and finally…

You need a thick skin to be a police officer, because there are an awful lot of critics out there who think they can do it better than you. This is the email this week that really caused me to grit my teeth—sent to the Mayor and the entire City Council.  Since it is now splayed out for the entire world to see online in the City Council’s correspondence, I have decided that I might as well do the same with my response—protecting the identities of those involved. :

“Chief Casady:

I am writing to you today with,  extreme frustration and disappointment in the inability of your officers to handle and place in custody an assault suspect.

Last Saturday morning, 9/4/10, around 1 am, I was providing a ride for my son, daughter-in-law, and their friends, near the 16^th & Centennial Mall area, when I noticed two black men and a white female following my family and friends obviously looking for a confrontation.  I got out of the car to help my family get in and control the situation when one of the black men starting saying words to me which I just ignored.  He then took a swing at me which struck my face.  I turned to him and told him to just leave and proceeded to assist my family in the car.

While helping my family in the car, with my back turned away, he then proceeded to sucker punch me in the back of the head sending me to the ground seeing stars.  One of your bicycle officers was the first to respond to the scene and proceeded to arrest the suspect and in trying to place him in custody, the suspect escaped from the officer and began to run.  The officer gave chase but was unable to catch him (ironically he said that he had lost his shoe while running).  On a positive note, [the second officer] was very helpful making sure I was OK but could not believe [the officer] let the suspect escape.

I was just physically assaulted and your officer was unable to place the suspect in custody.  How frustrating to know that I was doing the right thing by ignoring this man and avoiding a confrontation and still get physically assaulted and your officer can not do his job properly. It appeared to me that [the officer] had no idea what he was doing and lacked critical training in police procedures.  This does not instill much confidence in me on the level of safety your officers are providing within our community and themselves.  And now, to make matters worse, we have worry about the level of safety within our city given the bars are allowed to stay open an hour later. 

I would appreciate an explanation on the arresting protocol and how you are planning to address the lack of training that I personally witnessed. “

I read the reports, exchanged a few emails with both the officer and the complainant, and it was obvious to me that there was nothing wrong with how the officer responded, and that it was simply a broken play, just like in football.  Being more fleet of mouth than of foot, I've been there on many occasions myself.  There isn't anyone who feels worse about an arrestee getting away than the officer who momentarily had him in his grasp.  My reply:

“I am sorry the bad guy got away. It looks easy on TV. In the real world, however, suspects often have no respect for an officer’s authority or commands, are often slippery (quite literally), always have an instant to pre-plan their next move, have an automatic jump on an officer’s reaction time, are often amped up on drugs and jacked up by a jolt of adrenaline that accompanies the body’s fight-or-flight response, and they are not weighted down by several pounds of police equipment and body armor.  You can’t very effectively sprint flat out at the same time your digging for your radio, nor can you both chase a fleeing suspect and detain his companions at the same time. Help was on the way, and arrived quite quickly, but these events occurred in just a matter of moments, as you know.

I am certain no one is more disappointed at this subject’s escape than the officer, who is fit, well-trained, and who makes scores of arrests in one of the busiest assignments in the City, including nine on the same night as this case."

I had a hard time writing a response, frankly.  I had to have a few people look at it before I sent it out.  Teddy Roosevelt expressed my feelings in a much more eloquent and tactful manner than I could muster:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”