Usually, tactical tips are written for officers on the street. This is a tactical tip for administrators.
When I am not testing cool equipment for Police1, I teach a class called Law Enforcement Report Writing. The purpose of this class is to give college students some of the basic skills in incident reporting. One of the assignments is a written public statement. Students are given a scenario where a law enforcement agency is subject to public scrutiny. In this case, it is an officer involved shooting where an “errant bullet” strikes a bystander. The student is the chief of the agency who must produce a written public statement about the incident.
This is very appropriate in an era where trial by YouTube is prevalent. There is plenty of public out there who know how to do an officer’s job much better than the officers themselves. This can be derived by watching any news broadcast.
For the public announcement assignment, my students know that prematurely passing judgment on the officer is a failing grade. After all, post critical incident information is often limited. I prompt my students to produce transparent statements that discuss the mechanics of the situation. For example, their grade can improve with a statement like, “It is routine to place an officer on paid administrative leave after a critical incident.” rather than letting the media run with it. Students generally do well with, “It is too early in the investigation” and “I don’t know the answer to that at this time.”
I explain to my students that legal conclusions and speculation do not belong in an incident report.
Statements like, “It may be excessive use of force” or “I think the officer should have...” don’t belong.
What is at stake? First, if the chief or sheriff wonders what will sway a “vote of no confidence,” this is it. An errant statement could also open the door for greater liability exposure.
It is remarkably self evident when officers perceive that their administrators will “hang them out to dry,” especially in front of a camera. This also creates an atmosphere which raises the potential for officer injury. If officers cannot confidently exercise all of their tools without stigma, they won’t do it in a timely way. There is a percentage of law enforcement incidents which suggest that many officers injured or murdered in the course of their duties did not apply controlling force early enough. If fear of repercussion is a factor, the tragic situation is compounded.
Administrators should vigorously protect their officers’ due-process rights.
My students get it. The Chief should too.
