This is a quote from the video below.
"I felt like they was trying to make me resist or fight back."
Why is this statement important?
Have you ever had anyone try and pick a fight with you? Insulting you, your family in any way possible? Getting in your personal space?
I'm seeing this happen more and more often from an unexpected place. The police. In video after video I listen to officers intentionally upset, stress out, and anger the citizens that pay their salaries. How do I know they are doing it? Because I've had conflict resolution training. Apparently better training than any police officer I've ever come in contact with or seen on video. Watching and dealing with them is like watching a training session of what not to do if you want the situation to resolve amicably.
And yes, it is part of their duties.
PART I.GENERAL PRINCIPLESStandard 1-1.1. Complexity of police task
(a) Since police, as an agency of the criminal justice system, have a major responsibility for dealing with serious crime, efforts should continually be made to improve the capacity of police to discharge this responsibility effectively. It should also be recognized, however, that police effectiveness in dealing with crime is often largely dependent upon the effectiveness of other agencies both within and outside the criminal justice system. Those in the system must work together through liaison, cooperation, and constructive join effort. This effort is vital to the effective operation of the police and the entire criminal justice system
(b) To achieve optimum police effectiveness, the police should be recognized as having complex and multiple tasks to perform in addition to identifying and apprehending persons committing serious criminal offenses. Such other police tasks include protection of certain rights such as to speak and to assemble, participation either directly or in conjunction with other public and social agencies in the prevention of criminal and delinquent behavior, maintenance of order and control of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, resolution of conflict, and assistance to citizens in need of help such as the person who is mentally ill, the chronic alcoholic, or the drug addict.
(c) Recommendations made in these standards are based on the view that this diversity of responsibility is likely to continue and, more importantly, that police authority and skills are needed to handle appropriately a wide variety of community problems.
How is this done? Communication skills and tools used to resolve the situation without escalating it work well. They work well enough to talk down hyped up officers in Southern California Barrios. And they get plenty of practice talking to the public.
Communication Skills
We all heard the old adage, "The best way to win a fight is to avoid a fight." and this couldn't be more true of the law enforcement profession. Law enforcement professionals only want to use physical force and restraint as a last resort as a tactic to enforcing the law. The most effect law enforcement professionals are those that are able to resolve issues and enforce the laws without resorting to physical confrontation.
As such, effective verbal communication is probably the number one asset and quality of any law enforcement professional. Effective communication skills enable law enforcement officers to develop rapport with the public, colleagues and informants and disarm would be criminals. Good communication skills may enable a law enforcement officer to avoid serious injury or even death.
In addition, an effective law enforcement officer will have the ability to comprehend a large variety of verbal and non-verbal cues and will know how to respond to these cues in the most appropriate or advantageous way. Effective communication skills will also enable a law enforcement officer or professional to interact successfully in both work and community environment which may include diverse cultures, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Good law enforcement officers will also have refined interviewing and conflict resolutions skills.
Law enforcement officers and law enforcement professional in general who take the time to develop their communication skills will not only become better at their job but they'll also have more advancement opportunities throughout their careers. Law enforcement professionals who are promoted into supervisory or management positions typically have superior communication skills.
So a good officer talks to the public? Not shouting at them like a Drill Sargent scared shitless?
Why do I bring this up?
Listen to this officer in this video.
The actual stop starts at around the three minute mark.
If I was in a bar or just walking down the street and someone comes up to me violates my personal space. May even physically touch me. All while calling me derogatory and inciteful names I would be within my rights to not only leave the area as expeditiously as possible, also if that same person tried to detain me I would be entitled to physically prevent them from doing so. It is how we maintain such a dense social structure without resorting to retaliatory violence.
So why are these officers allowed to incite and attack citizens day in and day out? The victim in the video was stopped three times on one trip. And the officers come at him like pitbulls with rabies in the one he recorded. Why do they think treating citizens like this is acceptable? Because they are not held accountable.