Police Director Vows Support For Slain Officer's Families

MIAMI (CBS4) -An emotional Miami-Dade Police Director said he was making "a blood promise" to do everything he could to help ease the pain felt by the families of two slain officers who were gunned down Thursday when a career criminal opened fire.

In an interview with CBS4, Director James Loftus recalled meeting Thursday with Robert Haworth, the father of 44-year-old Amanda Haworth, a 23-year veteran who was killed along with 41-year-old officer Roger Castillo.

"I told him that I wanted to do something to help, just as you would in any situation like this," said Loftus. "And he asked me to bring my daughter back. And I said I can't do that but I promise I will do everything I can to ease the families' pain. That is a blood promise.

Loftus said as a matter of policy, he would take a look at whether anything could have been done differently Thursday. A decision was made not to ask for help from SWAT team members as the officers were serving an arrest warrant for a very dangerous criminal, Johnny Simms, who was wanted for murder.

"I'm a police chief and it would be foolish not to look at ways to improve safety for officers," said Loftus. "We will study this and we what we can do."

Loftus told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "We are going after the worst of the worst. As much as we try to protect our officers, there are inherent dangers to their work. This is a very hard job. It is very dangerous. Certainly the people in the group could have made a decision to call in the Special Response Team. But that was a decision that the supervisors in the field made and they felt it was the right decision."

"It's very subjective out there," said Loftus. "You have to make judgements each time. I want everyone to realize that this is not a TV show. There are people out there who are motivated to kill you. And we are fortunate that we really do get people as officers who want to help people. We don't know what happened out there. It will take some time to investigate this. But so often our officers walk into these dangerous situations and you to pray to God that everyone survives."

Loftus said Simm's mother clearly knew that her son was inside the home, but he could not say whether the mother knew that her son was an accused killer and was a fugitive. He said that is part of the investigation.

D'Oench asked Loftus if he thought the officers could have been "set up" and were walking into a trap. "I don't believe that," said Loftus. "I don't believe that happened. But that is me James Loftus speaking."

Loftus, who has been with Miami-Dade Police for nearly 30 years, said he was deeply moved by the plight of the children left behind by the shooting.

Haworth had a 13-year-old boy and Castillo was the father of three boys, ages 9, 11 and 14.

Loftus said that he lost his father to an illness when he was just 14 years old. "I lost my Dad too when I was young," said Loftus. "And every day for the rest of my life I will think of him. And those who lost their parents, they will spend their lives trying to honor them and the good things they did."

The Director says he still believes strongly in the goodness of mankind.

"I think that the vast majority of people are very good people," said Loftus. "And there are some who are evil."

In a final note of irony, Loftus said four years ago to the day that he lost his life, Officer Roger Castillo had arrested Simms. "I'm not sure what the charge was then, but this subject was arrested by Officer Castillo on January 20, 2007. I'm not sure what this means but I can tell you that this is a horrible coincidence.

Loftus urged people to think of contributing to the PBA Love Fund, which has been set up to help the families of the fallen officers.

Miami-Dade Police say flags will continue to fly at half staff at headquarters until the officers are buried and there will continue to be a vigil all day at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's officer for the officers.

They say their pictures will also appear soon on an electronic billboard off I-95 by Hallandale Beach Boulevard. And on Monday, the Miami Tower building will carry the color blue in honor of the officers.