Can I ask a question about law enforcement? ( Details Inside )

It is an unwritten code of conduct, “the blue shield”; where cops don’t criticize or intervene to cool things off.

That is why cops go crazy on people and rarely get in trouble.

Keep in mind that a natural path is military—> police. A quick search suggests that around 50% of police come from the military. The father of my sisters first kid went from the Marines to being a cop and he is a nightmare.

So it is pretty easy to see how they were trained to do whatever you are told and not question authority being carried over.

@zenvelo I’ve heard it called “the blue wall”.

This is where civilian oversight would come in handy, not only to decide the fate of the officer in question but also those who stood by and let it happen.

Could, or perhaps would, one or two officers step in to defuse a situation that is obviously getting out of hand?
– Possibly.

Is there some kind of rule, written or unwritten, that says they shouldn’t?
– Yes. One is chain of command. I read the officer arresting is a detective, and outranks the other officers, so they are supposed to obey and support him, in general. If they think a superior is doing something illegal or horribly wrong, it depends on the situation how and when they might do something about that. In this case, I believe they are supposed to obey the officer-in-charge as long as they aren’t putting anyone in danger, and if they think something wrong was done, bring it up and/or testify about it later, again to whoever the chain of command specifies. I have also read (not confirmed) that the detective shown making the uncool arrest was following an order to do so from above.

Would there be repercussions from other officers who later viewed the situation and if so, would they be against the original officer or the one who stepped in?
– That’s going to have an individual for every set of people and every situation. Possibly.

I am a LEO. The easiest way to articulate it, would be to say that it’s frowned upon.

Being a LEO, is very difficult. Part of being a person of authority, is to stay commited. If a process is started, it is best to stay the course. If rights are infringed upon, or actions are deemed excessive, that can be determined by the court.

What many fail to understand is, nobody wants to be detained, or arrested. But once that is determined to be the necessary action, there’s no turning back. The more a person resists, the more an officer should apply force. By simply not cooperating with an officers questions, a person can legally be detained, or arrested. Citizens have rights, but they are required by law to cooperate. If an officer witnesses a person commuting a crime, even if that’s lying to an officer, or withholding information, it is their job to take further action. Many, many, many times, a person can talk or act their way into an arrest. But if they had simply cooperated, there wouldn’t be a problem. Most officers don’t enjoy talking with witnesses, victims, or persons of interest. I guarantee that none of us enjoy arresting someone, or all the paperwork that comes with it.

The issue with most videos, is that the video begins after a person has done something wrong. So, the amount of force, or behavior of the LEO cannot be judged by viewers of the video.

I am NOT saying there aren’t some officers that don’t do their jobs correctly. But usually, there is a lot that isn’t known about a situation, before it got ugly.

About 3 years ago, I had to drag a 90 pound woman (I am 300 lbs) through a crowded music venue. I eventually kind of picked her up under my arm, and carried her out. She was kicking, screaming, trying to bite me, foaming at the mouth, and I had to peel her off of each structure we passed. I am embarrassed at how it probably looked. What moat people didn’t know, is that the woman was on meth, started trying to fight several women, and eventually tried to run off with a large tip jar.So that’s public intox, attempted larceny, multiple cases of assault, possession of methamphetamines, and she worked in another few by the time she was done. If she hadn’t assaulted 4 cops once she was outside, I had planned to let her off with a warning, and trespass notice. Even after she hit me, bit me, kicked me and spit at me, I wasn’t going to arrest her. She could have just payed her tab, and walked away. We tried to calm her down multiple times, but she just went ballistic. As we were running her ID, she cursed at any/all passers-by. Being physical with a civilian is a last resort. But if they don’t follow instructions, they you have to make them. I hate it, and it’s a big reason that I’m leaving law enforcement soon.

As far as other officers, the worst I usually see is them escalating a situation rather than de-escalating it. I usually speak to them later, unless they are my superior. But I do not stop them in the act, because it gives the impression that we aren’t in charge. I have gotten one officer fired for his behavior. No other officers treated me different. Most agreed that he was frequently out of line…

Oh. As for the video, from what I saw the nurse has a good case to bring against the officer. I hope she gets paid, and the officer is punished. Likely though, he’ll receive “additional trainning,” and resume duty. Depending on his record…

That’s a mess of a situation. I’m not sure what I would have done if I were one of the other officers. Unless her life was in danger, I probably would have done nothing at,the time, then spoken to his superior about it.

Obviously the officer was in the wrong.
I think the nurse over reacted.
There was a higher authority on the phone who told the officer he was wrong, which means if the officer were going to make an arrest, it should have been the one who told the nurse to stand her ground. In this case, arresting anyone is wrong.
By that cop’s behavior, we should believe that if police tell a doctor to perform a labotomy on someone, he would have to do it.
Yes, the nurse was right in standing her ground, the officer was wrong in making the arrest. She should have not fought however.
My guess would be they kicked her loose as soon as she was brought in.

I’m guessing the Department will investigate, they’ll say the officer is being retrained, he may or may not face discipline other than retraining, and the nurse will sue.