Matt Tinoco: LAPD Honors 25 Officers For Not Using Deadly Force
The Preservation of Life medal rewards officers for not using deadly force in dangerous situations, a point underscored by the narratives offered before each award was given to its recipient on Thursday evening. Officer Danielle Lopez was awarded for talking a man who was waving an assault rifle at passing street traffic to put down the weapon and move away. The weapon was later determined to be fake, but the fact remains that had officers opened fire on the man they believed to be holding an assault rifle, the inevitable (hypothetical) Police Commission investigation would likely have determined the officers acted within department policy.
Curiously, when LAPD Chief Charlie Beck first introduced the medal last year, he was harshly criticized by the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the LAPD’s police union.
From: LAPD Honors 25 Officers For Not Using Deadly Force In Potentially Lethal Situations — LAist
Torn between wanting to comment something like “DO YOU WANT A FREAKING COOKIE?” and something like “baby steps, baby steps”.Report
I really thought this was a clickhole/onion article title when it first popped up in my twitter feed.Report
Incentives matter. Besides, we should recognize courage that doesn’t involve anyone dying & does involve cool heads.
I’m more disturbed by the reaction of the union.Report
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Police unions are assholes. Paid assholes.Report
See it more as positive reinforcement. Rewarding behavior you want repeated is just as important as punishing behavior you do not like. By honoring police officer’s for using non-deadly force, the LAPD is sending a strong signal to other LAPD officers.Report
That’s kind of how I see it. “This is behavior that we honor, behavior that we want all officers to emulate.” So of course it’s going to be what the cops are supposed to do.
I get where the PPL is coming from — having the award at all suggests that there is a problem. Except, there is a problem. Solving the problem requires admitting that the problem exists. Seems to me that Chief Beck has moved beyond that to a further step in the process, which is what @leeesq points out: rewarding officers who, placed in the moment, find ways to solve the public safety problem without using deadly force.Report
And these type of reward and honor ceremonies tend to be very important to people who enter the police and military. This makes rewarding things like non-fatal force a very effective way to make your point.Report
When MLB issued new uniform rules for balls and strikes, the umpires’ union got very offended, because it implied that they were being called inconsistently. (Which got a huge horselaugh, because everyone knows that they are.)Report
“That’s kind of how I see it. “This is behavior that we honor, behavior that we want all officers to emulate.” So of course it’s going to be what the cops are supposed to do.”
Only not. If it’s what you’re supposed to do, medals aren’t warranted. They’re being celebrated precislely because their efforts are considered exceptional. Think about that word: exception, that which is not the norm.
Now, maybe this gets us closer to that being the norm. But it certainly does NOT say that this is currently the norm.Report
“Exceptional.”
There’s a similar word. “Exemplary.” As in “Sets an example.”Report
That’s fair.
I guess my point is that there isn’t yet consensus that this is in fact the behavior cops should emulate.
As evidenced by the union response.
Again, this may get us closer to the behavior being celebrated here being the expectation. But I think these awards make clear that it is not *yet* the expectation.Report
“If it’s what you’re supposed to do, medals aren’t warranted.”
What the cops are supposed to do is obey the law, follow procedure, and do what is absolutely necessary to protect the public from danger.
What we have established, through precedent and through decades of legalism, is that shootin’ the shit out of anyone who looks threatening meets all of those requirements.Report
I have a problem with, “Do you want a cookie?” responses, because they not only seem to assume should the police be taking some risks to resolve dangerous confrontations without violence (where I totally agree), they assume that there’s a strong consensus on that point, both among the police and among the general public (where I don’t).
It also means that the LAPD gets a good way to show off improvements if it does improve, and if the police act in a way that deserve trust, it’s for the best that the public trusts them.Report
And…Report
Wow.Report
Officer Mader is a hero. Any force ought to be proud to have a guy who could do something lkke that.Report
As should any trucking company.Report
The guys who get fired for actual corruption, violence against civilians(*), etc. get picked up by a force in another state within weeks. Any bets on whether this guy gets blackballed?
(*) As Pratchett noted, any police officer who uses the term “civilians” to refer to the public is worthy of immediate termination. That’s a term used by the military, and the police. are. not. military. In fact, they are in a perfect world the most non-military force there is.Report
Geez….it’s a double face palm night.Report
“…by not shooting Mr. Williams he “failed to eliminate a threat.””
We are not citizens, civilians, or even people. We are threats. We are not to be protected or served. We are to be eliminated.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.Report
Something like this should be used to get people in that town riled up enough to apply pressure to the mayor, etc. to get such policies changed.Report
@oscar-gordon
Unless we take the dark route and the people in town like it this way and see it as such.
There seem to be a lot of really fearful people in the US and I am not sure what can change this. It seems that teaching civil liberties is really hard. My hope now is that successor generators see all the stuff on police brutality now and decide to change the system when they are in charge.Report
@saul-degraw
If that is the case, then I’m afraid I have to fall back to Mencken.
Shortsighted bastards, the lot of them.Report