Introduction: Recently I watched lots of episodes on Youtube involving incidents of police encounters with drunk drivers, domestic violence and incidents of shop lifting. If you search on Youtube with the words Entitled Karens, it will bring up lots of cases of women involved in intoxication, domestic violence and shoplifting etc. incidents and subsequent interaction with cops.
Similiarly, if you search with the words Entitled Kevins, it brings up similiar cases where males are involved.
After watching lots of episodes in these categories, I found that in almost all these cases the situation got escalated when the alleged suspects were having interaction with cops. I have a hobby of detailed evaluation and come up with some suggestions to bring improvement or let’s say ideas to bring de-escalation in situation where there is inteaction between police and alleged suspects.
Here are my thoughts and suggestions:
Terminologies Used: In lots of instances, I found that when Police Officer stops a driver suspecting Driving Under Influence (DUI) or even number tag is missing, the first question asked is to Identify Yourself by way of License and Registration. Some drivers have objection to that very instruction. And upon not following the lawful instructions /orders, Police has a right to detain a person right there and arrest and take to jail.
Here is the trigger– As soon as the words Arrest and Jail are mentioned by the Police, lots of people get into the panic mode and starts behaving in aggressive / abusive manner. This further escalates the situation.
Police usually say: You are under arrest and being taken to jail.
Suggestion: You are being taken in police custody for further questions.
Escorting The Subject to Cop Car– This is another trigger for resistance. After handcuffs, when subject is asked to get into the cop car, there is lot of resistance from the alleged suspect and during that aggressive behaviour, the possibility of battery to a police officer increases. This results in adding more charges to the crime.
Suggestion- In my view, the subject should be fully contained on a wheelchair before getting into the car. It means both hands and legs. And the cop vehicles should be customized to have the wheelchair slide into the vehicle in the same way as a handicapped person’s wheelchair goes into an accessible vehicle.
This will eradicate the possibility of further aggression by the subject.
Educating Police Procedures- Another issue I observed on these incidents was lack of knowledge and information on police procedures. Most of the people are not aware of how to respond to the Enforcement Officer’s instructions or orders. This results into unnecessary resistance and yelling by the subjects.
Suggestion- To educate the public in general, information on police procedures should be part of the curriculum at school level starting from Grade 9. This knowledge will be helpful to everyone when they undergo police interactions later in life.
Civil Claims: In the end, I would like to say that everyone should follow the instructions / orders from the Law Enforcement as their goal is to keep everyone safe. However, after the fact, if one thinks that he has been subject to wrongful arrest and suffered psychological and mental trauma, you are within your rights to sue the police authorities for civil compensation and other recourse against the enforcement officials.
Ultimately, the goal is to keep the city and citizens safe.