What Price Policing.

[Ken7]

A very sad story...

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new ... in-silence

Egan: What price policing? The aftershock of Kal Ghadban's tragic end.



Is being a police officer this crippling an occupation?

It is an inevitable question today, given the shocking loss of Staff Sgt. Kal Ghadban, the sad-eyed officer who, among many things in a long career, took pity on a generation of lost reporters.

We’ve turned police into the city’s largest roster of psychiatrists and social workers. What toll, on them?

Not long ago, a column looked at what some officers do on a typical shift. It was sparked by the appearance of about half a dozen constables at the emergency department at the Civic campus one night. All of them were dealing with mental health or medical cases.

The long and short in this brief window was that police officers do not spend the bulk of their time collaring bad guys, filling jail cells, only to sleep like babies at night, heroes in their own land. Absolutely not. Instead, front-line officers spend a good deal of their time on intractable problems, be it the terrible impacts of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, the unpredictable path of mental illness.

Along came a number of confidential responses from rank-and-file, building on the same theme: We don’t know the half of it.

“During my 10 years on the job, I have done, and seen things that most people wouldn’t see in their lifetime,” wrote one officer.

“I gave CPR to a three-week-old baby, knowing that the baby was dead for hours, pulled people out of cars crushed to the point of no recognition, helped a grandma with groceries on the store parking lot, and chased people through most backyards in this city without owners even knowing it. All in all, you never know what you get on a busy night.”

Seriously, how could some of that not eat a hole in you? (Indeed, I’ve said this before: There are cop reporters, old reporters, but hardly any old cop reporters. Why? Because the work, even safe paces from tragedy, is a slow death march.)

“For two years, I worked in a gang unit, known as DART. During my time in there, I chased the worst of the worst in the city. Yet, we would get complaints about abuse of power, unlawful arrests, drug and money seizures. Then, when something goes wrong, our bosses flip, and demote us, instead of saying ‘good work, you made a gang-banger *bleep*’.”

He continued. “The sick thing is, that most of us love our jobs.”

A response from another officer talked about the increased level of scrutiny attached to a police officer’s work, the endless oversight.

“An example is an impaired driver, which we used to process within two hours in 1985,” one officer wrote. “And now a regular case will take an officer off the road for literally an entire shift and more. There are so many forms, intoxilyzer docs, MTO notices, videos, and just time consuming form-typing on the computers, that sometimes supervisors cringe when too many are arrested at once, because there is no one left on the road to answer the other calls you talk about (the stabbings and shootings and robberies, domestics, happening daily).”

Then the case goes to court.

“Huge scrutiny comes on every file after submission by the officer, from his own supervisors, through court case management, trial lawyers and Crowns, to judges, and on appeal.

“Once again it’s always easy to armchair QB these after the fact, but at the time when the officers are making the decisions on scene, it’s just not so easy to think of every possible scenario.”

The officer who wrote is the son of a police officer and it pained a little to read the following declaration:

“I have to say that I would not want my kids to do this job anymore, as it is just too tough on the body, the brain, relationships, and overall wellbeing. Paramedics are in the same boat and I feel for them as well.

“The trust we require from the public has to be earned and maintained in order for us to be effective, but I wish the media would assist, instead of hinder, in the brandishing of this trust, as it seems only our errors or alleged errors make it to print usually, rather than the vast, vast amount of great SOCIAL work done daily in this city.”

Did the job kill Kal Ghadban? Today, it is not for us to know. But, after the shock, a deep breath: What is that job doing to everyone else in a 2,000-member force?

What price, the living?


http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/column ... tragic-end

[mexi cali]

There is so much truth in this.

Balance is the culprit though. The balance between police officers doing the job and police officers who are perceived to have abused their authority.

The media is not interested in police officers who help elderly ladies with groceries or who stand between a husband and wife who are embroiled in a violent situation (unless someone is killed).

They want the gore and death and the hatred and the fu..k ups because that's what we want. That's what makes us spend our money.

But being fed a steady diet of murder and mayhem isn't enough for us. Nope. We also want to be able to police the police. We want them to know that we pay their salaries and by god, you better get the bad guy but don't mess up his hair while you do or there will be hell to pay.

There a million defense attorneys who salivate every time they see a police report because they know that someone forgot to dot an I. And their client will walk because of it.

Why did it only take two hours to process a drunk driver back in 85 where it now takes all day/night? Lawyers. Civil rights.

We have the right to break the law and the right to be protected from prosecution while we are breaking it.

There are countless lawyers who have made a living making us unaccountable and the police have to sit back and watch the revolving door spit out criminal after criminal and there's not a thing they can do about it except to go back, do their jobs and hope that every once in a while, they win one.

It is no wonder that the line gets crossed. It may be the only "justice" some of the bad guys ever see.

[Smurf]

I can definitely believe the problems. The news media is useless, all the want is to dramatize it to get the best story, not the actual news. The police should not be doctors, nurses or psychiatrists. That is not what they are trained for, hat is not their job. I truly feel sorry for them.

When I was small I wanted to be a Mountie. Looking back over the years I am glad I never did. It has become a thankless job.