An open response to President Hitt’s Letter
Published by kyle September 26th, 2005 in NewsOur last home-game should have been a time for celebration, as it was our first win in the past two seasons, not a time for mourning, but the big news was not the win against marshall, it was the loss of one of UCF’s most dedicated employees, a police officer.
In an effort to inform the UCF community of the recent tragedy and express an overall concern for all affected parties, President Hitt sent out the following letter:
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UCF COMMUNITY
September 25, 2005
Dear Friends:
Our community experienced a tragic loss Saturday afternoon with the death of UCF Police Officer Mario Jenkins. Of course, our immediate thoughts and concerns are for Officer Jenkins widow and family, and his fellow UCF
police officers. For those of us who joined them at ORHS Saturday evening, it was a heart-wrenching experience. We also share concern for the UCF student, Michael Joseph Young, who was injured Saturday at the Citrus Bowl.
The events leading to Officer Jenkins fatal shooting by a reserve Orlando police officer are under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is standard procedure when any police officer is
involved in a fatal shooting. Many eyewitnesses have given statements to FDLE investigators. But, in cases such as this, it is common for even the most conscientious observers to give accounts that vary, sometimes
significantly so. The university community must respect this investigative process and accept that it may be a while before its outcome is known. It may be that a full understanding of the events will never be known.
However, it is abundantly clear that no matter how we view those tragic events, the use and abuse of alcohol were contributing factors.
In recent years, we have increased our efforts to control alcohol-related problems on campus and at football games, and while progress has been made, we have not accomplished enough. Saturdays tragic events could have happened at any tailgating event in America. But they happened here. So we must work to see that more is done to improve the atmosphere at our home football games.
Grief and anger are poor counselors when wise policy and practice are needed, but we cannot wait for emotions to pass before addressing what has become a serious problem. Therefore, I will immediately appoint a task
force to develop policies and procedures dealing with alcohol use at large public gatherings sponsored by UCF. Understandably, the focus will be on home football games. When Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called me Sunday to express his condolences, he also offered his assistance and support for our efforts to control alcohol abuse at the Citrus Bowl. I appreciate his response and those of Orlando Police Chief Michael McCoy and Orange County
Sheriff Kevin Beary. All have been real friends to our university in this terrible time.
In closing, let me request that you reach out to our UCF police at this time of sorrow. They serve us with professionalism and dedication every day and deserve our admiration and respect. Let them know that you share their sense of loss. It is a loss to all of us.
John C. Hitt
President
I usually am very supportive of the President’s decisions. I can’t say as i follow many of them closely, but the major ones that make news I pay attention to and have been so far impressed. For example, some time over the past few years the issue of gay rights came up. The UCF gay community was pressing for equal protection written into UCF’s policies. Hitt did not even entertain them with a hearing, just flat out said no. I supported his well backed decision, decaring protections to certain groups would separate them from others, which would only serve to segregate the community. Hitt obviously saw the implications of perpetuating segregation in any instance and did well to push the UCF community closer, rather than farther apart. All UCF students are given the same protection, no matter of their race, religion, sexual preference, etc. That is what should be done, one system for all bodies. So after that incident, I was fond of Hitt, saw him as less of a liberal pansy which is what I expected of a university president.
His open letter to the community however, really did nothing but segregate the community. His letter although well intended, did not convey an air of concern for the students and staff affected by the events, nor did it place and blame with the appropriate parties. I will give both President Hitt and myself some adequate tolerance on details, as no one really knows what happened exactly, but I will speak from the few details we do have.
President Hitt discusses standard operating procedure of the FDLE regarding investigations, but he does not discuss the standard operation procedures of breaking up rowdy crowds. I firmly believe pulling out a gun and shooting it into the air, is by far the worst procedure in dealing with crowds. I am not unsympathetic to the loss of Officer Jenkins, but I find it offense for President Hitt to digress into discussing UCF’s alcohol abuse problem and looking for a scapegoat in the student body. President Hitt’s potent reminder that this event did not occur anywhere in the country but at our home stadium is stirring, but unfortunately, does not put that large burden on himself. President Hitt places the blame on the atmosphere of the UCF home football games and the ‘contributing factors’ of ‘the use and abuse of alcohol.’ The fact stands very strong that at nearly every other football game in the country, there was use and abuse of alcohol. At ours there was use and abuse of force in dealing with the alcohol. There was a UCF officer pulling out his gun in order to deal with a few rowdy kids. I submit that this alone was the reason the officer fell in the line of duty, and place the blame solely on the officer that chose unwisely to handle the situation in a certain way. I would also like to express my support of the OPD officer that seems to be forgotten about in this time of tragedy. This officer is now having to deal with his personal burden of taking someone else’s life, and that person is being made out as a hero. The fallen officer should have known that waving a gun in the air and shooting it would land him in some trouble. I don’t think any sane individual would try that and not expect that same outcome. It seems to me that the UCF officer involved had grown accustomed to being protected by his uniforms and badge, once in street clothes (undercover) he was no longer invincible, and expected to abide by the same laws he was enforcing. I am not intending this to be a barrage of complaints about the UCF policy and enforcement agencies, but a matter of reseting the blame to its rightful owner. Proper measures, policies and training are required to deal with alcohol abuse. This was a slipshod effort whose outcome must rest with those provoking it.
President Hitt, I expect to see you and your Chief of police to accept responsibility for this event, not pass it off to the students. This is an error in judgement and training, and has affected the whole UCF community. On top of that trauma you insult us by pushing the blame to us as if we were in the position to do anything about it. If you cannot manage the universities practices and policies and are not responsible enough to accept fault, I would hope that you would step down as the President and allow someone that will truly lead our great institution.
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“We also share concern for the UCF student, Michael Joseph Young, who was injured Saturday at the Citrus Bowl.”
Just so you know, Officer Mario Jenkins shot this student in the leg, prompting the OPD officer to open fire.
maybe if they stopped giving a shit about underage drinking, this wouldnt be a problem.
oh well, one less stop sign will be patrolled…bfd.
o m g. i think that is the most insensitive comment i could have hoped for. well done.
I find it very sad that the apparently educated author of this column has such an uneducated perspective of this incident.
The problem does not lie with Officer Jenkins it lies with the society we protect.
Unfortunately we live in a society that fails to use common sense, logic, and responsibility for it’s mistakes.
Evidentiallly you have never worn a badge, had to make a split second decision, or see the real picture of life through a policeman’s eyes so I won’t attempt to enlighten you.
As policemen, in “hairy” situations most of what we do falls into the gray area where policy does not define.
Most incidents where people get injured, arrested, or killed by law enforcement is by two reasons: the situation they put themselves in(breaking the law), or their refusal to obey, or listen to instructions/orders when an officer assumes control of the scene.
All too often though people like yourself like to “arm chair quarterback” a policemen’s decision and not scrutenize the offender’s actions addressing the real cause and effect.
Another problem that plagues this type of unfortunate circumstance is people like you that write colums on subjects that they have no practical knowledge of.
The blame in this situation goes to the students that were breaking the law, and the citizen’s that down play their actions.
quickly i want to share some quick little facts about argumentative replies.
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/logic.html
“Appeal to Pity: The writer begs for the approval of the claim; the audience may agree because they feel sorry for the arguer.
I cannot get a job because the public education system failed me; I have to steal to survive. It is society’s fault, not mine.”
a common logical fallacy, and ineffective as far convincing arguments go. also, not signing your name or leaving an email addy, detracts from your credibility. basically what i am trying to say here, is if you are going to put the time and effort forth to post on my site, as it appears you did, why not make a convincing argument?
also be sure to check out the area on irrelevant connections in regards to the “armchair quarterback” contention. if you care to, try again with a decent argument rather than emotional appeals and silly distractions from the point.
next time you start criticizing problems with society, and touting your high opinions of breaking laws and citizen conduct, you may not also want to avoid bashing the first amendment in the same thought. oh noess!! someone with an opinion and a webserver!! what a novelty. i really don’t think my site is one of society’s great problems. and i know it hasn’t killed anyone yet. i have a special meter for that, still on zero.
If, god-help-us, you are a cop, how bout leaving your gun in its holster next time a college kid picks up a few beers. By no means am i saying for an officer to risk his own life when trying to detain a violent criminal, but really, was officer jenkins’ life really ever in danger until he pulled his own gun?
being that i still recieve e-mail from ucf, i got this letter at probably the same time you did, and had a similar reaction on a general level, but more specifcally was annoyed on a political level.
in his letter, president hitt fails to come across as sincere, and instead uses the death of Jenkins as a means to promote himself and the university as being proactive/forward-thinking. Hitt’s proposal to form a task force on alcohol abuse is really niether.
It seems to me that picking a single target to blame, ignoring the others, and forming a task force must be in the “idiots guide to politics”, because this is certainly not the first time I’ve seen this, and won’t, by any stretch of the imagination, be the last. this technique is so common due to a) the fact that it makes it look as if something is acutally being done, and b) how it shifts the blame to someone/thing other than the powers that be.
in this case, the roach in our blame/ignore/task -force combination platter is sitting in plain sight.
(after a quick scan of that neato logical fallacy guide, it appears that i am allowed to say the following.)
drinking is a staple at college football games everywhere (afaik anyway), and people being shot is not, so that alone should be a fairly decent indication that something other than alcohol ocntributed to, or caused, the incident. interesting how that works, right?
what is worrying about all this is that Hitt has managed, a the same time, to do something that is obviously wrong ethically and logically, but at the same time has done something that is considered right in politics.
(note: i hate writing in this little textbox…i make more mistakes, and come across very scattered…more space please — i prefer to think outside the box.
i have to say kyle….since reading “so’s” post i do think you are responsible for the problems not only in society as a whole but more specifically in my life and i want to kill myself just to make an impact on your special meter.
P.S. - call me after i’m dead….i want to know i died with purpose and made the special meter move (basically my over-competitive spirit shining through)
I am constantly reminded how completely spoiled and immature the UCF Student body truly is. Ofc. Jenkins was one of the most tactically trainined, hardworking, honest, and loyal people I have ever met. The “witnesses” to this incident were primarily the same idiots that attacked Mario in the first place. Drunk fools with no concept of decency. The problem is not underage drinking the problem is; when a simple law is enforced, people ATTACK A POLICE OFFICER!!! Mario Jenkins was doing his job flawlessly. I would like to see any stupid piece of shit on here say they wouldn’t try to illiminate there attacker when surounded by 10-20 drunk assholes trying to attack you and take your gun after properly identifying yourself as a POLICE OFFICER! As soon as 10-20 people begin attacking a POLICE OFFICER, it steps the crime up from a misdemeanor of the 2nd degree to a Felony. I can’t believe that the idiots protesting Mario’s actions can’t see that. I hope that everyone monday morning quarter backing my friend Mario, finds themself in the same situation one day and I hope that you remember to think about what Mario must have been going through in the last moments of his life. I am dissapointed in the UCF Community as a whole and am ashamed of all who speak without knowing a damn thing about the situation just to voice an opinion which was probably not orignally theirs in the first place.
I SUPPORT THE UCF POLICE 100% I think they should write more tickets and arrest more of the student body which opposes them. Stay strong UCFPD there are those of us out here that support you no matter what the people you protect do to spit in your eye after making the greatest sacrifice.
although i don’t appreciate the use of foul language on my site, ill respect the fact VCF made an attempt at an intelligent response; anyway i couldn’t help passing up such funny stuff. i mean, honestly “Mario Jenkins was doing his job flawlessly.” lawl !
I never said Ofc Jenkins was not honest, hardworking, or loyal, i dont think his personality or character was ever in question, it certainly wasn’t by me as I have and never will meet him. If that is the best training in the force, they need to leave it to professionals, because situations do arise, it is the nature of a dangerous job, those situations should certainly be handled differently than in this tragedy, for the studentss and officers’ sakes. any idiot knows to diffuse a situation when outnumbered, not throw blackpowder on it, pun intended. wait, did you say 10-20 assailants? how many bullets did he have? so what was the plan again?
Don’t get me wrong, i support the UCF PD but i also support OPD’s officer who I think remembered his primary goal better then others that day. I will however take leave of my support, at times, to point out obvious problems with some institutions, this is one of those times.
Kyle,
I’m glad you were able to get a good laugh out of this tragedy. I fail to see how many bullets Ofc. Jenkins had in his weapon, makes a difference. I’m wondering, since you thought it was such a funny comment about Ofc Jenkins performing his duties flawlessly, how long have you been a police officer or anyone who would ever be expected to put their life on the line to protect others and uphold the law? How much training do you have to make a judgement at a split second when your life is on the line? I’m sorry if you don’t like foul language on your site but I have a feeling that you would probably shit your pants and drool on yourself if ever attacked by a crowd. I’m sure you would probably talk your way out of a group of angry, attacking, drunk idiots and I’m sure that if you could control your bowels, wipe away the drool, and manage to get out a few words to try and “diffuse the situation” that you would most certainly get your ass seriously hurt or killed. As far as the OPD Ofc. I have no ill will toward him even though it was his bullets that killed my friend. I have COMPLETE AND TOTAL ILL WILL toward the drunk pieces of crap that attacked Mario in the first place and forced him to resort to deadly force in order to protect himself. I hope you find yourself in the same situation one day and are expected under color of law to react and maintain the peace and I hope that you are terrified but still compelled by duty to respond. I hope that you are man enough to admit that you were wrong and that you were simply acting like an uninformed civillian who thought they knew something that they really had no clue about. I am a big supporter of free speech and I must say that anything you write back or anything anyone else writes on this site is entirely their opinion and their right to express. However, I would urge people to not speak out of their asses and actually think before writing. If you don’t know the details and the ins and outs of a situation, you should try to learn more about it before making off handed remarks.
well i fail to see how shooting an unarmed student and getting himself killed can be considered flawless. but since i have never been a cop, that must mean logic has no place here. also, you suggest shooting the assailant was the proper course of action, but with 10-20 assailants and fewer bullets, it doesn’t seem like a reasonable course of action. ill reply more later. gotta study for my electronics exam.
btw, i don’t mind if you post, but keep the language up and ill exercise my right to clean it up. there is no place for foul language in a mature discussion.
Let me dive into this…
First of all, VFC said, “I’m sure you would probably talk your way out of a group of angry, attacking, drunk idiots(…)” If Ofc Jenkins HAD done this things would be different today.
VFC, do you actually think that pulling out his weapon and firing shots into the air in the middle of a crowd was Ofc Jenkins’ best course of action? I’m sure he knew full well that he was ununiformed and to the OPD officers patrolling the area, that were uninformed of the undercover UCFPD officers, he just looked like a man with a gun fighting with some kids? Could communication be at fault here? Maybe if UFCPD and OPD had worked together better in setting up this undercover sting operation we would not be arguing over internet about this. What if Ofc. Jenkins had called for backup when began to see the situation escalating instead of drawing his weapon? VFC, you’d probably say something along the lines of “HEY HOW MUCH TRAINING DO YOU HAVE? NONE? YOU CAN’T SAY ANYTHING THEN.” But I DO know how long it takes hit the push to talk button on a radio, how long it takes to draw a concealed weapon, and how long it takes to say, “Alright everyone calm down.” I assure you it takes the same amount of time to do each.
I agree that the loss of Ofc Jenkins is very sad; I drive by the UCF Police Station on my way to class everyday and I was reminded of it every time I passed by (with the band on the station sign and Ofc Jenkins’ patrol car parked in front). This still does not justify President Hitt’s use of alcohol as the scapegoat in this situation. I agree that people employ better judgement when drinking, especially in public places where mob mentality comes into play, but simply placing the blame of the entire situation squarely on alcohol is absurd. Yes alsohol was a factor, but poor judgement on both Ofc Jenkins, the students involved, and the OPD officer outweigh that factor. What if the kids were rowdy and excited about the football game? I know for a fact that even sober, people are easy to stir up if you badmouthed their team of choice, especially in mobs. What would you blame if Ofc. Jenkins had caused the situation by doing such? Football? If you were President Hitt it seems like you would.
So I’m sorry if I sound as if I were “talking out of my ass” but maybe I’m not the one who needs to rethink their side of this argument.
I agree that people NEED TO employ better judgement when drinking…
Sorry, typo and there’s no edit button.
Kyle,
To comment on the bullets situation. The Glock 17 law enforcement double stack magazines which are the weapons and magazines used by the UCF police department carry a total of 18 rounds. 17 in the magazine one in the pipe. Aslo, it is standard practice to carry atleast one back up magazine when working undercover… bringing the total number of rounds to 35. 35/20=1.75 just some simple math for you.
Is alcohol totally to blame for this tragedy? No of course not. The effect that alcohol has on people coupled with the mob mentality and the apparent lack of consience or respect is what is to blame.
Shooting an unarmed suspect (not student) the second you attack someone you become a suspect…the shooting of the suspect was 100 % justified because he attacked Ofc. Jenkins from behind and attempted to take his gun. Guess what happens when an unarmed suspect succeeds in taking a police officer’s gun? They become an ARMED suspect. More police officers are killed with there own guns each year then any other weapon. This is because a criminal does not have to worry about training, restraint, backdrop. Hesitation can be deadly. Ofc. Jenkins new he was surounded by a hostile croud. He knew that after he had properly identified himself as a police officer, someone was attacking him and trying to take his gun. Do you know what the worst witness in the world is? Intoxicated eye witnesses. Due to the stress and confusion of the moment, I garantee that nearly every “eyewitness” statement will contain many different variations of the perceived truth.
As far as the using the radio for back up? Well not all of you know this and why would you but relying as heavily on Motorola as I do, I know for a fact that the State band that motorola uses has many many dead spots near the Citrus Bowl. I also know that Nextel experiences the same problems in that area so there is a BIG question mark of whether or not Ofc. Jenkins was able to get out on either. People watch a lot of tv and movies and seem to think that its as simple as that. Just remember that every actor who shoots a gun or is confronted by “bad guys” gets as many takes as they need and never has to worry about losing their life or protecting another’s life while acting.
“WILL”… I’m glad you know how long it takes to hit the push to talk on a radio and how quickly you can draw a concealed weapon. When was the last time you were confronted by 20 angry, drunk, non-cooperative, violent people all of whom knowing you are a cop and not caring… while trying to draw you concealed weapon, push the talk button, and make sure that the guy jumping on you from behind doesn’t take your gun and kill you with it? But yeah I’m Sure Ofc. Jenkins had plenty of time to say “hey guys relax, everythings cool” Everything was NOT cool. Ofc. Jenkins did not fire warning shots. If any shots were fired in the air and not into his assailant where they belonged, it was because there was a struggle for the gun.
Finally about better cooperation between OPD and UCF. Absolutely that is key. Especially when you have an under cover operation with multi agencies. ABT, UCF, OPD were colaborating in this operation and obviously there was a lack of communication between agencies. Is this Ofc. Jenkins responsibilty/faul? For the issue of communication you need to look at the policies and procedures in place for multi-departmental operations. Ofc Jenkins was not in charge of the operation nor was he responsible for writing the policies.
This will be my last entry at this site. Thank you for letting me share my views and opinions. Each of my entries are based solely on my opinions and experience. Just remember…most of the people that visit this site are young adults with very little life experience. NO ONE has the right to Judge Ofc. Jenkins for his actions because they were not there in his shoes that day and I doubt very very much that anyone on this site has any experience as a law enforcement officer. (not anyone who would question Ofc. Jenkins’ actions anyway)
In a country that would elect Bush jr. twice, I’m not surprised by the cattle herd mentality nor the loss of logic in today’s society
Happy Holidays!
well vfc or vcf - whichever you prefer - i appreciate the more coherent response without the useless language - you’re wrong on the ‘anyone on this site has any experience in law enforcement’ a really good freind of mine who frequents the site has at least 10 years of state law enforcement experience, its seems you have made a lot of assumptions about the site and the people here, as well as their opinions. i agree with many of your points, and my intention on the article was not to doubt ofc jenkins at all, as i clearly stated i did not know many details. i actually re-read some of the article that focused around the bit about ofc jenkins, i did not see anywhere questioning what he did or his reaction, not that i neccasarily think it was the best course of action, but hindsight is 20/20 and you are right, in that situation, it is very difficult to always properly assess a situation - if you reread the article particularly the title, my complaint, which was quite in line with a topic you brought up, the cooperation bewtween UCF and OPD, was focuses solely around the organization and execution of this procedure. jenkins should have had backup, OPD should have known his presence attire and location and been assiting in the results of him stirring the ants nest of drunken students. i will disregard the fact you entertained my satirical crack at how many bullets he was going to go through into the mob. and just to clear things up, i don’t condone the student’s behaoir either, i abstain from alcohol personally, and treat police officers with the respect that they duly deserve, i do not appreciate that a poorly piloted procedure scapegoats a common practice that goes on elsewhere week after week without incident because of some politician’s arrogance an unwillingness to accept a modicum of blame. lastly i might recommend that you clean your posts of logical fallacies, which were abundant, if you want to tout that little quip about bush, that is of course unless you are saying you voted for bush. honestly, cattle herd mentality crack on a post questioning authority. whats that about logic?