Domestic Terrorism: The Christopher Dorner Manhunt - Term Paper Example

 (Domestic Terrorism) The Christopher Dorner Manhunt Contents Contents 1 Abstract 3 1.0: Introduction 4 1.1. History of Christopher Dorner 5 1.2. Reasons for Christopher’s Alleged Crimes 7 1.2.1. Injustice for His Job Termination 7 1.2.2: Dishonesty 8 1.3. Christopher’s Terrorism Activities 10 1.3.1. Murder Charges of Miss Quan and Keith Lawrence 10 1.3.2. Armed and a Difficult Time for LAPD 11 1.3.3. Held Captive 12 1.4. Conclusion 12 Reference List 14 Abdollah, T. (2013, February 7). Christopher Dorner Manhunt: Police Search For Ex-Los Angeles Officer in Alleged Murder, Cop Killing. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/christopher-dorner-manhunt-los-angeles_n_2638023.html?icid=maing-grid7|maing10|dl1|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D267586 14 Carter, C. J., & Vercammen, P. (2013, February 12). Search For Ex-Cop at Center of LAPD Revenge Plot Widens. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/11/us/lapd-attacks/index.html 14 Marquez, M., & Smith, M. (2013, February 14). San Bernardino County Sheriff: 'This Investigation is Over.'Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/13/us/lapd-manhunt 14 Ronczkowski, M. R. (2012). Terrorism and Organized Hate Crime: Intelligence Gathering, Analysis and Investigation. 3rd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 15 Walker, T. (2013, February 14). Fugitive gunman Chris Dorner told Hostage Couple: I Just Want to Clear My Name. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fugitive-gunman-chris-dorner-told-hostage-couple-i-just-want-to-clear-my-name-8495021.html 15 Abstract This document discusses the domestic terrorism case involving Christopher Jordan Dorner. The man was former cop in LAPD having acquired qualified training and served in US navy, and several divisions of LAPD before being relieved from duty, for reasons claiming false accusations against other officers. His past appears to have been a normal life in both his social and educational background, choosing the path of truth and honesty. His job was terminated after a legal action upheld the decision of termination, even after he provided evidence of a fellow officer excessively using force and injuring a suspect they had arrested. His search for justice was not successful and he felt betrayed by the other officers, who he claimed were dishonest, concealing the truth to save the entire team’s image, while his rights were denied. As a result, he followed the path of violence in his anger and dismay by shooting, killing, and causing injuries to certain targeted human lives that he felt blocked his quest for justice. He was allegedly accused of murdering Mr Crain and Mackay, Miss Monica Quan, and her fiancé, Keith Lawrence, and injured several police officers, while being hunted. His case is full of conspiracy and clearly some truth ought to be found. Through his manifestos, he exposed a lot of dishonest activities that destroyed not only LYPD’s image, but his as well. Some may feel sympathy towards him, but he caused domestic crimes against humanity in Los Angeles, which violated the law. Keywords: Manifestos, Dishonest, Deaths, Injuries, Los Angeles, Ex-Cop, Police Captain, Betrayal, Revenge, Conspiracy, Officers, Destruction, Duty, Murder, Arm, LYPD, Suspect, Crime 1.0: Introduction The debatable criminal activities in the public domain of California associated with Christopher Dorner have recently called for attention in the United States, and other individuals in the global level concerned with public administration and security. Domestic violence has not been a strange issue in the United States, considering the social conflicts within the society, and against their states’ superior authorities. People have in the past been engaged in criminal activities against ordinary civilians, local authorities, and states’ public policy enforcers, which have resulted in causing harm (killings, or torture, or destructive activities). Some of these domestic criminals have not been identified or captured, since they easily integrate with the society for quick notice. Others are hunted down, but their supporters get to execute the intended purpose, with respect to their beliefs and founding principles. According to Ronczkowski, the United States patriot act defines domestic terrorism as entailing dangerous acts to human life, which violate the criminal laws of the United States or any of the states, appear to have intentions of intimidating civilian population and government policy, or affect its conduct through mass destruction, kidnapping, or killings, all occurring with the jurisdiction of the United States of America (2012). The context well fits the crimes of Christopher Dorner against some civilians and local authority (LAPD) of California State. As an ex cop, the state’s citizens have been concerned to understand what the educated and trained officer’s reason s were, for him to cause such tension within Los Angeles. For any case of domestic terrorism, there must have been a cause of conflict between the involved parties, and the consequences always result to destruction of a certain degree. Just like other domestic terrorism cases, Dorner's events must have been driven by recognized conspiracies, which could have agitated him to execute his destructive plans. Often, the inhuman acts are as a result of oppression, and disgruntlement that steer groups or individuals to react in search of revenge, to satisfy their disregarded claims. According to the Rival political narrative, the conspiracy theory associates responsibility of various incidences to an external group, hence causing a feeling of insignificance among those who intended to rationalise their emotional reaction to the occurrence (2012). Also, in recognition of psychological effects among different people, individuals tend to perceive and handle problems solving differently, due to the impact of conscious and unconscious psyche. From the theory, the current undesirable state of affairs is blamed for the conspiracy by secret groups, as perceived in the public scene. Therefore, the society becomes agitated and condemns the terror activities, but remains in a state of confusion in the mixed reactions, simply because they lack the actual truth of the cause, which could not always be available. 1.1. History of Christopher Dorner Nobody is born a terrorist, but the actions defined as terrorism are an actual development for certain reasons, and the activity could be supported by individuals’ skills and experience, to invoke a reaction. In respect to his background, Christopher had held a normal life just like any other individual, but he appears to have begun having issues and conflicts early in his childhood. According to Campbell, in Dorner's manifestos, he declares to have had a good reputation in his educational background, even though he was the only black kid in all the elementary school classes (n.d.). From his statements, one can only conclude that being black during the time of his childhood, was much of a struggle in the interaction with the society. Dorner denied having been associated with bullying in his lifelong history, but only reacting to situations in his earlier conflicts in schools just a normal kid would do. The crimes he had committed after his job termination had nothing to do with his childhood and adulthood development, but were reactions of a disgruntled man for being denied what he viewed as his. According to Campbell, Dorner admits to receiving punishments in junior high school for engaging in fights, in situations where he was addressed with derogatory racial names and in response to defending himself, which provoked schoolyards fights (n.d.). Christopher further expressed his love and hate to different people in the society, according to past relations and occurrences. He was a sound individual in his development, had received education and chose to serve America in truth and loyalty. In fact, Christopher seems to have developed right principles and doctrines in life, to always speak and act in honesty in social life and in line with duty. Anyway, putting his ordinary early life aside, it is clear how his disgruntlement and belief alienated him from the society. His recent involvement in terrorism could be embraced by some, while others could condemn him; it’s for a fact that one thing led to another, hence conflicting with his belief (or should we say right). However, his intentions and reactions resulted in deaths and serious injuries to individuals in Los Angeles. His strategy of defending his rights and reclaiming his name as he put it in his manifestos were not ethical, and led not only to fatalities, but also fear in the society. 1.2. Reasons for Christopher’s Alleged Crimes 1.2.1. Injustice for His Job Termination For such man to lose a job after dedicating his lifetime to serve his nation is not easy to digest. It is not easy to understand his pain, unless one has undergone such a situation. Considering his belief in rights and upholding of justice, Christopher obviously could not understand the motive behind being relieved from his duty. Anyway, his manifestos reveal the nature of authority he had been serving, and if the truth could be told, there could have been some truth behind the whole situation. According to Dorner’s letter, which he earlier addressed to the Americans, one of its theme focus was how he was used as a scapegoat, so as to save the image of the entire LAPD. Apparently, Dorner clearly points out characters of injustice and lack of discipline within the whole structure of LAPD administration, and the security officers who are looked up to by the society to maintain law and order. The prime injustice, for Dorner occurred after he reported an officer for inhuman acts (the officer had used excessive force while kicking an arrested suspect, which injured his face and chest), and after been investigated by the PSB, no action was taken against the officer; and as expected in such security jobs, Christopher was relived from duty ten months later after being perceived as a threat for exposing the officer, instead of using the usual behaviour of relying on each other’s back to conceal the truth (abc, 2013). Hence, one is left to wonder what the actual reason was, for LAPD to relieve him from duty ten months down the line. This was the result of the conspiracy initiated earlier after he reported the officer to the supervisor. If what Christopher claims to have happened was a reality, then the 10 months were just a delay to suppress the issue of the injustice committed to the arrested suspect in subject, so as to smoothly and easily terminate his job without expectations. There is no need to understand the procedure for job termination in the LAPD, but why was no action taken against the officer after using excessive force and evidence being found? According to Campbell, Christopher had tried to repeal his job termination through the Board of Rights (BOR), providing supportive evidence from the arrested suspect and the suspect’s father, who all claimed that the officer had kicked the suspect (adding up to three witnesses), however, his job termination was maintained and instead accused of being a bully beside the earlier accusation of being a liar (n.d.). When everything appeared to be set against him, considering he claimed on the existence of complicated relations among members of the BOR and the offensive officer, Christopher‘s chances of justice were slim, and what choice could a such a man in a fixed situation have but to express himself? First of all, anyone could sympathise with Dorner in the situation, thank him for exposing the injustice in LAPD, but wonder just who exactly was to be trusted in the whole process. 1.2.2: Dishonesty Christopher Dorner’s principles are rare to find in such line of his former duty. No offence to security officers, but it is evident that the few disciplined ones of Dorner’s kind had similar struggles of being disregarded in work issues, if not unlucky to have their lives or jobs terminated. First of all, he was betrayed by his co workers in an incident of conflict between two officers, who had decided to state their personal feelings concerning the black community through the use of the word ‘niger’, remember Dorner was black and was sensitive with racial terms. Unfortunately, only one of the seven officers in the van confirmed the actual incident during the investigation, while all the others confirmed to have neither seen nor heard anything (abc, 2013). That was just an incident where no one among the officers wanted to neither rebuke racism nor incriminate their friends, even if they knew they had conducted an offence. Christopher had earlier been called a liar because the officer accused to have kicked the arrested man denied the accusations, later the officer accepted the claims after evidence was found, however, Doner’s image had already been damaged. The officer’s friend from Los Angeles Port police also backed up the officer’s former claim of innocence, and even claimed to have told Dorner to fix his tie, yet the photographic evidence showed Dorner to have been wearing a class B uniform that does not have a tie (abc, 2013). Dishonesty seems to be rooted in the Los Angeles security force. It was one of the tools used to pin him down and a reason why Christopher was agitated and determined to seek revenge. Everybody deserves a chance to be heard and fairly judged at display of evidence. As for Christopher, he felt he had exhausted all available means (legal superior and California appellate courts) to reclaim his good identity (Campbell, n.d.) with no success. His last resorts were the acts of an angry and depressed man, who had been denied justice for dishonest reasons and cover ups within the LAPD that seems to have belittled him. His domestic violence was a risky one, considering that it was within a single state, specifically within the span of Los Angeles. These are some of the reasons that caused his severe reactions of terrorism. It is an example of many other occurrences that lead to development of domestic terrorism, when the groups or individuals are denied their rights in a questionable conspiracy. 1.3. Christopher’s Terrorism Activities 1.3.1. Murder Charges of Miss Quan and Keith Lawrence His determination to settle the injustices he went through during a disciplinary hearing first landed on a retired LAPD captain, who represented him in the BOR. As an attorney, he ought to have sought justice for him and drive attention to the undisciplined police officer for her misconduct. According to Abdollah (2013) the murder of the two victims believed to be a couple was linked to Dorner, since he had an interest of revenge on the retired police captain (his attorney of LAPPL union), who happened to be the father of Miss Quan. Christopher had not been married and just like any other child, he was his mother’s only son and a brother to a sister; his state of depression and hopelessness to achieve what he intended had been obstructed, and he felt betrayed when his attorney could have assisted him, but instead served just like other wicked LAPD officers. Dorner could have committed the crime for revenge purposes; he felt his life activities and association had been cut off while seeking justice, yet those accused were pampered like humans who needed more honour than he did. Chances are that if he could have revenged on the captain, he had to take the most special thing away from him. But what if he never did it? Probably someone with a grudge could have murdered Miss Quan to incriminate Dorner. His manifestos tend to incriminate him due to the criticizing words he used against the captain. Another murder was that of a sheriff’s detective during the gun fires exchange, while alleged Dorner was trying to flee. Marquez and Smith, reported the man to had been Jeremiah Mackay, a fifteen year old devoted officer, who left his family of three quite young (2013). The issue is just too complicated, yet there exists a presence of conspiracy. Can a single man always be wrong at every event? There are many doubts, but if Christopher killed the couple, why extend to Lawrence who never did harm. Both murders were inhuman and intolerable for the society and team of LAPD. 1.3.2. Armed and a Difficult Time for LAPD Christopher had not only provoked the society, but the entire team of LAPD and their families. The streets were not safe for them, and dealing with a trained man who had access and means of using arms, anything could have been expected. Carter and Vercammen mentioned about Dorner being suspected of attempted murders on several policemen, which left some nursing injuries in the hospitals; the critical one was associated with Michael Crain’s murder, but left his trainee officer to undergo numerous surgeries, due to the bullets on the chest and shoulder (2013). Serving in the many levels of security force in his short period, the training and experience shaped his skills and he ought to have come across many types of firearms and explosives. His firing at the diseased Crain’s vehicle and shootings at the police officers were the actions of a trained man, who intended to destroy and inflict fear in people’s lives. He knew of numerous tactics LAPD uses, had experience with certain programs like ISR, vehicle tracking, and had purposed to use every tool he had learned of; he appeared planned and out for a reason, targeting on certain cops and their families (abc, 2013). The LAPD had a difficult time, actually a test of time that left them exposed and blamed for past activities. Christopher’s acts challenged their plans and countered their tactics in the face of the public. He was a dangerous man and who knows what it could have led to? From the manner he had managed to receive sympathy from the public, it could have been easy to form a rebelling group through supporters (whether rich or poor), who oppose the government. 1.3.3. Held Captive During his last few days before being claimed dead, Christopher was reported to have been residing in the private properties of an old couple before they came in. According to walker (2013), the couple held hostage by alleged Dorner were mistaken to be housekeepers, while the truth was that they were the property owners and had come to clean up the house, usually leased to tourists, when they were held captive, after which he drove off in their vehicle. They were lucky that they lived to tell story of the hunted LA ex-cop. Dorner did not hurt them, but requested for their calm as he sought for an exit; he simply acted human, since he had no conflict with them. However, his presence on people’s property was a serious crime, and any honourable member of a society would report that as a crime. Thanks to the couple and their act of responsibility, this brought to an end the inhuman acts of destruction. 1.4. Conclusion Nobody is justified to take another man’s life, hence people should learn how to control their anger and persistently seek legal action for justice. Christopher was accused of killing innocent people, causing linked injuries as he tried to attack his targets, and caused indirectly related harm through the LAPD open fires as they looked, and mistakenly shot members of the society. His crimes were horrific to the society, and psychologically affected family members of LAPD targeted figures. However, his actions call for transparency, honesty, and discipline in LAPD and other states police departments, to prevent oppression of the weak and racial bias in the society, and circulation of the truth within the structure of the society. His destruction has not lived long, but through it, he has destroyed life and caused injuries to the society. In short, to an extent the society is the one that rears a domestic terrorist through its responses to events. Nevertheless, anyone planning to engage in such activities should rethink the consequences, and find a better way of solving their problems. Reference List abc. (2013). Chris Dorner Manifesto. Retrieved from http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/feature?section=news/local/orange_county&id=8983607 Abdollah, T. (2013, February 7). Christopher Dorner Manhunt: Police Search For Ex-Los Angeles Officer in Alleged Murder, Cop Killing. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/christopher-dorner-manhunt-los-angeles_n_2638023.html?icid=maing-grid7|maing10|dl1|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D267586 Campbell, A. (n.d). Chris Dorner Manifesto: Read Christopher Dorner's Manifesto Online. Retrieved from http://www.policymic.com/articles/26103/chris-dorner-manifesto-read-christopher-dorner-s-manifesto-online Carter, C. J., & Vercammen, P. (2013, February 12). Search For Ex-Cop at Center of LAPD Revenge Plot Widens. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/11/us/lapd-attacks/index.html Marquez, M., & Smith, M. (2013, February 14). San Bernardino County Sheriff: 'This Investigation is Over.'Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/13/us/lapd-manhunt Rival Political Narratives. (2012, May 23). The Psychology of Conspiracy Theory. Retrieved from http://counterpoint.uk.com/publications/the-psychology-of-conspiracy-theory/ Ronczkowski, M. R. (2012). Terrorism and Organized Hate Crime: Intelligence Gathering, Analysis and Investigation. 3rd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Walker, T. (2013, February 14). Fugitive gunman Chris Dorner told Hostage Couple: I Just Want to Clear My Name. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fugitive-gunman-chris-dorner-told-hostage-couple-i-just-want-to-clear-my-name-8495021.html Read More