James July-August 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 74
of 911 calls push officers into encounters and interactions with people under
the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Add in those with unchecked or untreated mental illness, as well as people
suffering from mental illness who are
also under the influence of alcohol and/
or drugs, and you have a mountain of
odds stacked against the average street
officer on every call.
However, waiting in the wings
are critics and political hacks ready to
review body and dash camera footage,
from the comfort and safety of their
offices on slow speed and frame advance, to second guess officers while
concluding that the subject or suspect
was free of any criminal intent. This
is how a decision made on the street
in a fraction of a second by an officer
following her training leads to indictments and destroyed careers.
Even when we are able to defeat
a politically-motivated indictment
or have such charges dismissed, the
same prosecutors push to have the
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officer sidelined or terminated. Many
officers, and their colleagues, leave
the profession in response, taking
hundreds of thousands of dollars of
taxpayer-funded training with them.
Some recent reports favor officers,
but still conceal the true reality of
crime in our country today. A recent
study found that 84 percent of an
average of 1,769 people shot by officers
between 2015 and 2020, described
as “victims of police shootings,” were
armed with a firearm, knife, vehicle,
or other weapon. Using “improvised
weapons” such as hammers, hatchets,
and shovels entitles “victims” in these
studies to be labeled “unarmed.” As
an aside, another report labeled the
man who shot a Georgia trooper in
January 2023 a “victim.” However,
the study never mentions that officers
make 12-13 million custodial arrests
annually with an estimate of six to ten
police-citizen interactions per arrest.
Sounds like a cogent, compelling argument exists that officers successfully,
professionally, and compassionately
perform their jobs.
Lawful, ethical, and appropriate
force, by a citizen or officer in the
performance of their duties, will never
look good on video. Attacks by suspects are fast, unpredictable and extremely difficult to counter or prevent.
How fortunate we are to have critics
on their sofas or behind their desks to
condemn the very officers they would
call to protect them.
As long as convicted, dangerous felons are permitted to roam the
streets, illegal drug use is encouraged
and overlooked, and people suffering
from mental health crises have no
available treatment, our society will
continue to place our law enforcement
officers into unwinnable situations.
The least we can do is support them
and pray to God they return to their
families at the conclusion of each shift.
Lance LoRusso is a Georgia attorney, author and
lecturer focused on law enforcement issues.
