Police Response

911 is not always the answer

Published on April 25, 2004 By greywar In Current Events

Police Response

Last night, before the incident with tequila, SGT Negrodamus and I were walking down to the corner store. We hadn’t gotten to the end of his driveway when we witnessed a man repeatedly slapping a woman next door. This woman was holding a child at the time. SGT N immediately called the police while I went back outside to make sure it didn’t escalate further. The slapping had stopped quickly but the argument continued and the man in question took the child from the woman and started walking to his vehicle which was parked in front of SGT N’s house. This guy’s path took him right in front of me and I was at a loss as to what course of action is appropriate. My gut wanted to stop him from leaving with this child but it seemed that the woman had given him the girl willingly. I know that in many of these cases the victim of the abuse will not admit to the police that it ever happened so if I were to get into a fight with this guy and the lady did not back me up by telling the police that he had hit her, I would go to jail. I decided to get this guy’s license plate number and leave it to the police to deal with.

After passing all the info to the police via SGT N, we waited a bit to see if anything else would happen or to see if the police would show up. The woman in question left the house and got into a car with her friend and drove away about 10 minutes after the man had. The police? They never showed up.

What does this say about the way we deal with problems in this society? I was right there, I knew I could have physically bested this guy and punished him for inflicting pain on this woman. To my shame I trusted the authorities we have selected as a society to do their job with at least a minimum of efficiency. They failed and so did I. As soon as I saw what was going on I should have interfered regardless of the likely consequences I would have suffered. My otherwise vaunted brain showed me too many negative possible outcomes from that course of action and robbed me of moral certainty. Maybe I will get it right the next time or maybe I wont, but I would like to know what the police were doing that was so important that they couldn’t even come by for a statement in the same calendar day?

Let me conclude by saying that I do not think this same event could have occurred in the town where I live. We have such an amazing police presence that crime is damn near non-existent. Where SGT N lives is another story. The city police department is sorely under-funded and manned. While SGT N’s neighborhood is very nice and affluent, it still falls under the overall jurisdiction of the greater area. Therein lies the problem and it also represents one of the biggest things I look for when house or apartment hunting. The difference in security is amazing if you have a good cop shop in town. There is no substitute (except for large caliber handguns but they wouldn’t have helped last night).

Show up next time guys. A child's life may depend on it.

Comments

dharmagrl

on Apr 25, 2004

You did the right thing by calling it in and not getting involved. I don't know why the cops didn't show up; where I live we've responded to stary dog calls faster than that! (That's the civilian PD, not the base police) If it happens again, my best advice to you is to call it in again. If you feel like you have to get involved try and do so by keeping your distance - you simply don't know if the person's armed or not. I know you're a big guy, and I know you can handle yourself...but flesh is flesh and is no match for a ballistic missle or a knifeblade. Like I said, if you feel like you just have to get involved, do it from a distance. Cause a distraction. Talk to the dude. Don't be offensive or aggressive, just try and stall him a bit and buy some time. Hopefully the cops will have their heads out of their asses and will actually respond next time.

greywar

on Apr 25, 2004

Thats sound advice Dharma but my inner vigilante has been screaming other things in my ear since last night. Mainly he just yells "Coward!" at the top of his lungs. What he lacks in intellectualism he makes up for in volume.

dharmagrl

on Apr 25, 2004

Yes, I know all about the inner vigilante. I was lucky, I got to satiate mine when I was working with the local PD last winter. I took down and cuffed this big ol' amazon looking girl who was in the process of assaulting a fellow officer. Fortunately I had the law on my side and backup less than 2 mins away.

So, what would you have done? If you had gone over there?

pseudosoldier

on Apr 25, 2004

That's a good question, dharmagrl. I don't know if Greywar has an answer or not. I certainly don't. But I know that I would be sick to my stomach (much the way I suspect he is) over not doing anything. Hell, it makes me a little queasy just thinking about the situation happening.
It's why I stick my head in the sand.

dharmagrl

on Apr 25, 2004

It makes me fucking sick too, pseudo. If I'd have been there I'd have wanted to go put a stop to it as well.

dharmagrl

on Apr 25, 2004

I meant sick that it happened, not that Grey didn't do anything about it. Just wanted to clarify.

Arquonzo

on Apr 25, 2004

There goes that guilt reflex again, Catholic boy. Try to remember that you made the best decision with the information you had at the time, and that Hind-Sight isn't always accurate, as it ignores your instincts... instincts which don't have a "reason", but which may have averted a major incident to which the police would have responded, to pick up the pieces.

Erk.

on Apr 26, 2004

What if he was carrying a knife? Or worse still.... a gun?
You could have been seriously hurt, or perhaps killed...

It is most disheartening to know that the Police did not even bother to show up. I believe that here, in Australia, if the Police had not shown up to a complaint as serious as this, there would have been serious ramifications for the station, and officers involved.
There is also a major shortage of uniformed Police in Australia, yet they manage to respond to all legitimate callouts.

Myself.... I think you made the right choice by not getting involved. Your obligation as a citizen ended when you reported the incident.

Spur-of -the-moment actions are not always the best choice, when the outcome is not predictable.

Wreckless.

Estrogen Lass

on Apr 26, 2004

DOn't judge yoyrself so harshly, baby.

Grace

on Apr 26, 2004

Finally downloaded a blog navigator and now have a place to post comments. My old site must have been corrupted somehow and there was absolutely no place to enter a comment.
Now about your guilt feelings about not doing something more aggressive when you saw someone being abused. I think that you acted wisely. There should be no guilt whatsoever. Beside such negative feelings only cripple a person. We can't always prevent feeling those emotions but we don't have to let them control us. I praise you for being so sensitive to the welfare of those around you. You may have acted like Satan at times in your life, but you can learn from your experiences. I think that you have learned much.

xtine

on Apr 26, 2004

FWIW, I think the world is incredibly lucky that there are still some people around who will sit up and take notice. You could've turned your back on the entire scene and gone your merry way unto Tequilaville. You are to be commended for taking the course of action you did. Not only that, you hung around to make sure that nothing further happened. Your prescence was enough. Thank you.

Sherye Hanson

on Apr 26, 2004

These kind of situations are more complicated that they look. Unless there is a law in your state that will put a man or woman in jail for abuse, then most likely this woman would have not pressed charges. I've worked with abused women and they are frustrating at times, they will not only put up with the abuse but return after a separation. One woman that I saw in a crisis, would rather be abused than poor, so she put up with the abuse and wouldn't leave under any conditions.

If there is a law that the police press charges rather than the victim, then things will actually change. Abusers know that there will be consequences and will either leave the victim or quit abusing her/him.

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