Indicted for Cowardice

I have mentioned on a number of occasions that police are trained to be cowards, but I never expected to see some Uvalde police to be indicted  for their cowardice.

The wording of the charges does not call them cowards, they charge child endangerment and abandonment, but at it's core, these are charges for cowardice:

The former Uvalde schools police chief and another former officer have been indicted over their role in the slow police response to the 2022 massacre at a Texas elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead, according to multiple reports on Thursday.

The Uvalde Leader-News and the San Antonio Express-News reported that Pete Arredondo, the former schools police chief, and Adrian Gonzales, a former officer, were indicted by a grand jury on multiple counts of felony child endangerment and abandonment. The Leader-News reported that Christina Mitchell, the local district attorney, confirmed the indictment.

The Austin American-Statesman also reported that two former officers had been indicted but did not identify them.

Mitchell did not immediately return messages from the Associated Press seeking comment. Several family members of victims of the shooting did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The indictments would make Arredondo, who was the on-site commander during the attack, and Gonzales the first officers to face criminal charges in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. A scathing report by Texas lawmakers that examined the police response described Gonzales as one of the first officers to enter the building after the shooting began.

I don't think that the charges will stick, the Supreme Court ruled in Warren v. District of Columbia that the police have no duty to protect, and I think that this will make its way to federal court where that precedent would apply.

Cowardice is only a criminal offense under military law (UCMJ, Article 99).

Given the increased militarization of police, and the increased use of fear as a justification for unjustifiable acts, perhaps cowardice should be criminalized for police.