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<p>Those educated people put an awful lot of faith in the power of government. And, as they say, a government powerful enough to give you everything you want is powerful enough to take away everything you have. There’s no reason to have any more faith in the police than you would in anyone else with power.</p>
<p>Midwesterner:</p>
<p>I agree that the dismantling of mental health institutions put a greater burden on the police, especially when coupled with vagrancy policies. For some reason, many inmates were released in Central Square in Cambridge, at the time when we lived in that area. We would see them ambling around on Mass Ave, looking disheveled and talking to themselves. But they were generally harmless.</p>
<p>I do believe, though, that in the case of the death of Seth Bishop, there was an active cover-up. An order came down to stop the investigation. The main question is whether it came from the dead captain (Burker?) or his superior, Polio, who is now 87 years old. Amy Bishop’s mother was then on the Police Review Board.</p>
<p>*It always surprises me that governmental entities try to pull the cover-up crap in a state that is so well-educated. *</p>
<p>The state being well-educated is not what has led to this being uncovered. If Amy had never killed anyone at UAH, the well-educated in Mass would still be blind to the shenanigans that went on there.</p>
<p>It is very easy for those “in power” to cover up all kinds of crimes, etc, without the “little people” every knowing - even if the “little people” are educated.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine the conversation between Amy and her husband about the borrowed gun. Wouldn’t he wonder why she borrowed it? And didn’t he accompany her to the firing range? I’m not implying or even thinking that he knew her plans, but I just can’t imagine what he was thinking about why she had borrowed a gun or needed to practice with it. I mean it surely would raise questions for me!</p>
<p>Yes, he did ask her why she (supposedly) borrowed it, and she said because she worried about a crazy student (or students). That still should have raised a red flag to the H because profs aren’t allowed to carry guns onto campus. IF they have fear of a student, they are to notify campus police.</p>
<p>Since no one has been “outed” as being the one who lent her the gun, I’m suspecting that she actually recently bought the gun, but lied to her H about it because he didn’t want a gun around the house with the kids.</p>
<p>She only went to the gun range within the last few weeks, so I’m guessing that she bought it within the last few weeks.</p>
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<p>What would you have UAH do? Acting weird but showing no sign of violence or criminal behavior or being a mediocre teacher is not a reason for immediate firing, especially in academia where there are very strict procedures for terminating members of the faculty. Bishop was denied tenure. Very possibly, the complaints were part of the dossier and the deliberations that led to her denial.</p>
<p>Completely agree with Marite in post 785. Students rate professors poorly all the time. I believe Amy Bishop also had some good ratings. Nobody is gonna fire a teacher or do some major investigation based on complaints by students. Perhaps it was part of the dossier in her file that was reviewed when she came up for tenure. But it is not like it was some major red flag that this woman was so out of the ordinary. Complaints about teachers are common. The complaints were not of a very serious nature either.</p>
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<p>If Bishop had threatened students with bodily harm or assaulted them, I imagine the complaints would have been acted on immediately. You can’t just yank someone out of the classroom overnight because some (even a lot) of the students think the instruction is sub-par. The problem was being addressed, assuming such complaints played a role in the tenure denial. I don’t see any cover up.</p>
<p>Just as someone in academia might feel it is “ridiculous” to treat student complaints seriously, death by accident is the cause of over 50% of the deaths of someone Seth’s age and it was about 2.5 times more likely that Amy might have shot him accidentially rather than intentionally. </p>
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<p>Do I think that a connection between Amy’s mom and the Police Review Board played a factor? Yes. But with mom saying it was an accident and Amy not having to testify at all, this was a circumstantial case as to motive-intent.</p>
<p>Question–you believe your 20 y.o. may have killed your 18 y.o. in a fit of anger. ONLY YOU witnessed the event. Are you going to offer up that your daughter intentionally killed the brother so she possibly spends the rest of HER life in jail? Or are you going to hope and pray your belief is wrong and/or that something like this will never happen again.</p>
<p>I see that point entirely. I don’t blame Amy’s mother. It is the investigators whose job it is to get to the bottom of cases and this is a matter of the law.</p>
<p>Why do you think that students’ complaints were not treated seriously? Did they complain that she was a danger to them and to the rest of the community? That she acted in a violent way? That she was homicidal? They complained she was not a good teacher. She was denied tenure! What else could UAH do?</p>
<p>Isn’t illegal to carry a gun without a permit? If so, how can they go to the shooting range with a gun that they have no permit for? Why did the husband feel that it is nothing unusual for his wife to start carrying someone else gun to and from the shooting range and also ok with the wife saying she needs some protection from potential crime on campus. Doesn’t this mean that she would have to carry a gun on campus?</p>
<p>There is no evidence that Amy Bishop’s mother was on a police review board or any other political board. She served as town meeting member from 1980 to 1993. At that time there were 240 town meeting members who approved the municipal budget, by-law and zoning changes.</p>
<p>There is no evidence that she or her husband exerted “political” influence to stop the investigation. She told Amy to stop answering questions when she walked into the police station. If my child was being questioned by the police at the station, I might advise her to stop talking to the police until we had obtained a lawyer.</p>
<p>Braintree PD has found the missing records of the shooting and made them open to the public. No evidence that the records were deliberately hidden or destroyed.</p>
<p>So I’m asking: What cover-up???</p>
<p>The Braintree PD made a judgement call. A nice girl from a nice family. Some members of the PD know the mom. The girl is hysterical and the family devastated. They find nothing that contradicts what both the mother and daughter tell them. They decide not to put the family through any more suffering by charging Amy with weapons violations. </p>
<p>I agree that the Braintree PD should have charged Amy for pointing the gun and threatening people. But a cover-up?? C’mon!</p>
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<p>Did I miss something? I don’t know anyone who thinks it is “ridiculous” to treat student complaints seriously. We can’t know what the dept. chair would have done if Bishop had been awarded tenure. He is dead and can’t address the question.</p>
<p>I know tenure track faculty who have not gotten past the 3-yr. review process because of their teaching. I know some who were denied tenure despite a good pub. record because they wouldn’t try to improve their teaching. I know a very senior prof. who, right now, is the target–apparently justified–of major student complaints. This is a tougher situation, since he already has tenure, but certainly the students’ opinions have been taken seriously.</p>
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<p>I don’t agree with this. The investigation ended quickly and seemed to be based on what the mom and daughter had to say. Some valid questions were raised even on this thread (we are not forensic experts) about what it takes to load and shoot that type of gun three times, the fact that this young woman fled and aimed the gun at three others, that an argument took place, and so on. </p>
<p>In terms of a cover up…hard to say but valid questions are being asked. The fact that the file was missing and not where it should have been is very curious as well.</p>
<p>Students’ opinions surely can be taken seriously. But they very well may have been in terms of Amy’s tenure review. But I believe some were questioning why the university didn’t look into these complaints in Mon. morning quarterbacking now as if these complaints were any indication that Amy was anything more than a teacher who may not have been a great teacher. The nature of the complaints were not over serious matters beyond her as a teacher, it seems. Therefore, the complaints came under the purview of teacher evaluation, not under some “alarm” that this person was dangerous beyond not being a great teacher.</p>
<p>yorkyfan, even the current Braintree police, the current DA, and the former police chief Polio himself said that it does not make sense to close the case and release Amy like the way it did. Some of the officers at the time were unhappy with the action. C’mon.</p>
<p>ttparent, I agree. Even those officials are questioning how it was handled. Even if it was an accidental shooting, they are saying that there were other offenses she should have been charged with.</p>
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<p>I think I read the Alabama attorney general’s position letter that OPEN carry **does not **require a permit. After the recent Supreme Court case on the 2nd Amendment, I imagine it is the law of the land. </p>
<p>That begs the question of being in possession of a handgun not registered to you. </p>
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<p>To reach the opinion that Amy’s mom misled the police don’t you have to assume Amy shot Seth intentionally.</p>
<p>“Notice that many CC posters are willling to give U of A a pass for not acting on student complaints about a professor instead of yelling “cover-up.” It seems to be a matter of perspective.”</p>
<p>The complaints weren’t about anything dangerous or unethical. It wasn’t as if she had been threatening people’s lives or sexually harassing students. Anyway, Bishop didn’t get tenure. The student complaints may have been a reason why she didn’t get tenure.</p>
<p>BTW, the police record seems to have been destroyed. It disappeared from the police file. They happened to find a copy of it in a storage box of paperwork of a retired police. Maybe I’m wrong but it seems to me that someone kept a copy and the removing process missed it somehow. At least that appears to me to be the case.</p>