Inside Story: In the Line Of Duty
For some time now, Ron Barber has produced the In the Line of Duty series of police training videos. Shelby and her husband Dave, also a Tulsa cop at the time, detail the nightmare of the shooting’s aftermath, the trial, and the ongoing persecution following. Oklahoma put the “speedy” in “speedy trial” for this one, putting it in front of a jury in May of 2017. She was acquitted by the jury, whose foreman would later write, “The jury concluded any officer put in that situation at that exact moment and regardless of the skin color, gender or size of the suspect would have performed the same way …”
In the In the Line of Duty video, Betty and Dave Shelby shared the following hard-learned advice. Hire defense lawyers who know their stuff. Shelby had two defense attorneys: ex-cop Scott Wood, familiar with police training issues, and Shannon McMurray, experienced in homicide trials. Sign up beforehand for FOP legal defense, or your department’s equivalent. The Fraternal Order of Police paid the $411,000+ legal bill. For private citizens, the analog would be a post-self-defense support group like the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network.
The National Center for Police Defense paid for her security during her trial. Have an emergency nest egg to get you through the trial. It’s hard to find work when you stand charged with murder or manslaughter. Access to psychological and emotional support is critical. Fortunately, TPD had a program in place for officers involved in such critical incidents.
For those who don’t, the film recommends reaching out to www.bluehelp.org and www.thewoundedblue.org. Consider a trust for your personal assets. At the time of the video, Shelby was still a defendant in a pending lawsuit by the family of the deceased. Have a go-bag, and evacuation plans, ready. The Shelbys say they were informed a Black Lives Matter contingent was planning to go to their home en-masse to place her under citizens’ arrest for murder. Seeing the potential for negative outcome, the Shelbys had to flee their own home on short notice.
Be able to articulate your own knowledge of policy and law that informed the actions for which you are being tried. The judge did not allow TPD instructors to testify as to her training. Fortunately, Shelby was able to do so very well herself when she took the witness stand.
The Shelbys have left TPD and now work for separate sheriff’s departments, but their ordeal is ongoing. They have a private company offering training for coping with the aftermath of critical incidents: www.iswb.net. Rob Barber’s policy is to offer his training videos only to bona fide law enforcement, academies, criminal justice programs at the college and high school level, accredited security, or government entities. This one is episode SI46 — Betty Shelby and Surviving the Aftermath of a Fatal O.I.S.
For more info: www.lineofduty.com, Ph: (800) 462-5232
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