Hesitation with calling 911
Yesterday morning, we drove past some homeless person passed out on the side of the road. We pulled over and I jumped out to see if he was okay. Two other people had just stopped and ran over to check on him as well. He was pretty non-responsive and we weren't sure if he was hurt or out of it or under the influence or what. Either way, he was posing a danger to himself and traffic. I reached for my phone to call 911 and had a pang of hesitation.
Steven Taylor went through my head which occurred very recently the next town over. Duncan Lemp was fresh in my mind, a recent blatant murder by the police whether nefariously or by gross negligence. I listened to a presentation by Stevante Clark at the California Libertarian Convention a few months ago, talking about how the police killed his brother in his Sacramento backyard for the "crime" of talking on his cell phone. Agustin Gonsalez was shot 13 times and killed two years or so ago by the police in the very town I was in for wielding a box cutter. I was at a city council meeting where his family was protesting and demanding justice.
But it was a guy laying on the side of the road, unconscious. It's unlikely they'll come with guns blazing, and he needed medical attention from what we could see. So I made the call, then we helped him up onto the bench when he woke up a bit. We then discussed how it was a bit weird that the 911 operator didn't ask me for my location, meaning they had triangulated my cell phone position or tapped into my GPS. Useful, I suppose, but a little spooky. Hopefully there is no access when a 911 call is inactive.
The cop showed up and said we could all go. He went over to the man, addressed him by name, and asked if he was drunk again.
Huh. A police officer being a good neighborhood cop and not militarized police. How nice.
That's probably how most police officers are. At least I hope so. But those police officers that are quick to draw the gun and shoot someone obviously outgunned (so to speak), get a lion's share of the attention and they erode trust in the police. How the departments and unions protect the bad apples further erodes trust in the departments and makes solving crimes more difficult in the future as people will be less willing to cooperate.
It reminds me of the fascinating diverging story arcs of Herc and Carver in the excellent HBO show The Wire, who started out in the show as partners, both engaging in corruption and engaging in unethical behavior. Toward the end of the show, Herc continued down the path and Carver veered toward being the good neighborhood cop, greeting people by name and harboring trust within the community.
Be more like Carver and less like Herc.
Steven Taylor went through my head which occurred very recently the next town over. Duncan Lemp was fresh in my mind, a recent blatant murder by the police whether nefariously or by gross negligence. I listened to a presentation by Stevante Clark at the California Libertarian Convention a few months ago, talking about how the police killed his brother in his Sacramento backyard for the "crime" of talking on his cell phone. Agustin Gonsalez was shot 13 times and killed two years or so ago by the police in the very town I was in for wielding a box cutter. I was at a city council meeting where his family was protesting and demanding justice.
But it was a guy laying on the side of the road, unconscious. It's unlikely they'll come with guns blazing, and he needed medical attention from what we could see. So I made the call, then we helped him up onto the bench when he woke up a bit. We then discussed how it was a bit weird that the 911 operator didn't ask me for my location, meaning they had triangulated my cell phone position or tapped into my GPS. Useful, I suppose, but a little spooky. Hopefully there is no access when a 911 call is inactive.
The cop showed up and said we could all go. He went over to the man, addressed him by name, and asked if he was drunk again.
Huh. A police officer being a good neighborhood cop and not militarized police. How nice.
That's probably how most police officers are. At least I hope so. But those police officers that are quick to draw the gun and shoot someone obviously outgunned (so to speak), get a lion's share of the attention and they erode trust in the police. How the departments and unions protect the bad apples further erodes trust in the departments and makes solving crimes more difficult in the future as people will be less willing to cooperate.
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| Carver in the HBO show The Wire |
Be more like Carver and less like Herc.
