John and Martha King’s “gunpoint-at-the-airport” ordeal — when they were held at gunpoint by police after it was erroneously reported that the plane they were flying in was stolen — has grabbed headlines. Want to hear about it in John’s own words? Check out his blog here, in which he notes that while he and Martha were not injured in the SNAFU, it has left them shaken. “Sleeping at night hasn’t been easy either. Our minds keep replaying the events,” he says.
About Janice Wood
Janice Wood is editor of General Aviation News.
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I have to respectfully take exception with the majority of comments that have been shared concerning this unfortunate incident. There’s no doubt that the King’s are wonderful people, but, to point the finger of blame at the SBPD is the result of misguided understanding. As Jeff Aryan put it in his comments, the SBPD has acted appropriately based upon the best information that they had at the time. Like Jeff, I am a (now retired) career law enforcement officer and like the Kings, I too, have been pulled from a vehicle at gunpoint – both circumstances due to insufficient or erroneous information. I know what that feels like and yes, it is unnerving to say the least, but the officers in the King case, as well as the ones involved in my own experience have acted exactly as their training has taught them. Training by the way, that has unfortunately become very necessary because of the many dedicated law enforcement officers who have lost their lives over the years, mostly because they either didn’t have the proper training or they failed to follow it. Fortunately in this case neither was an issue, but how were the SBPD officers to know that the King’s were fine, upstanding citizens? With the upmost respect for those involved, to paraphrase a comment that was made, asking “couldn’t the officers see that we aren’t/weren’t criminals� I, and probably Jeff as well, have been asked that same question numerous times and I’ve yet to hear an answer as to what a criminal does look like! As has been eluded, the fact that (apparently) EPIC failed to obtain and/or broadcast the aircraft information in question appears to speak more directly to the cause of the problem. The SBPD officers responded as they should have because sufficient detail otherwise, simply was not available to them or if it was, they were not made aware of it. The suggestion was made that the SBPD be provided training to teach the officers how to obtain critical details relative to general aviation, so circumstances such as these can be avoided in the future. That could certainly help, but if/when those officers or any officers who have been properly trained are faced with similar circumstances, they will likely (and should) respond again, in exactly the same manner. They must if they expect to go home after their shift ends instead of to the morgue.
Blaming the police officers in this case is as I’ve mentioned, simply the result of misguided understanding. In order to prevent the problem from reoccurring, we instead need to focus on the true cause – not the result!
Sounds to me like a wonderful opportunity for an ‘educational’ lawsuit. There is no reason in the world for FAA databases to be that screwed up.