Behind the Badge
BehindtheBadgeOC.com launched an Internet radio podcast today, hosted by veteran Orange County police officer Kevin Von Luft that will offer a perspective of law enforcement that isn’t on the air today.
Von Luft’s guest, Sgt. Steve Wolf, has spent 25 years in law enforcement. They discussed a few recent viral videos that, they say, are damaging to the reputations of police officers everywhere.
Click on the photo to the right to listen to the inaugural show.
The first involves a shooting in North Charleston, South Carolina where it appears the officer shot and killed a fleeing suspect, then planted his Taser on him. Von Luft and Wolf also talked about recent news footage of San Bernardino sheriff deputies repeatedly punching and kicking a suspect who appeared to have surrendered.
The officers also dissected “body cam” video of an officer in New Richmond, Ohio who chose not to shoot a suspect who was apparently bent on committing “suicide by cop.”
Von Luft and Wolf debated whether the officer put himself at risk by not using deadly force.
Regarding the South Carolina shooting, Von Luft said, “I almost couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen another officer do something remotely like that. I started with disbelief and then I went to anger. Thanks for tarnishing the badge. Thanks for making my job so much harder.’”
Von Luft also shared an anecdote about how dozens of people at a shopping center used their cell phones to record him wrestling with a mentally-ill man that he eventually safely took into custody.
By the time his shift ended, multiple people had emailed the video to his boss, he said.
Von Luft plans to publish a show once a week. If there’s a topic you’d like him to tackle, please send us an email at brams@behindthebadgeoc.com.
