BSRancher
Who Kills the Most Cops?
It’s not the bad guys
Ethics Contributor
Officer.com
Hugh Thompson Jr. died January 6, 2006 at the age of 62. Thompson wasn’t a cop and that name won’t mean much to younger cops. He didn’t die in a gun battle. He died of cancer. But it’s not Thompson’s death that’s important; it’s what he did with his life. On March 16, 1968, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson was a helicopter pilot in Viet Nam, and was flying cover over the village of My Lai when he witnessed American soldiers killing unarmed men, women and children.
Hugh Thompson flew his helicopter into the middle of the slaughter that was occurring and had his gunners point their guns at our own soldiers in order to protect a group of 10 non-combatants hiding in a bunker. He saved their lives, evacuating men, women, and children that would have been killed if not for his intervention. Up to 200 other men, women and children in My Lai were not so lucky.
How many of us would have had the courage to do what Hugh Thompson did? How many times have you witnessed acts of brutality and stepped in to stop it? Or did you just go along to get along and keep to the code of silence? I ask that because most of the soldiers at My Lai didn’t step up to report what happened and I have to believe that most of those soldiers were not bad men. In fact many of the men refused to participate in the slaughter. But they didn’t stop the others. Only Thompson had the guts.
The fact that men are capable of extreme acts of violence is no surprise. We witness first hand what people are capable of doing to each other. The news stories of children raped and murdered, or body parts strewn around the scene of an accident caused by a drunk driver are not “news” to us, they are part of our daily life. And as the sheep dogs of society we understand the value and necessity of our own capacity for violence toward those human predators.
But what do you do when the violence being committed by one of your own becomes abuse? How many times have you walked away with the comment “I want no part of this,” when what you should have done was step in and stop the violence? Hugh Thompson risked his life, and the life of his crewmen, to protect people he couldn’t really be sure weren’t the enemy. Cops are supposed to protect each other. You wouldn’t let another officer walk into an ambush. Why do you walk away when they’ve lost control and they really need your help?
We spend a lot of time and money on officer survival training and we talk about how important it is to stick together and protect each other; but what are we doing to save the lives and careers of cops who are engaged in unethical or illegal conduct? The National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation estimates that there are at least 300 suicides each year in law enforcement, and that’s just the deaths reported as suicides. We know there are “accidents” that never get reported as suicide.
USA Today reported in 1997,
“One of the common factors in suicide by law enforcement officers: an officer under investigation. One of the common police suicide warning signs: a rise in citizen complaints about aggressiveness. There is no particular profile of the officer who will attempt suicide. He or she may be a few years out of the academy or at the end of their career, and their personal crises run the gamut. Divorce and the break-up of relationships are common problems. But those who kill themselves may also be suffering from stagnated careers, under investigation for alleged misconduct or drinking heavily. Throw the ever-present firearm into the cauldron and the mix is deadly.”
Most cops work very hard to do the job the way it is supposed to be done, but none of us are perfect. We all have bad days and we are all capable of violence toward people who probably don’t deserve it. We should be able to depend on each other when our own judgment goes awry. A real partner wouldn’t let you do something stupid that threatens your career, or your life. And how many lives and careers could we save if we just stepped in at those critical times and said “Not Here, Not Now.”
In 1975 there were only a few of us that wore body armor. It was uncomfortable and we caught hell from the old timers who told us body armor wouldn’t save anybody. They were right in part; body armor doesn’t save everybody, but it saves some, and it would still be worth it if it only saved one life. An attitude of “Not Here and Not Now” won’t make a difference to some officers, but it will be worth it if it saves just one life.
To prevent suicides, Robert Douglas, executive director of the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation and a retired Baltimore police officer says: “Officers must be taught what signs to look for and encouraged to talk to co-workers who might need help. In his book, Hugh Thompson Jr. died January 6, 2006 at the age of 62. Thompson wasn’t a cop and that name won’t mean much to younger cops. He didn’t die in a gun battle. He died of cancer. But it’s not Thompson’s death that’s important; it’s what he did with his life. On March 16, 1968, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson was a helicopter pilot in the Viet Nam war and was flying cover over the village of My Lai when he witnessed American soldiers killing unarmed men, women and children.
Hugh Thompson flew his helicopter into the middle of the slaughter that was occurring and had his gunners point their guns at our own soldiers in order to protect a group of 10 non-combatants hiding in a bunker. He saved their lives, evacuating men, women, and children that would have been killed if not for his intervention. Up to 200 other men, women and children in My Lai were not so lucky.
How many of us would have had the courage to do what Hugh Thompson did? How many times have you witnessed acts of brutality and stepped in to stop it? Or did you just go along to get along and keep to the code of silence? I ask that because most of the soldiers at My Lai didn’t step up to report what happened and I have to believe that most of those soldiers were not bad men. In fact many of the men refused to participate in the slaughter. But they didn’t stop the others. Only Thompson had the guts. The fact that men are capable of extreme acts of violence is no surprise. We witness first hand what people are capable of doing to each other. The news stories of children raped and murdered, or body parts strewn around the scene of an accident caused by a drunk driver are not “news” to us, they are part of our daily life. And as the sheep dogs of society we understand the value and necessity of our own capacity for violence toward those human predators.
But what do you do when the violence being committed by one of your own becomes abuse? How many times have you walked away with the comment “I want no part of this” when what you should have done was step in and stop the violence? Hugh Thompson risked his life, and the life of his crewmen, to protect people he couldn’t really be sure weren’t the enemy. Cops are supposed to protect each other. You wouldn’t let another officer walk into an ambush. Why do you walk away when they’ve lost control and they really need your help?
To prevent suicides, Robert Douglas, executive director of the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation and a retired Baltimore police officer says:
“Officers must be taught what signs to look for and encouraged to talk to co-workers who might need help. In his book, Death with No Valor, & Hope Beyond The Badge, Douglas recounts the story of an officer who took an unloaded gun, put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger to see if he could. Then the officer loaded the weapon and was about to shoot himself when his cat walked into the room. ''He stroked that cat and said 'who will take care of this stinking cat if I kill myself,' '' Douglas wrote. ''And that was enough to stop him. How hard is it to save an officer if his cat could do it?''
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Mike's success in law enforcement is reflected in the passion and commitment he brings to being an ethical cop. Mike’s first book. Walking with the Devil: The Police Code of Silence is being used in several colleges nationwide and has received glowing reviews from police professionals across the nation. In a review published in the National Lawyers Guild, Minnesota Chapter, June 2005, Walking With the Devil was called “a “must read” for every ethical person involved with the legal system.”
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