or forgot to take out the stolen report from the database.. Why did the FAA reissue a N number that had been reported stolen in the past?? Are they at partial fault??.. These are the issues not the officers at the scene..

Brian