I appended the Smoak family story below as an example of why we needed to think carefully about passing laws that make us all violators. It has generated a fair amount of traffic and comment, so I ought to make my stance on this specific incident more clear.
Im typically a friend to cops; literally in may cases. I often train with them in firearms, first aid, and martial arts, and Ive gotten to know a few pretty well.
So my reaction to this story is broken into three distinct parts.
First, I think the cops did a mediocre job, but my guess is that they dont do a lot of felony stops there, and its not like they get sent to Bitchen Cop School on a small towns budget. One broader issue is the fact that small town forces get grants for equipment to gear their troops up like the SWAT guys we see in the movies, then tickets to the movies are most of the training the town fathers spring for.
I wasnt there, have only watched the (full-length) video and read the local accounts, etc. etc. But it certainly seems more than a few things could certainly have been done differently once the decision was made to make this a felony stop. But even in saying that, Im second-guessing on very limited information. The reported laughter of the officer who shot the dog could have been the kind of laughter you get after you’ve been scared to death and had an adrenalin dump (its happened to me), or the cruel laughter of an asshole with a gun whos just murdered a pet. I dont know, but its going to be investigated to death and Im sure well be hearing about it on Court TV for a while. I think the cops acted badly, but not necessarily criminally and will withhold judgment in favor of those who will study this incident harder than I will.
Second, the dumb but critically important fact is that any time guns come out, the potential for tragedy is there. As soon as this became a felony stop (where the responding police draw weapons in advance, and generally act as though the people being stopped are True Bad Guys), the door to a tragedy was opened. Officers have negligently (I never use the term accidental discharge in talking about guns; it is a negligent discharge) shot the people they were handcuffing, or themselves, or their partners. The people who are stopped sometimes are uncompliant and do things which make the officers believe that a gun is being drawn. There are a million ways for this to end badly, and on the scale of those things, this one went poorly but not tragically.
The issue here is the overall police pattern of behavior that overuses felony stops and dynamic entries (the whole banging the door down in the middle of the night by SWAT teams thing). Because they are so inherently dangerous, their use needs to be judicious, and right now, it isnt; this is from a mixture of legitimate officer safety first strategies and a pure cowboy mentality. Its certainly more fun to be SWAT than to be Barney Fife.
But Andy and Barney managed to get stuff done, we should remember. And officer safety is most of all impacted by the respect and connection that the overall community has for the police. Its certainly possible to make officers act in a way that makes every interaction with citizens less risky for the officer, but nonetheless raises the overall level of risk by creating a greater number of hostile interactions.
Finally, it raises the issue of communication between citizen/witnesses and the police. One of the most valuable skills a great police officer can have, Ive been told, is the ability to stop, listen and figure out a situation, rather than constantly trying to make a situation fit into a preconceived pattern.
I wasnt opposed to something like TIPS, if it was about teaching citizens what to look for, giving them someplace to communicate what they see, and having someone on the other end of the phone who knows how to listen.
Its not clear whether any of those was present in this incident.
I like and respect cops. Most of them are great people who work damn hard to help keep me and mine safe at night. I appreciate what they do, and hate to see something like this that damages their profession so badly.
11 thoughts on “COPS”
Comments are closed.
“Bitchen Cop School”??? Is that where they get to use the totally tubular ammo instead of the, like, harshed out crosstops?
Absolutely fantastic post. Spot on.
Stephen Yagman, call your office.
Hun, I think you need to read more closely. Rather than blaming laws “that make us all violators,” you need to read where it said that “There was no crime.”
You had overzealous cops without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. As the article states, no law was broken — unless somehow someone tasteless attempts to nail them for littering.
And just because you choose to break a law doesn’t mean that the law makes us all violators.
But we’ll discuss the difference between laws more likely to be broken out of laziness or bad habit (e.g., speeding) than by malice (e.g., bilking seniors) over dinner.
Okay, wait a minute…Probable cause and reasonable suspicion are determined by the information available to the police officers on any stop. These officers received their information on the radio, like most. If the information received is that the car you are following contains suspects in a robbery or carjacking, the felony stop is the only tactic you can safely deploy while you get to the bottom of it all. An officer second guesses this information provided by dispatch at extreme peril and all you bloggers out there should reconsider judging what it is like to face those risks everyday unless you have been there. This was a tragedy and I dont know any officers who would not feel terrible about what occurred. Due to the nature of the information, the officers were obligated to stop the car. Due to the nature of the information, they would have been taking a terrible risk to utilize tactics other than those of a felony stop. 16% of officers killed are killed on traffic stops. 33% in arrest situations. A surprising number of these deaths occur in rural areas and small towns. Standard tactics, unfortunately include leaving car doors open for other suspects to exit and to facilitate and provide visibilty, in case someone is hiding in there. I am not saying mistakes were not made, but the breakdown in the system happened on the phone and the radio. The officers were utilizing appropriate tactics in good faith. I agree with AL that the cop laughed with relief at not being chewed up and is not laughing now. Most of the cops I know love dogs and keep them as family members.
BTW…Steven Yagman is an ambulance chasing con artist who was suspended from the bar for soaking his clients for the majority of their cash settlements. While civil rights attorneys are vital to limiting police corruption, he is not a great representative of the profession.
Ann:
Dammit, I wasn’t clear…I hate that…in this specific case there clearly was no crime. My core intention was to point out that when everyone in society is a violator, we’re going to have a lot more of these, and when we do…because they are inherently so dangerous…bad things will happen.
In the specific case, from looking at the video and reading the accounts, I think the cops did some ‘not great’ stuff (specifically, in not communicating with the Smoaks – i.e. not listening when they said ‘there are dogs, please close the doors’ and adapting their tactics accordingly, and in that the officer who apprached the car seemed to be unconcerned with controlling the dogs or much else…he looked like he as checking for keys instead of worried about the dogs or a potential bad guy in the car) – but that the tragedy really happened when the decision to make the stop was made.
In this case, it was a bad decision, but as Officer Tracy pointed out, it was made on the best information available.
My other point was that the chain of communication that started when the citizen communicated with the police probably wasn’t very good, and that from a policy point of view, that’s the key thing to me. This is where we can get some bang for our buck in making changes.
The second policy issue is that we do overuse felony stops and dynamic entries.
And, yeah, whoever the local Yagman clone is is going to make sure this family gets a very nice new station wagon and a very expensive dog to go with it.
A.L.
This part:
One of the most valuable skills a great police officer can have, I?ve been told, is the ability to stop, listen and figure out a situation, rather than constantly trying to make a situation fit into a preconceived pattern.
is the key passage.
What makes cops scary to us innocent types is that they treat everyone the same, ie badly. In this particular case, it seems that a reasonable person would immediately begin to wonder about the disconnect between felony carjacking/theft call and the actual occupants – Mom, Dad, kid and dog. It doesn’t mean you instantly relax and start handing out lollypops, but it might mean you listen to what these people are trying to tell you, instead of immediately and persistently acting like you’ve just arrested bin Laden.
I’ve been around law enforcement, one way or another, most of my life. Yes, most officers are trying to do the job the best they can, and I’ve known a good few I’d trust with my kid’s lives without a worry. I’ve also known a number I wouldn’t trust to watch an empty doghouse or care for a slug. And the latter are the ones who get lots of publicity, usually over something like this.
And when it happens, especially when the agency either covers up or ignores it as much as possible, all law enforcement takes a whack. “Dude, you know what they’re like! They’ll screw you over and nothing’ll happen to them.” Which makes for more mistrust, which means people won’t tell cops things they should hear.
When the messes at Waco & Ruby Ridge happened I told a friend that one of the big casualties would be trust in Federal law enforcement agencies, and I was right. This will, rightly or wrongly, cause a lot of people to decide that the officers in that area- and a lot of others- are a bunch of SWAT-happy idiots who won’t listen, and who won’t be punished when they do wrong.
Craig Z believes “cops treat everyone the same, ie badly.” I can assume he has a preconceived notion of police personalities and character based upon their choice of profession, but I am guessing he would be horrified to hear someone aim this type of bias at another based on their religion, heritage or skin color.
Cops are supposed to treat everyone the same. If we assume you are not a criminal, because you are white or well dressed or driving a nice car, in the face of the kind of info. that these officers had, that would indicate a form of profiling that the media finds so titillating. Once again, these cops made this stop based on specific information. Until all of the potential players are secured, even if you are beginning to doubt that information, it is not safe to change tactics. The disaster here is not that these folks were targeted for a felony stop..that was an accident that the officers did not initiate. The tragedy is the loss of a family pet in such a needless incident. It is still the product of a mistake in agency communications, rather than something the officers on hand would have wished.
As for treating everyone the same, police agencies lose lawsuits when everyone is treated differently based upon economic, religious or ethnic considerations.
Bottom line: Police officers are for the most part caring, idealistic and courageous, though some develop a hard edged facade to defend their hearts against the constant criticism of their best efforts and the unfortunate tendency of the citizens they risk it all for to judge them with a narrow, media tarnished view. Police officers are people. We have bad days and good days, just like everyone else. Some can build a rapport with anyone, others are more challenged in this regard. We make mistakes and try to learn from them. We are expected to practice restraint in situations that would try the patience of a saint, but we keep coming back to work. Sure, it pays the mortgage, but most of the officers I know really love what they do because it is easy to find meaning in protecting the lives of others. Like I said…idealistic.
I was arrested 1/5/02 for a Mva in which I struck a car stopped at a green light.
I suffered a brain injury. At that time, approximately 6 cop cars arrived with 1 to 2 cops in each squad car. I was not given a field sobriety, blood or urine test; however, I was “roughed up pretty badly” and charged with 7 counts total (including leaving the scene (with a brain concussion!) no proof of insurance yet I told the cop I had this in my trunk since my car was very recently detailed. His reply was “tell it to downtown.”
I demanded an ambulance take me to the hospital for a brain scan since being an RN and the possiblility of an aneurysm in my brain and possibly rupturing causing immediate death was a valid request. This was not done.
I was able to get a copy of the full complete copy of the police report in which these cops told blatant lies.
However, I attended trial was appointed a lackey public defender who did not cross-examine these cops. For that matter only objected when I whispered in his ear to to do.
In any case, the no proof of insurance was dropped and another minor offense they somehow feel justified to tack on no matter what the offense. I was, therefore, charged with a total of 5 counts was sentenced to community hours, a $450 fine, and 1 year probation.
These cops are not experts on chemical intoxication and their statements should not be considered flawless and with total truth.
I have lost my respect for cops and when I hear a story regarding a crime against one or an accident happen to a member, I am so not effected.
Your present time and future consequences lies in their hands entirely and are assumed that what one member says “is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
Because of this this has ruined my professional career and my livelihood. I do not believe I will ever respect cops in my lifetime.