Stop - Arrest - Search..., A Matter of Survival!

Those of you who know my area of expertise should have expected comments regarding yesterdays and to days headline regrading the violent and racist attack on our police officers. This is indeed a hot topic for me and the only reasons my comments have been delayed is because I did not know where to start. Never the less let us begin!

First and foremost we must begin with the cultural influences that relate to combat or 'fighting' as we say. How we react and deal with people varies based on several parameters. Here are just a few of them;

• who they are
• where we live (country / neighborhood)
• where they are
• time of day
• there sexual orientation
• how we feel
• what we are wearing
• drugs alcohol
• etc.

These parameters have been drilled in us from we were kids, thus how are raised and in what country are probably the strongest of these determining factors. These influences will dictate to us initially subconsciously then consciously how we respond to threats. Here in the Bahamas for the most part Caucasians are seen as an untouchable group especially of they are foreign group. This reality as much as we battle it, has been drilled into us for several generations and is not easily removed. This factored is amplified when this individual is seen as 'tourist' our bread and butter, persons who we must protect no matter what the cost.

Unless individuals be they police officers or the average person on the street, regularly removes or learns to jump over these barriers he / she is left with an intense experience of the 'Fight or Flight Syndrome'. This syndrome is the bodies instinctive mechanism flooding the muscles with adrenal, but because of the barriers as mentioned earlier the person does not know if they should run or not. Now some of us have because of experience, alcohol, drugs etc., are able to overcome these barriers where as some may not see them as barriers at all.

Secondly an area I would like to discuss is the comments on the web and some I have overheard in local eateries is that the police need to be taught how to properly defend themselves. You imagine how I had to bite my lip and tongue in this one. Let the record reflect that the police are given instruction in police orientated self defense. They are also taught how to properly restrain individuals, handcuff and search them. They are not taught a formal martial art as this approach is very formalized, restrictive and does lend to good combat and tactical thinking. Never the less, unlike firearms training which is regularly refreshed, police officers are not refreshed in hand to hand training. This factor in my opinion contributed greatly to the turn of events.

Thirdly, with regards to proper use of force or lack there of, there several use of force options, that for whatever reason are not adequately explored by our police force. Less lethal force options such as batons, pepper spray, and stun guns, are almost non existent in the police arsenal. In fact it would appear that after the officers has attempted to dialogue with suspects his only option if the person is not compliant is to pull out his / her weapon and shoot the person. It is the absence of these tools that caused a relatively controllable incident to exploded in to something that could have been more manageable.

This may seem untrue and not practical, but if the organization has not provided options then what is left for the officer to do. How can he adequately protect the citizenry if he has in the first instance not been adequately trained and in the second not been equipped. The management of how force is applied (fighting) especially for the police is a very delicate exercise that has repercussions in to the Public Treasury. It cannot be left to chance, as officers lives and that of the general populace depends on it.