A Very Short Trip
This has been a week of troubling stories in the news. The most bizarre of them was this one about the poor schlemazel with bi-polar disorder who was killed by an air marshall after storming off the plane and allegedly threatening to detonate a bomb. Or was he? According to his fellow passengers, he never used the "B-word", nor threatened the airplane or passengers in any way. It seemed to be a case of a mentally ill patient freaking out over flying, and the air marshall over-reacting to the situation - a tragic error as a by-product of our post-9/11 existence. But neither the air marshall, nor his colleagues, nor the White House will ever concede that a mistake was made.
I have nothing but the utmost admiration for the people who protect us on an everyday basis. Law enforcement is difficult, dangerous, and without many personal rewards - much like military service. And I think that helps to explain the bunker mentality that is prevalent among law enforcement personnel. Their skin tends to be quite thin when it comes to examination and criticism. Whenever an incident is made public in which common sense says that a mistake was made by police, every policeman and their superiors immediately get their back up as if they feel that every one of them is under attack. The same type of thing happens in the military.
In a way, it is an admirable display of loyalty and unity. But it's also delusional. Just because somebody works in a heroic vocation, that doesn't mean that all accountability to the public they serve is waived. And nobody is perfect. There are people in every profession who are incompetent, or corrupt, or who make an occasional mistake. Wouldn't it be better for the overall morale of a law enforcement community (or military outfit) to deal with the individuals involved and their actions, rather than be gripped by paranoia and complain about the messengers who report the story? Or to believe that those who criticize the incident in question somehow don't appreciate the work they do as a whole?
The death of Rigoberto Alpizar was a tragedy. I expect that President Bush and his spokesman will refer to Alpizar as another casualty in the war on terror, which I suppose he was. But I'm not convinced that this death was unavoidable, and can only hope that all the facts eventually see the light of day. To err is human. To ignore error, or whitewash it, is negligent.
I have nothing but the utmost admiration for the people who protect us on an everyday basis. Law enforcement is difficult, dangerous, and without many personal rewards - much like military service. And I think that helps to explain the bunker mentality that is prevalent among law enforcement personnel. Their skin tends to be quite thin when it comes to examination and criticism. Whenever an incident is made public in which common sense says that a mistake was made by police, every policeman and their superiors immediately get their back up as if they feel that every one of them is under attack. The same type of thing happens in the military.
In a way, it is an admirable display of loyalty and unity. But it's also delusional. Just because somebody works in a heroic vocation, that doesn't mean that all accountability to the public they serve is waived. And nobody is perfect. There are people in every profession who are incompetent, or corrupt, or who make an occasional mistake. Wouldn't it be better for the overall morale of a law enforcement community (or military outfit) to deal with the individuals involved and their actions, rather than be gripped by paranoia and complain about the messengers who report the story? Or to believe that those who criticize the incident in question somehow don't appreciate the work they do as a whole?
The death of Rigoberto Alpizar was a tragedy. I expect that President Bush and his spokesman will refer to Alpizar as another casualty in the war on terror, which I suppose he was. But I'm not convinced that this death was unavoidable, and can only hope that all the facts eventually see the light of day. To err is human. To ignore error, or whitewash it, is negligent.
posted by Jaymeister at 12/09/2005 10:33:00 p.m.
1 Comments:
Good points Jay.
I agree that it is too bad that people do not step forward and admit their mistakes....I fear that the reason they do not is because the public and the media do not accept mistakes lightly. If I am an officer who makes a mistake, I can lose my job, get sued for all of the money me and my grandchildren will ever make, expose myself to humiliation and public ridicule, etc... I agree with you that it would be nice to see more people step up to the plate, but there has to be a reciprocal honesty and maturation by the rest of us too.
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