The Current Blog

 

Cops who Command, and Lose Control

April 12, 2021

The latest police traffic stops to hit the national headlines have only reinforced the perception that the cops cannot bear to lose. Once they’ve issued a command, whether for probable cause or mere suspicion, they feel obliged to control the situation. We’ve heard it time and again – do not resist when a cop pulls you over. Why? Because to do so is to start down a pathway of defiance, thereby hardening the officer’s determination to control you. Continued resistance only makes matters worse and can result in your arrest, or death.

To illustrate, without prejudice: On April 12, 20-year-old Daunte Wright, was stopped and killed by Minnesota Police. Need I mention he was black? Daunte believed he was stopped because he had an air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror. This would be illegal in Minnesota – a matter most of us would consider to be trivial beyond belief. But no matter. Wright was commanded to get out of the car. The cop would explain exactly why once Daunte was out. On the phone with his mom, she advised her son not to run. The cops find out Wright has an outstanding warrant. Apparently, as he was trying to get back in the car, a female police officer shot him. Dead.

NOTE: This is a developing story. It appears the policewoman intended to reach for her Taser but mistakenly grabbed her gun.

The excuse? Oh. I thought it was my Taser! My bad!

Can you see it? Command and control the situation. And if the cop meets argument or resistance, things only escalate, and in this case result in the person being shot dead! This is appalling. Air freshener or not, insurance or not, outstanding warrant or not, Daunte Wright should not have been killed. Neither should George Floyd.

This is the issue: A certain percentage of cops do not have the emotional intelligence, the maturity of character, to know how to control a developing situation without killing the suspect.

Police Officers get trained in de-escalation, apparently, but sometimes raw adrenalin takes over. Humanity, empathy, common-sense all fly out of the window, and in a split second, pig-headed ignorance takes over. Command must be followed by control, and unless the command is obeyed to the letter, you can be shot. This is simply terrifying.

Illustration #2: Second Lt. Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, was stopped by the cops last December for what police officers believed was a missing license plate on his new SUV. Nazario said he was afraid to step out of his vehicle when the cops commanded him. Knowing how cops can be so edgy if they can’t see your hands at all times, it’s instructive to see body cam footage of Nazario holding both hands out of the window while he explains he’s an army officer serving his country. Without going into all the alleged details of how this traffic stop unfolded, the incident ended with the cops letting Nazario get on his way with no citation, the cop losing his job and the police being sued for $1m in compensatory damages.

But why? Because the terrifying altercation included a cop pointing his weapon directly in Nazario’s face, making preparation to taser him, and finally assaulting him with pepper spray.

Again, we see the incompetence of police trying to handle a situation where they could not tolerate their commands not being obeyed. All they knew was how to escalate the situation.

The last few years have provided too many dramatic cases where the sheer lack of police emotional intelligence led to fatal shootings.

Cops need to know that it’s okay to “lose” a potential confrontation with a member of the public. They do not have to win at all costs. They can make rational decisions to handle confrontations such that they can maintain their self-resect and the public can feel they were dealt with fairly. Cops get trained to do this. We know that many, if not most, police officers are thoughtful and fair when dealing with the public. But there remain too many who are bullies, who flaunt their strength, sometimes reinforcing their own self-esteem within their own gangs in police departments. With an overweening view of their absolute authority and an inability to know how to back down, these are law enforcement officers of the very worst kind. It is therefore no wonder that certain communities are scared of the police, that some people run from the cops even if there is nothing to fear, that others with mental or developmental problems do not understand why they have to comply with a police officer when in their own minds they have done nothing wrong.

Police officers on duty may feel they live on the edge of potential danger every time they confront a member, or members, of the public. But do we, whatever our race, color or mental disposition, have to live in fear that when a cop commands and we don’t immediately comply we might get tasered, pepper-sprayed or shot?

Protect and Serve