[Dr. Sivana]

I see no irony here.

I'm sorry. I was too flip concerning a very serious situation.

I prefer not to view the video, but the unrebutted assertion that the victim of the policeman's bad shoot did everything he could to cooperate makes everything harder for other policeman who rely on the good will and cooperation of the general public to do their job.

There's always talk about how valuable teachers are, and that they are underpaid. You rarely hear about the compensation of the local policeman, and from what I've seen of job postings, they aren't exactly raking it in (except maybe the ones who get scads of overtime and various types of double-dipping, which is a different discussion).

If salaries have to be increased in order to reassign or dismiss those officers who are not suited for these kinds of disturbances and get better candidates to replace them, then increase them.

[freeandfreezing]

I agree, but perhaps the first area to improve is the training provided to police officers. Their job demands skills not only in the obvious areas, but a highly developed skill at interacting with other people in very charged circumstances.

I've watched professional security people from members of the Secret Service to doormen at nightclubs at work in many different circumstances. I have friends who are law enforcement officers, and I have heard from them about the kind of circumstances they jump into, and what worked and what didn't. In every case one of the most important skills is an ability to quickly size up the people involved in the situation, and figure out how to interact with them in a way which will lead to the desired outcome.

In some cases police training is woefully inadequate. Few police officers have any significant training in mental health related first aid, yet they are often involved with people with mental illness. Nobody would think it made sense to send out an ambulance with EMTs that didn't have any training in what to do about broken bones or heart attacks, but that's just what happens in many cases involving mentally ill or disabled people.

The vast majority of police officers instinctively understand how to relate to other people, and how to deal with a lot complex situations, just like everyone else. An excessive emphasis on particular procedures can lead to tragic mistakes, like the one in the video. Better training and a return to a more relationship based policing would be a good first step.

[Sivad]

I can’t disagree with you. What I was addressing was that
you seemed to be suggesting that there was irony in the
fact that a behavioral therapist could not de-escalate a
cop who was about to shoot him. If that was not your
point then I missed something. No harm.