Sunday, July 09, 2000

It is a disturbing and disgusting reality that crimes will be committed in Austin. It is also an utterly frustrating reality that those charged with protecting and serving the public will at times not be able to.

Last week’s double homicide at the Downtown Motel in Austin is a reminder our community is not immune from crime, nor is our police force able to be every where at all times.

That said, the performance of the Austin police and Chief Paul Philipp in quickly capturing the five suspects in the shootings of Juan Vincente Ramirez, 41, and Raul Pedro Guterrez, 26, was amazing.

In less than 24 hours local officials, cooperating with other agencies, followed a trail from the Downtown Motel to St. Paul. It was a case of old-fashioned detective work, a little luck and an urgency fitting the crimes.

What makes the quick capture of the suspects, and the work of the Austin Police, even more impressive is that murders aren’t an every day occurrence in our relatively safe community. Our police force was thrust into a important investigation and it responded and performed as well as any police force anywhere.

Of course our officers are trained to deal with every situation, but all the training in the world doesn’t matter unless it can be used effectively when the situation arises. The Austin Police force impressively demonstrated it is more than capable of protecting and serving.

Austin should be proud of its men and women in blue.