Post by onthejob on Jun 23, 2014 18:50:46 GMT -5
Home » Lifeline Training » Everybody in Every Profession Should Wear Body CamerasEverybody in Every Profession Should Wear Body Cameras
Lt. Jim Glennon |
There are people, groups and even media types that believe all cops are extensions of the brown-shirted head thumpers found in Nazi Germany 70 years ago. Heartless, soulless androids who joined the profession hoping to thump heads and shoot as many as possible. As I’ve mentioned before there are websites run by incredibly biased (and apparently brainless) self-described “journalists” who contrary to evidence and reality look for the malevolent motives and evil intent in anything police officers do, especially when it comes to using force. Therefore, they “report” any incident from a predisposed and close-minded perspective.
Again, it is true that some police officers misuse their authority and purposely injure citizens while using unnecessary and sometimes illegal force. Yep, we gotta admit that some people in our profession, on occasion–contextually on very rare occasion–misuse their authority and disgrace their office. No argument. Now something just as obvious but almost never addressed: There are people in every profession that injure others due to negligence and incompetence. Let’s take just one example for comparison: The medical profession.
The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) study shows medical errors as being the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. According to the study, 98,000 people die annually because of poor decisions and reckless behaviors by medical personnel. From the American Association of Justice website: “Further research has confirmed the extent of medical errors. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that there were 181,000 severe injuries attributable to medical negligence in 2003. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement estimates there are 15 million incidents of medical harm each year. HealthGrades, the nation’s leading healthcare rating organization, found that Medicare patients who experienced a patient-safety incident had a one-in-five chance of dying as a result.” www.justice.org/cps/rde/justice/hs.xsl/8677.htm
So where’s the outrage and disdain for health professionals? It doesn’t exist. On the contrary, three of the most trusted professions in the United States are in the medical field, despite the facts outlined above. According to Gallup, nurses are number one (I agree with this because of my prejudice, my daughter Kara is a brilliant and particularly caring nurse who works with terminally ill children). Pharmacists are second and Doctors are fourth (my cousin Terry, married to a nurse, donates his time to help the poor in other countries and his list of selfless accomplishments and the number of lives he has affected are too numerous to mention here).
Where are cops on that list by the way? Number Six; right behind the military and just ahead of the Clergy. So why doesn’t the media cover the 98,000 people a year statistic? Why aren’t the incidents replayed on the nightly news, on cable and trending on the net? 98,000 seems like a lot. But of course it pales in comparison to the numbers killed by law enforcement. What is that number by the way?
5,000.
Wait, did you say 5,000? Yep, that’s right: 5,000, which is still a lot, but let’s consider the reality of that number. First off, that 5,000 is over a ten year period - a decade- not 12 months. Second, the vast, vast majority of those deaths were justifiable. In other words, the people who were killed were participating in behavior that put the lives of others at imminent risk of death. Behavior that forced a police officer to use deadly force.
The taking of a life is not something that should be addressed in glib fashion for sure. But watch the tube, listen to the elite and read the vile websites that exist only to vilify the police as a whole and you’d think it’s in the hundreds of thousands. So why the constant circumspection of police use of force? Well, to the untrained eye the using of real force on real people doesn’t look too good. To the untrained and uninformed eyes of those who have absolutely no understanding or exposure to real violence, they look terrible. Why? Because most people have never seen real violence and because of cop TV shows and movies, most think they both understand and can do the job.
Citizens watch Adam 12, NYPD Blue, The Wire, The Shield, Law and Order and suddenly they’re experts on law enforcement tactics and procedures. The incredibly poor and stupid tactics of TV police is laughable to those in the profession and pollute the minds of the masses watching that nonsense. Citizens don’t have any context concerning how fast someone can move when hell-bent on injuring a cop. They don’t understand that a bullet travelling at roughly 1,000-feet-a-second happens faster than you can blink. Hell, it happens faster than you can think.
So when they see real force being used on real people in the real world, in their minds they have context from which to judge: TV and Movies. But, if they watch Marcus Welby, House, ER, Scrubs, or Grey’s Anatomy the average viewer doesn’t walk away thinking they know how to take out an appendix or by-pass an artery.
If YouTube featured a botched spinal tap that resulted in paralysis, the average person would have no idea what they were watching; no thought of Monday morning quarterbacking the surgeon. Besides, videos of medical procedures, after the first couple of seconds, are boring. But not videos of cops swinging batons, firing Tazers or shooting their guns!
Why I think police are under such scrutiny is twofold:
1. Cops have power and authority that the general public doesn’t have. And people are rightfully wary of that power and the police should be accountable to the public.
2. Cops have cameras, victims have cameras, suspects have cameras and witnesses have cameras. Even nonhumans (traffic signals, surveillance systems, etc.) have cameras and what makes it on those cameras makes it into the media. There is more examination, discussion, posts and blogs about the most inane of police use of force than there is about tens of thousands of patients dying needlessly during a medical procedure.
So here is my idea: everyone in every profession must immediately start wearing body cameras that will record everything said or done while on the job. Nurses, doctors, pharmacists, midwives, receptionists at hospitals, all have to record their every-doings. Criticism from hindsight delight–let’s go!
But let’s not stop there. How about the Clergy? They talk to someone (outside of a confessional) it has to be recorded. Counselors? Record the sessions, how do we know you aren’t emotionally abusing patients? Politicians, lobbyists, interns and staff members: record it all! Let’s see what really happens in those negotiations. What is being discussed between congressman, senators, Presidents and their staffs? Let’s listen and examine, condemn and complain.
And the media? Absolutely! While claiming to be champions of people’s rights do sales, clicks and page views ever come up when a story is being written? Do media members ever trample right over their ethical obligations in order to advance a personal bias? Do they ever lie and slant stories in order to spread a false belief? Have false, misleading and inaccurate articles and news clips ever caused riots and injuries?
Cops should be under the microscope. We should be held accountable when we make mistakes. How about everybody else?
