New Dorner Report Urges Better Commication Between Law Enforcement Agencies

A newly released report reviewing the 2013 manhunt for former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner commends various law enforcement agencies for working together, but also highlights improvements to be made for future incidents.

The report, released by Washington D.C.-based The Police Foundation on Monday, stressed that communication between agencies should be made clearer to ensure officer and public safety.

Dorner killed four people, including two police officers, during a rampage that ended with his death from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot in a burning cabin during a police shootout near Big Bear.

β€œThis incident represents a sentinel event in American policing – one that serves as a warning of needed changes in the public safety system,” said Police Foundation President Jim Bueermann in a statement. β€œA trained former police officer was hunting police officers and their families, exploiting geo-political, jurisdictional and technological boundaries and using legally-acquired, sophisticated, high-powered weaponry.”

Communication between five of the nation’s most populated counties contributed to confusion and delays in two officer-involved shootings, according to the 102-page report.

Self-deployment tactics were also called into question after hundreds of officers descended on the San Bernardino Mountains when Dorner was cornered. According to the report, an excess number of law enforcement clogged roads and distracted incident commanders.

"As we review this report, and continue to reevaluate our law enforcement response, let us not forget the lives that were lost, and the families that were torn apart by this killer," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement. "We are profoundly grateful to our law enforcement partners throughout the region, for their tireless work, cooperation, and their willingness to literally put their lives on the line to end this murderer's rampage.”

Dorner was first sought by police after he became the suspect in the fatal February 2013 shooting of Keith Lawrence and his fiancΓ©e Monica Quan. An assistant basketball coach at California State University Fullerton, Quan was the daughter of a former LAPD captain who was targeted by Dorner in an 11,400-word angry manifesto that police said he published online.

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