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Editorial: Police, citizens perform better than Trump on bombing

 
Published Sept. 20, 2016

The swift arrest of a suspect in the weekend bomb attacks in New Jersey and New York was the culmination of good luck, good policing and good reactions by average citizens. It is remarkable no one was killed and a reminder of the actions it will take on all sides for the nation to deal with the continuing terror threat. The episode also exposed again the inexperience and rash judgment that Donald Trump would bring as commander in chief in tense situations.

Authorities apprehended the suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, early Monday after a shootout in Linden, N.J. Police answering a complaint found Rahami asleep in the doorway of a bar. He drew a handgun, authorities said, and shot an officer in the abdomen; police fired back, hitting Rahami, who was arrested and taken to a hospital.

His arrest came only hours after a spate of attacks in the metropolitan region. A pipe bomb exploded early Saturday in Seaside Park, N.J. That evening, a pressure-cooker bomb exploded on the west side of Manhattan, injuring 29 people. Amid a police lockdown of the area, a tip led authorities to another nearby pressure-cooker bomb. With the help of surveillance video and other clues, authorities zeroed in on Rahami. Late Sunday, the police discovered five pipe bombs near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J. The FBI deployed robots to search the bag, which detonated accidentally. No one was injured. Sensing they were closing the loop, the authorities stopped and questioned Rahami's relatives and sent an emergency alert to wireless devices in the region naming Rahami as wanted. He was spotted hours after that alert outside the bar.

This was a fast-evolving crime scene with many moving parts. New York police moved quickly to secure the blast site in Chelsea and to send additional officers to key sites in the city. Investigators seized upon clues that enabled them to focus on the suspect and communicate the seriousness of the security threat. Emergency managers made good use of a warning system that effectively turned millions of cellphone users in the New York City area into a crime-watch team. People on the street who saw something, said something. And officers on patrol were vigilant, prepared and quick to intervene to guard against more casualties in these dense, urban neighborhoods.

Hillary Clinton responded to the bombings by appealing for calm, imploring Americans not to single out an entire religion for the damage caused by pro-Islamic militants and warning against resorting to "extreme proposals" in fighting terrorism. Trump, in character, recklessly called the first explosion a bomb before police did and charged that "these attacks and many others were made possible because of our extremely open immigration system." Trump also said the attacks had "many foreign connections," and added that police were afraid of taking on terrorists out of fear of being charged with racial profiling. After Rahami was captured, he complained that he would get medical care and access to a lawyer like anyone else charged with a crime.

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Trump's allegations ignore that the suspect is a naturalized U.S. citizen, born in Afghanistan. Authorities have not offered any evidence of a foreign link to the attack. No terrorist group has claimed responsibility. Rahami traveled to Pakistan several times in recent years, but U.S. Customs did not raise any red flags. And while the FBI reportedly had Rahami on its radar after a fight with one of his brothers in 2014, authorities apparently dismissed the incident as a domestic case.

There certainly is no basis to allege that the police acted with anything but urgency in finding and apprehending Rahami. The problem of self-radicalization in American society is real, and it poses a challenge for all branches of law enforcement and a threat to domestic security. But the next president should have the patience to wait for facts in evolving situations and discern the difference between radicals and an entire religion. Trump again this week raised questions about his judgment that show no sign of going away.