美国国家公共电台 NPR--Texas State Police downplay their role in Uvalde shooting failures, report says

Texas State Police downplay their role in Uvalde shooting failures, report says

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Lomi Kriel of the ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit about state police shifting blame to local law enforcement for the school shooting that killed 21 people.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

After a gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and two teachers, investigators² focused on law enforcement's long delay in intervening. The school police chief was fired, and the city's acting³ police chief was suspended. But a new investigative report finds state troopers actually outnumbered local responders 2 to 1. And the Department of Public Service, which had dozens of its officers on the scene, controlled the flow of information to deflect⁴ responsibility for what happened. Steve Inskeep asked journalist Lomi Kriel of the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Unit about the reporting.

LOMI KRIEL: What our story was about was really the role of the state police, the Department of Public Safety. We know they had 91 officers at the scene, many of them, and specifically at least one, was there within 4 minutes of the shooting. Several high-level officers were there pretty soon after that. Nobody has really discussed the role that the Department of Public Safety played at Uvalde. And then our reporting showed that, you know, how early they were there and what other law enforcement experts said they should have done given the lack of action.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It was widely understood that the local police chief was the incident commander. He was given the orders or failing to. Is there something wrong with that part of the story?

KRIEL: Some of the things that we uncovered in our reporting - that nobody was really in control and the Department of Public Safety, any supervisor⁵ should have been asking their officers, who's in charge? What's going on? Who's commanding the scene? And when it was unclear, they should have approached the school police chief and said, hey, we can take it from here, at the very least.

INSKEEP: You say the DPS didn't take a lead role in the response as it had done before during other mass shootings and public disasters. Would it have been normal for them to say, we're taking over?

KRIEL: The history of sort of law enforcement response is that the first officer arriving at a scene becomes sort of the incident commander because that person is generally most knowledgeable⁶ about the incident. But with DPS in particular, the lack of sort of any action in Uvalde was quite striking because it had played a key role in many statewide emergencies before. So, you know, the lack of sort of any action on their part was quite striking here.

INSKEEP: Was the Department of Public Safety frank about its own role in this shooting?

KRIEL: No. And they never have, and I think that is part of the story. They were the ones who held the press conferences right after the shooting. They're also the ones that are investigating the law enforcement response, which is interesting because, you know, it includes their own officers. They had 91 troopers at the scene. And there's been very little mention of their role in the shooting. It wasn't until this week that the Department of Public Safety even acknowledged that, you know, there'd been any wrongdoing on the part of their troopers. They said that they'd referred five of them to their own internal affairs and suspended two. You know, three months after the fact, we're only now getting any information about any kind of disciplinary action from the state police.

INSKEEP: Now that they have referred some officers for investigation⁷, has the department said in a broader sense, we didn't do this right, we want to change some things, here's what we want to change?

KRIEL: No, they have not answered any questions, really. Frankly⁸, they just haven't released anything that could help the public understand both what happened that day but also what their guidance and protocols⁹ are. And so I think at a basic minimum, just sort of some more light on to that would help us understand.

INSKEEP: Lomi Kriel of the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Unit, thanks so much.

KRIEL: Thanks for having me.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

4 deflect   

v.(使)偏斜，(使)偏离，(使)转向

参考例句：

• Never let a little problem deflect you.决不要因一点小问题就半途而废。
• They decided to deflect from the original plan.他们决定改变原计划。

5 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

6 knowledgeable   

adj.知识渊博的；有见识的

参考例句：

• He's quite knowledgeable about the theatre.他对戏剧很有心得。
• He made some knowledgeable remarks at the meeting.他在会上的发言颇有见地。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

9 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网