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You're beginning your police career in a time like no other. Police
officers have always been the subject of attention, because police
officers are simply the first and last line of defense against those who
would disrupt society. Every generation has had its hot button issues,
and police officers have always adjusted, and they've learned how to
navigate thorny social issues.
It's a bit different today. When you combine rapidly expanding
categories of politically correct issues along with a virtual explosion in
media technology, any police officer can find oneself in deep trouble.
Even in today's environment of social hysteria, you, as a police officer,
can stay above the fray by simply educating yourself on the issues of our
time and learning how to properly exercise your authority. This is
easier said than done, because a police officer's authority is so broad.
As a new police officer, you'll experience some complicated
circumstances early in your police career, and you'll have to rely on
your reasoning power to exercise your authority reasonably.
A perfect example of a hot button issue is child sexual and physical
abuse. Firstly, abuse can only occur at the hands of a parent or one who
is responsible for the care and custody of the child. Abuse does not
apply to children sexually or physically assaulted by others.
When I began my police career in 1971, I was amazed how sexual and
physical child abuse was investigated and handled by police and social
services. When complaints of abuse were made to police officers, the
investigations were promptly handed off to the Department of Social
Services. Early on, I had confrontations with social workers, because I
sought arrest warrants for those responsible for abuse. Some social
services supervisors even complained to my supervisors, because I was
operating outside the normal way of doing things. While my own
supervisors were not happy with the confrontations, they supported me.
My supervisors had no choice since child abuse was unlawful by state
statute, and I was acting lawfully.
You have to remember that thirty-five years ago, society had a kinder,
gentler view toward criminals of nearly every category. Since child
abuse was most often a family matter, the social experts believed that
the involvement of police officers and the courts was a disrupting factor
in the counseling process which was far superior to punishment.
In the beginning, I was amazed how truthful children were when they
were questioned about suspected abuse. However, as the years passed,
and child abuse became unacceptable as a purely social issue to be
handled outside the criminal justice system, I noticed more children
wising up to a great way to exercise revenge against their parent(s),
guardian(s) or care giver(s).
In the mid 1980's, child abuse was well on its way to hot button issue
status. Police departments were paying much closer attention to the
problem, and police officers were expected to seek prosecution of those
suspected of child abuse. During that period, I was dispatched to the
pediatric emergency room of a very prestigious Baltimore hospital. The
treating physician met me, and she explained that while treating a ten
year old female patient for a minor ailment, she observed healing
cigarette burns to the patients thighs and buttocks. When the Doctor
questioned the young girl, the girl stated her mother had burned her
with a cigarette as punishment for "being bad."
I interviewed the child, and I found her to be quite intelligent and
credible. I interviewed the mother separately. The mother was not
nearly as intelligent as her daughter. She insisted that she'd not burned
her daughter with a cigarette, but her unsophisticated manner made it
difficult to gauge her credibility. Her only defense was that her
daughter "makes things up."
After interviewing the doctor, the child, and the mother, sufficient
probable cause existed to charge the mother with physical child abuse.
The next part in the process was to have the child placed outside the
home by the Department of Social Services. This is where things really
became interesting.
I'll never forget this social worker. She was middle aged and not
terribly friendly. When she came into the emergency room, she sighed
and dropped her overstuffed shoulder bag on a table and asked,
"Where's the child?" I started to explain the circumstances. She
tolerated me for a few minutes as she nodded her head. When she'd
had enough of me, she simply replied, "Okay, where's the child?"
This woman took the child into an examination room where she
interviewed the alleged victim for about fifteen minutes. When Ms.
Social Worker emerged from the room, she announced, "She's lying."
As I waited for a further explanation of her statement, none was
forthcoming. She simply put her notepad into that big bag and threw it
over her shoulder. I then asked, "How did she get the burns?" Her
response was short and to the point. "They're not burns…it's
Infintigo." Well…the doctor, who was standing nearby and listening to
the social worker's diagnosis, was not impressed. After the doctor had
her say, the social worker offered no response as she politely said good
bye and headed for the door.
I followed her through the door and onto the sidewalk. I told her that
she'd have to give me a better explanation than she had. Her tone
changed from one of seeming indifference to one of sincerity. She
looked me directly in the eye and said, "Officer…I know you're
concerned for the child, and you want to do the right thing. I've been at
this for twenty years, and I can tell you without a doubt that those
marks are Infintigo. I don't know why the child is lying about being
burned by her mother, but she is lying."
I returned to the emergency room where I encountered a very irritated
Pediatrician, but the social worker had made a point. She had years of
experience observing a condition among children living in a low
socioeconomic environment; whereas, the examining physician was
young and new to real world realities. I ask the doctor to get a second
opinion on the apparent burns while I did a criminal records check on
the mother.
I found myself in somewhat of a dilemma. I had a young child claiming
that her mother had purposely, and repeatedly, burned her with the lit
end of a cigarette, and now I had, not one, but two, highly qualified
Pediatricians verifying the child's account. In contradiction to this
evidence was one overworked and underpaid social worker. Further, the
record check of the mother showed no arrests for anything. There was
one thing left to do to verify, conclusively, who was right. The lab work
on cultures, taken by the doctor, would be completed the following day.
Think about this for a moment. This is an example where your power as
a police officer can have enormous effects on peoples' lives. If the child
was abused by her mother, I'd be doing the only right thing by arresting
her mother thereby forcing the Department of Social Services to place
the child with other family members or foster care. On the other hand,
I could wait until the following day for the laboratory results. There was
a very easy solution. I had ample evidence to arrest and charge the
mother. Even if the laboratory results showed the child to be lying, no
one could fault me for my actions, because the evidence at hand was
more than sufficient probable cause.
Initially, the mother's fate was sealed after the first doctor's diagnosis;
however, nothing is rarely the way it first appears, so I decided to do
some additional investigation before deciding the mother's fate. I
transported the child and her mother home. I inspected the home's
physical environment, and I was pleased to see this child resided in a
much better environment than many other children in the
neighborhood.
I'm sure you've already guessed that I did not arrest the mother. A lot
of things affected my decision, not least my prior experience in similar
situations. I'm certain you've already concluded that the social worker
was right. The laboratory did confirm the social worker's diagnosis.
That's life…even highly qualified doctors can't be right all the time.
Now…think about yourself as a police officer handling a very similar
situation in today's environment. If you'd take the same action I did,
somebody from the hospital might call the local TV station, and you
could find yourself on the evening news. The Police Chief would be
shown on a split screen taking about "the children" while the other side
of the screen would show a street filled with police cars and flashing
lights as police officers escort the mother from her home in handcuffs.
Let's take it a step further. What if the child was the child of a
"somebody." Imagine the child being the daughter of an influential
person who is really newsworthy.
As I said, you're beginning your police career in a time like no other.
There is so much media today with so many politicians and advocates
falling over one another to grab the spotlight. Social issues form the
basis of so many controversies which are the stock and trade of the
media, and you, as a police officer, are going to be right in the middle of
those controversies. The most important thing for you remember
is…never take anything for granted.
A police officer must develop a reasoning process; wherein, you're
continuously evaluating information. If you commit yourself to this
process, it becomes second nature, and you don't even have to
consciously think about the process. A lot of police officers never really
perfect the process. In fact, some never even develop the process in a
rudimentary form. These are police officers who always act on first
impressions, and they let prior or existing prejudices guide their
actions. A police officer's ability to fairly and accurately evaluate
information is what separates you from everybody else.
You're not perfect, and you never will be, but being right most of the
time is a really great feeling. Besides making you feel good, being right
keeps you out of trouble. Remember, being right on a factual basis
supercedes any popular social acceptance of an alternative, and always
temporary, idea of what is right.
officers have always been the subject of attention, because police
officers are simply the first and last line of defense against those who
would disrupt society. Every generation has had its hot button issues,
and police officers have always adjusted, and they've learned how to
navigate thorny social issues.
It's a bit different today. When you combine rapidly expanding
categories of politically correct issues along with a virtual explosion in
media technology, any police officer can find oneself in deep trouble.
Even in today's environment of social hysteria, you, as a police officer,
can stay above the fray by simply educating yourself on the issues of our
time and learning how to properly exercise your authority. This is
easier said than done, because a police officer's authority is so broad.
As a new police officer, you'll experience some complicated
circumstances early in your police career, and you'll have to rely on
your reasoning power to exercise your authority reasonably.
A perfect example of a hot button issue is child sexual and physical
abuse. Firstly, abuse can only occur at the hands of a parent or one who
is responsible for the care and custody of the child. Abuse does not
apply to children sexually or physically assaulted by others.
When I began my police career in 1971, I was amazed how sexual and
physical child abuse was investigated and handled by police and social
services. When complaints of abuse were made to police officers, the
investigations were promptly handed off to the Department of Social
Services. Early on, I had confrontations with social workers, because I
sought arrest warrants for those responsible for abuse. Some social
services supervisors even complained to my supervisors, because I was
operating outside the normal way of doing things. While my own
supervisors were not happy with the confrontations, they supported me.
My supervisors had no choice since child abuse was unlawful by state
statute, and I was acting lawfully.
You have to remember that thirty-five years ago, society had a kinder,
gentler view toward criminals of nearly every category. Since child
abuse was most often a family matter, the social experts believed that
the involvement of police officers and the courts was a disrupting factor
in the counseling process which was far superior to punishment.
In the beginning, I was amazed how truthful children were when they
were questioned about suspected abuse. However, as the years passed,
and child abuse became unacceptable as a purely social issue to be
handled outside the criminal justice system, I noticed more children
wising up to a great way to exercise revenge against their parent(s),
guardian(s) or care giver(s).
In the mid 1980's, child abuse was well on its way to hot button issue
status. Police departments were paying much closer attention to the
problem, and police officers were expected to seek prosecution of those
suspected of child abuse. During that period, I was dispatched to the
pediatric emergency room of a very prestigious Baltimore hospital. The
treating physician met me, and she explained that while treating a ten
year old female patient for a minor ailment, she observed healing
cigarette burns to the patients thighs and buttocks. When the Doctor
questioned the young girl, the girl stated her mother had burned her
with a cigarette as punishment for "being bad."
I interviewed the child, and I found her to be quite intelligent and
credible. I interviewed the mother separately. The mother was not
nearly as intelligent as her daughter. She insisted that she'd not burned
her daughter with a cigarette, but her unsophisticated manner made it
difficult to gauge her credibility. Her only defense was that her
daughter "makes things up."
After interviewing the doctor, the child, and the mother, sufficient
probable cause existed to charge the mother with physical child abuse.
The next part in the process was to have the child placed outside the
home by the Department of Social Services. This is where things really
became interesting.
I'll never forget this social worker. She was middle aged and not
terribly friendly. When she came into the emergency room, she sighed
and dropped her overstuffed shoulder bag on a table and asked,
"Where's the child?" I started to explain the circumstances. She
tolerated me for a few minutes as she nodded her head. When she'd
had enough of me, she simply replied, "Okay, where's the child?"
This woman took the child into an examination room where she
interviewed the alleged victim for about fifteen minutes. When Ms.
Social Worker emerged from the room, she announced, "She's lying."
As I waited for a further explanation of her statement, none was
forthcoming. She simply put her notepad into that big bag and threw it
over her shoulder. I then asked, "How did she get the burns?" Her
response was short and to the point. "They're not burns…it's
Infintigo." Well…the doctor, who was standing nearby and listening to
the social worker's diagnosis, was not impressed. After the doctor had
her say, the social worker offered no response as she politely said good
bye and headed for the door.
I followed her through the door and onto the sidewalk. I told her that
she'd have to give me a better explanation than she had. Her tone
changed from one of seeming indifference to one of sincerity. She
looked me directly in the eye and said, "Officer…I know you're
concerned for the child, and you want to do the right thing. I've been at
this for twenty years, and I can tell you without a doubt that those
marks are Infintigo. I don't know why the child is lying about being
burned by her mother, but she is lying."
I returned to the emergency room where I encountered a very irritated
Pediatrician, but the social worker had made a point. She had years of
experience observing a condition among children living in a low
socioeconomic environment; whereas, the examining physician was
young and new to real world realities. I ask the doctor to get a second
opinion on the apparent burns while I did a criminal records check on
the mother.
I found myself in somewhat of a dilemma. I had a young child claiming
that her mother had purposely, and repeatedly, burned her with the lit
end of a cigarette, and now I had, not one, but two, highly qualified
Pediatricians verifying the child's account. In contradiction to this
evidence was one overworked and underpaid social worker. Further, the
record check of the mother showed no arrests for anything. There was
one thing left to do to verify, conclusively, who was right. The lab work
on cultures, taken by the doctor, would be completed the following day.
Think about this for a moment. This is an example where your power as
a police officer can have enormous effects on peoples' lives. If the child
was abused by her mother, I'd be doing the only right thing by arresting
her mother thereby forcing the Department of Social Services to place
the child with other family members or foster care. On the other hand,
I could wait until the following day for the laboratory results. There was
a very easy solution. I had ample evidence to arrest and charge the
mother. Even if the laboratory results showed the child to be lying, no
one could fault me for my actions, because the evidence at hand was
more than sufficient probable cause.
Initially, the mother's fate was sealed after the first doctor's diagnosis;
however, nothing is rarely the way it first appears, so I decided to do
some additional investigation before deciding the mother's fate. I
transported the child and her mother home. I inspected the home's
physical environment, and I was pleased to see this child resided in a
much better environment than many other children in the
neighborhood.
I'm sure you've already guessed that I did not arrest the mother. A lot
of things affected my decision, not least my prior experience in similar
situations. I'm certain you've already concluded that the social worker
was right. The laboratory did confirm the social worker's diagnosis.
That's life…even highly qualified doctors can't be right all the time.
Now…think about yourself as a police officer handling a very similar
situation in today's environment. If you'd take the same action I did,
somebody from the hospital might call the local TV station, and you
could find yourself on the evening news. The Police Chief would be
shown on a split screen taking about "the children" while the other side
of the screen would show a street filled with police cars and flashing
lights as police officers escort the mother from her home in handcuffs.
Let's take it a step further. What if the child was the child of a
"somebody." Imagine the child being the daughter of an influential
person who is really newsworthy.
As I said, you're beginning your police career in a time like no other.
There is so much media today with so many politicians and advocates
falling over one another to grab the spotlight. Social issues form the
basis of so many controversies which are the stock and trade of the
media, and you, as a police officer, are going to be right in the middle of
those controversies. The most important thing for you remember
is…never take anything for granted.
A police officer must develop a reasoning process; wherein, you're
continuously evaluating information. If you commit yourself to this
process, it becomes second nature, and you don't even have to
consciously think about the process. A lot of police officers never really
perfect the process. In fact, some never even develop the process in a
rudimentary form. These are police officers who always act on first
impressions, and they let prior or existing prejudices guide their
actions. A police officer's ability to fairly and accurately evaluate
information is what separates you from everybody else.
You're not perfect, and you never will be, but being right most of the
time is a really great feeling. Besides making you feel good, being right
keeps you out of trouble. Remember, being right on a factual basis
supercedes any popular social acceptance of an alternative, and always
temporary, idea of what is right.
Child
Abuse
Abuse
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