Mental Illness and Law Enforcement

[Ray From Cleveland]

Do you mind if I ask you what training you had and where? Your statement is laughable. What you are talking about is the first level of the the force continuum. Police are actually trained to distance themselves from threats. Screaming orders is simply level one. It has nothing to do with instinct. Will you please PM me and tell me where and with whom in Cleveland you served? What you are saying is some scary shit.

I didn't serve on the police force. You don't have to in order to recognize their procedures.

The instinct I'm talking about is that of the suspect--not the officer. If the suspect believes he or she is in charge by getting an officer to back down, then they will use it to their full advantage.

Police may distance themselves from threats, but once the threat takes place, they are trained to confront the threat, not back away from it. It's like the bully theory: if you allow the bully to beat up on you, they will continue to do so. If you strike the bully instead, they are likely to leave you alone.

Again, all you have to do is watch the show COPS and recognize they use the same procedure every single time they are threatened. They don't back down.

 

[P@triot]

Do you mind if I ask you what training you had and where? Your statement is laughable. What you are talking about is the first level of the the force continuum. Police are actually trained to distance themselves from threats. Screaming orders is simply level one. It has nothing to do with instinct. Will you please PM me and tell me where and with whom in Cleveland you served? What you are saying is some scary shit.

I didn't serve on the police force. You don't have to in order to recognize their procedures.

The instinct I'm talking about is that of the suspect--not the officer. If the suspect believes he or she is in charge by getting an officer to back down, then they will use it to their full advantage.

Police may distance themselves from threats, but once the threat takes place, they are trained to confront the threat, not back away from it. It's like the bully theory: if you allow the bully to beat up on you, they will continue to do so. If you strike the bully instead, they are likely to leave you alone.

Again, all you have to do is watch the show COPS and recognize they use the same procedure every single time they are threatened. They don't back down.

Dude....with all due respect - you're attempting to provide bullshit information regarding law enforcement procedures from a reality tv show. Do you have any idea how insane that makes you sound?

Do you have any idea how much gets edited out of those shows? Do you have any idea how many of those actions by officers are incorrect? Do you have any idea how many of them play to the camera?

Furthermore, not once has anyone advocated that law enforcement "back down". You're macho narrative is inappropriate and it makes me thankful that you are not in law enforcement. Those people exist to serve the public. Yes - when dealing with serious hardened criminals, the worst thing one could do is be timid. You definitely want to come across with some authority in that situation. But what you do not want to do is come across with "aggression" (as you've advocated) - and especially with the general public or the mentally ill. It just leads to unnecessary escalation of tension, force, and violence. And any good officer will tell you that.

I have a collective 200+ years of law enforcement experience in my family (my father, both my maternal and paternal grandfathers, and even maternal and paternal great uncle's), so I think I'm a little more qualified to speak on this rather than your "experience" from the reality tv show COPS. Hell, I even had a family member serve under Elliot Ness when he was the Safety Director in Cleveland after he took down Capone in Chicago. Still have the picture hanging on my wall to this day of the entire force - including him and Ness.

 

[the207life]

What timing. The show C.O.P.S is on all evening and I suggest you watch a few episodes to see how officers "back down" away from a suspect or subject.

Haha. This dude said watch C.O.P.S. Go down to the local PD and ask whatever LT is there for a ride-along. You'll get a hard dose of reality.

It's funny how you can tell someone factual procedures yet they tell you your wrong.

 

[the207life]

Dude....with all due respect - you're attempting to provide bullshit information regarding law enforcement procedures from a reality tv show. Do you have any idea how insane that makes you sound?

Do you have any idea how much gets edited out of those shows? Do you have any idea how many of those actions by officers are incorrect? Do you have any idea how many of them play to the camera?

Furthermore, not once has anyone advocated that law enforcement "back down". You're macho narrative is inappropriate and it makes me thankful that you are not in law enforcement. Those people exist to serve the public. Yes - when dealing with serious hardened criminals, the worst thing one could do is be timid. You definitely want to come across with some authority in that situation. But what you do not want to do is come across with "aggression" (as you've advocated) - and especially with the general public or the mentally ill. It just leads to unnecessary escalation of tension, force, and violence. And any good officer will tell you that.

I have a collective 200+ years of law enforcement experience in my family (my father, both my maternal and paternal grandfathers, and even maternal and paternal great uncle's), so I think I'm a little more qualified to speak on this rather than your "experience" from the reality tv show COPS. Hell, I even had a family member serve under Elliot Ness when he was the Safety Director in Cleveland after he took down Capone in Chicago. Still have the picture hanging on my wall to this day of the entire force - including him and Ness.

This post is spot on. The only time where we were expected to truly show aggression was during breaching in the military. It was expected that we would be loud and move with extreme authority. That doesn't apply to 99.9% of interactions while in law enforcement. It can actually get you thrown off the line and be devastating to a force through law suits and reputation.