Shot Fired: My Reaction

Recently, I watched a documentary, “Shot Fired” by PBS Frontline in cooperation with The Salt Lake Tribune.?The documentary shows how the police officers are trained to deal with the suspect.?The officers were trained to be cautious on the side of paranoia where every scenario leads to the trainee having to use lethal force or else either the trainee or his/her partner will pay the price.?In the video documentary, I have not seen any scenario that would lead to multiple outcomes.?The trainees were drilled into them motivated by fear of death themselves and their partner.?This is the same way the military trains its soldiers.?The problem is soldiers are the dogs of war whereas the police officers are “To protect and to serve.”?To me, to protect requires determination and to serve requires empathy.

When soldiers are utilized, it is usually in times of emergency or war.?During a wartime operation, the United States Armed Forces oblige Geneva Convention; even though, our adversaries often do not.?In the US Army training doctrine, we distinguish people into two categories, combatant and non-combatant.?We also put a catch that any combatant can change to a non-combatant if he no longer has the will to fight.?Throughout all the wars that the United States has been involved in.?Japanese and German in WWII, North Korean in the Korean War, North Vietnamese in Vietnam Conflict, or in the Gulf War, no matter how devious our adversaries are, the United States military training has never trained its soldiers that the scenario ended in the worst-case scenario.?We always left the crucial moment to the individual’s morals and values and take responsibility for his/her action.

On the other hand, the police officer’s job involves any scenario ranging from a suspicious person, missing person, robbery, domestic dispute or violence, homicide, accident, terrorist, or active shooting.?There cannot be only one scenario that produces only do or die outcome.?In any realistic role-play to be realistic, we must consider all the factors and how these factors affect one another that may lead to different outcomes.?

I propose a statistically scientific study program that studies the dynamics of every scenario that has happened before be studied as much as possible.?For the past 50 years alone and with every 911 call from all over, each state can categorize the scenarios, factors, the progression of events, and the outcomes they lead to.?The study, in turn, be designed for the police officer training similar to the aircraft pilot is trained to the emergencies that have occurred.?This proposal is not new, it is simply modifying the existing method that has a proven record of preventing problems to happen again.

For example, a police car is called for a public disturbance scenario.?A pair of police officers arrived at a pharmacy location that called 911.?The suspect is agitated and had punched a hole in a wall.?A police officer inquires the suspect and the pharmacist about what happened.?The suspect was just released from the hospital after he got done with appendix surgery.?The medication was not in the system for the pharmacist to dispense yet.?The suspect was in pain.?The officer’s standard procedure is to keep the suspect under control, which means the suspect must be on the ground or be seated.?This is to create an advantage for the police officer by giving the officer more time to react at an advantage position.?The suspect sat, but after a minute or so he got up and start walking.?He was told to sit again.?The suspect said that he was in pain and was better to stand.?He was told to sit again.?The suspect sat for a minute but got up again.?He started pacing.?The officer told him to sit or he will be handcuffed.?The suspect, again, sat for a minute but got up and started pacing again.?The officer told him to sit or he will be arrested.?The suspect told the police officers that he was told to move often by the doctor, which is in the release instruction.?This is true for any appendicectomy patient to do.?The police officers finally arrested the suspect and took him to the police station.?

The question is, “Is there anything that the police officers could have influent the outcome other than arrest the suspect?”?As I was watching the situation, I could certainly say, “Yes.”?Though, the police officers did exactly what their Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) instructed them to do.?However, the SOP is not flexible and is wrong!?First and foremost, the officers failed to realize that the suspect had been trying to comply with the officer’s instruction.?However, because he was in distress by the pain from the appendicectomy he could not sit very long.?In UX design, this is called an end user’s pain point.?The police officers failed to empathize with the suspect.?Without the SOP, the officers may show empathy and allow the suspect to stand and pace.?It is after all the officers keep the situation under control.?The situation had not escalated.?The standoff would eventually resolve when the system updated or when the pharmacist was able to verify the order with the doctor.?The SOP should be emphasized on keeping the situation from escalating.?Arresting the suspect is escalating.?The officers themselves created a runaway situation forced by their method designed to comply with the SOP.?The police officers failed to realize that the suspect was complying with their instructions, but the surgery causes pain similar to getting stabbed in the lower abdomen.?This is where empathy awareness should be emphasized in training.

The police officer training should start with the statistical scientific study of cases that have happened, the actions of people involved, the factors made up of each individual, and applying psychological knowledge to the methods or the Rules of Engagement (ROE) in compliance with the SOP designed to, “To Serve and Protect.”