Miami Dade Schools Police Chief Charles Hurley seems to subscribe to Caligula’s leadership theory; “let them fear me as long as they obey me’. Sure, that may not make him a lot of friends, but it can be effective. For a time, anyway. A lot depends on what you do to instill that fear…

Whipping out your Glock and then unloading it a staff meeting of more than a dozen command and civilian employees might be frowned upon by some experts in organizational behavior. But the Chief is unrepentant. As sun-sentinel.com reports:

He says it was an impromptu demonstration to stress the dangers facing officers and students during a recent spate of shootings. Some in the room, however, say they felt it was a display meant to intimidate.

“This was a visual aid. It was done in a very controlled environment,” Hurley said Wednesday. “Just like if I was CEO of Apple, I would put an iPad on the desk.”

Hurley stands by his actions. He says some disgruntled employees are embellishing the episode to make him look bad.

“I took on a couple members of my staff who were performing at marginal levels and they were called out,” Hurley said. “When you call people out, when you take on marginal performers, this is what happens.”

Can’t you just picture Steve Jobs waving around a loaded AR if Apple had extended their product line to tactical rifles? I know I can.

Meanwhile, school administrators are circling the wagons around the Chief. District Superintendant Alberto Carvalho doesn’t really see a problem.

“We will be reviewing this issue,” he said. “But we are going to do it in the context of three back-to-back years of double-digit reductions of critical incidents in schools and a 35 percent reduction in arrests in schools.”

Carvalho added: “This is a highly professional police department that, I believe, has been led in an extremely professional way.”

The improvements in district safety are welcome, of course. But drawing your heater in a crowded room for dramatic effect is just plain stupid. It’s hard to see how he could have avoided lasering someone at some point with the gun. Continuing to handle it enough to unload it in front of everyone needlessly risked a negligent discharge.

So welcome to the IGOTD ranks, Chief Hurley. Like last spring’s proud Miami-Dade graduates, you’ve earned it.

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17 COMMENTS

  2. I just read the story and don’t see why it’s such a big deal. I first thought that he pulled out the gun and unloaded it by shooting off all the rounds, not just dropping the mag. Those cops are a bunch of whining lil sissys.

    • As a 27-year member and one-time Membership Officer for Mensa , I note that I have met (in total) two police officers who were members. I can’t recall if either of them had risen to be a Chief 😉

  4. When I was going through basic training, our Drill Sargents indirectly suggested to us that we give a certain trouble-making trainee a blanket party, just saying.

      • Indirectly it was suggested though in a very abstract round-about way. All I recall at this time is something said about how the refusal by a couple trainees to cooperate was getting all of us punished and we should do something to fix the problem. I went through the Army Infantry Basic Training. I think C.R. might be a Marine Corp term.

      • Col. Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
        Kaffee: Did you order the Code Red?
        Col. Jessep: I did the job I…
        Kaffee: *Did you order the Code Red?*
        Col. Jessep: *You’re Goddamn right I did!*

  6. Gunsite Rule: A holstered gun is a safe gun — unholster yours only on the firing line or in a designated safe area. [or in an emergency, of course]

  7. Meanwhile , ever more restrictions are hoisted onto the general population about carry and use of self defense. This reminds me of the case where a cop was showing his Glock to schoolchildren and shot himself in the leg.

  8. I also thought “Whipping out your Glock and then unloading it a staff meeting” implied he fired the rounds. It took a second reading to mean that he just removed the ammunition. So then I thought, “well that’s not as bad.”

    Change “whipping” to “removing your Glock from your holster” to reduce the action-sounding words that would lead a reader to then think “unloading” meant shooting.

  9. I think there’s a shortage of information in regard to this story. It’s not clear what he was trying to demonstrate, nor whether any part of what he did was unsafe.

    Sounds to me like a bunch of whiners trying to create a problem – but without more info, it’s hard to tell. Bear in mind, there are some people who are “intimidated” by the word “gun” (also by “Tuesdays” and “chicken wings”).

  10. “This is a highly professional police department that, I believe, has been led in an extremely professional way.”

    So that makes it OK to do what would the school district would call “brandishing a firearm” if a CCW-holder did it?

    Hey, the rules are different for the rulers than for the serfs.

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