Uncooperative
Victims
Victims
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Everybody, no matter who they are or what level of the social scale they
occupy, are potential victims of crime. This is a good fact to remember
since many police officers begin their careers with over expectations
when it comes to victims' cooperation with, or an appreciation of, your
efforts to help them.
You'll work with police officers who will show little patience with
uncooperative victims. You need to prepare yourself to exert a high
level of tolerance for uncooperative victims since you'll encounter more
than you might think. Remember, your most basic responsibilities will
be the detection, investigation, and reporting of crime no matter what
inconvenient circumstances may exist.
Victims may be uncooperative for any number of reasons. They may be
embarrassed by their own conduct leading up to or during the
commission of the crime. They may have, themselves, been engaged in
some kind of criminal conduct when the crime occurred. Maybe, they
just don't like police officers.
As we watched the man walk away, I complimented the officer on how
she'd handled the interview gaining as much information as she had.
She paused as she looked at me realizing that something else was
coming. "What kind of report are you going to write," I asked? She
paused again probably realizing that her answer would be incorrect,
"Injured Person," she replied? I pointed out that the victim had
obviously been the victim of an aggravated assault. The officer replied
that the victim didn't want to report the assault. I then pointed out that
the victim had already reported the assault...to a police officer. "But,"
she responded, "I don't know who he is." I asked the officer, "How
does that change what happened?"
One quick point here. Any crime committed against anyone is a crime
against the state. Any person can choose not to report a crime, but once
a person reports elements constituting a crime to a police officer, that
crime has been reported.
If the officer had begun an injured person report (officers don't have a
problem with "unknown" for a victim's name when it's a non Part One
report) she'd have soon realized the information she had constituted
something quite different.
The no name thing is what gave this officer a mental block. When in
comes to Part One crimes, not knowing the name of the victim does
confuse a lot of police officers. Look at it this way, if you found this
same guy lying dead on the sidewalk, obviously beaten to death, you'd
just put "unknown" in the victim's name box on the homicide report if
the victim's identity is not available for your report. In the example
cited, if our victim had dropped dead from that nasty head injury on his
way to where ever he was going, the homicide detectives would at least
have had a suspect's name with which to begin their investigation.
The key to dealing with uncooperative victims is to never lose sight of
your responsibilities as a police officer. Never let passion, prejudice, or
emotion interfere with meeting those responsibilities.
occupy, are potential victims of crime. This is a good fact to remember
since many police officers begin their careers with over expectations
when it comes to victims' cooperation with, or an appreciation of, your
efforts to help them.
You'll work with police officers who will show little patience with
uncooperative victims. You need to prepare yourself to exert a high
level of tolerance for uncooperative victims since you'll encounter more
than you might think. Remember, your most basic responsibilities will
be the detection, investigation, and reporting of crime no matter what
inconvenient circumstances may exist.
Victims may be uncooperative for any number of reasons. They may be
embarrassed by their own conduct leading up to or during the
commission of the crime. They may have, themselves, been engaged in
some kind of criminal conduct when the crime occurred. Maybe, they
just don't like police officers.
As we watched the man walk away, I complimented the officer on how
she'd handled the interview gaining as much information as she had.
She paused as she looked at me realizing that something else was
coming. "What kind of report are you going to write," I asked? She
paused again probably realizing that her answer would be incorrect,
"Injured Person," she replied? I pointed out that the victim had
obviously been the victim of an aggravated assault. The officer replied
that the victim didn't want to report the assault. I then pointed out that
the victim had already reported the assault...to a police officer. "But,"
she responded, "I don't know who he is." I asked the officer, "How
does that change what happened?"
One quick point here. Any crime committed against anyone is a crime
against the state. Any person can choose not to report a crime, but once
a person reports elements constituting a crime to a police officer, that
crime has been reported.
If the officer had begun an injured person report (officers don't have a
problem with "unknown" for a victim's name when it's a non Part One
report) she'd have soon realized the information she had constituted
something quite different.
The no name thing is what gave this officer a mental block. When in
comes to Part One crimes, not knowing the name of the victim does
confuse a lot of police officers. Look at it this way, if you found this
same guy lying dead on the sidewalk, obviously beaten to death, you'd
just put "unknown" in the victim's name box on the homicide report if
the victim's identity is not available for your report. In the example
cited, if our victim had dropped dead from that nasty head injury on his
way to where ever he was going, the homicide detectives would at least
have had a suspect's name with which to begin their investigation.
The key to dealing with uncooperative victims is to never lose sight of
your responsibilities as a police officer. Never let passion, prejudice, or
emotion interfere with meeting those responsibilities.
I had only been a sergeant for a short time when I was
standing on the station house parking lot talking to an
officer from my squad. A young man walked toward us
from the street. This guy was really messed up. He was
bare chested; he had one large, nasty looking gash on the
side of his head. He had several other lesser lacerations to
his chest and forearms with bruises, abrasions and swelling
on both arms. The head wound had obviously bled a lot
since the side of his face and chest were smeared with blood.
The amount of bleeding was further evidenced by his blood
soaked shirt which he had tied around his waist.
He began describing how he'd been attacked and beaten by a
man armed with a cast iron pipe. The officer, probably
wanting to show her new sergeant that she knew what she
was doing, went into action. She asked all the right
questions as she recorded information on her notepad. The
victim even provided the suspect's name. However, every
time she asked the victim for his name, he'd just continue
with his account of the attack. The officer eventually got
the whole story, except for the victim's name and other
identifying information.
It was pretty obvious from the beginning that this guy was
really embarrassed over being beaten so badly, and he just
wanted to tell someone about it from his perspective. When
the officer pressed the victim for his name, he refused by
stating he didn't want to report the attack. While initially
refusing medical treatment, the officer again urged him to
at least let her call an ambulance for him. Again, he
refused as he walked back toward the street.
standing on the station house parking lot talking to an
officer from my squad. A young man walked toward us
from the street. This guy was really messed up. He was
bare chested; he had one large, nasty looking gash on the
side of his head. He had several other lesser lacerations to
his chest and forearms with bruises, abrasions and swelling
on both arms. The head wound had obviously bled a lot
since the side of his face and chest were smeared with blood.
The amount of bleeding was further evidenced by his blood
soaked shirt which he had tied around his waist.
He began describing how he'd been attacked and beaten by a
man armed with a cast iron pipe. The officer, probably
wanting to show her new sergeant that she knew what she
was doing, went into action. She asked all the right
questions as she recorded information on her notepad. The
victim even provided the suspect's name. However, every
time she asked the victim for his name, he'd just continue
with his account of the attack. The officer eventually got
the whole story, except for the victim's name and other
identifying information.
It was pretty obvious from the beginning that this guy was
really embarrassed over being beaten so badly, and he just
wanted to tell someone about it from his perspective. When
the officer pressed the victim for his name, he refused by
stating he didn't want to report the attack. While initially
refusing medical treatment, the officer again urged him to
at least let her call an ambulance for him. Again, he
refused as he walked back toward the street.
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