The better run police departments use formal screening procedures, including psychological assessment, to weed out the truly dangerous and the nut cases. In a perfect world, all departments would do so. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world, but for the purposes of this diary we will assume it is.
I spent fifteen years as the chief psychologist of a state DOC (Department of Corrections). Among a host of other duties, I designed and taught corrections officers courses in hostage negotiation and techniques for dealing with hostile and aggressive and/or mentally ill inmates. In these classes, I reminded officers that use of force was always a choice, but should be used only as a last resort.
In case you have questions about the relative roles of cops and corrections officers, I would point out that cops deal with the public in general, of which a small subset represents the criminal element. Through the marvels of the judicial system, the public is (hopefully) weeded out, leaving only the criminal element, which is then housed en masse in the DOC.
Please read below the racetrack for more...
This diary is not designed to be a training course for the reader, but I would like to point out some of the issues of which too many police officers, apparently including some of the fine officers in the Ferguson, MO, police department, seem to be unaware. For example, "It's not what you say, but how you say it."
Let's say you're walking down the middle of the road and a cop car passes you, pulls across the road in your path and the cop hollers out, "Hey, you. Get out of the goddamn road. Now!"
What do you do? Say? Think? And, most importantly, feel?
Now, before we deal with a different approach on the part of the officer, let's ask ourselves a few simple questions. "Why were you walking down the road in the first place? You know it's against the law and you're not that absent-minded. Feeling your oats? Hoping someone will challenge you and say something?
If the officer feels that your act of breaking the law is a challenge to his authority, and I'm going to guess it did in this case, we have the makings of a real problem, and the officer sure as hell is not helping. If you were waiting for a challenge, he has given it to you. You can't risk losing face in front of your buddy and all these neighbors, so the fight is on. In this case we know how the fight ended, totally needlessly, in your death.
But it needn't have happened this way. The officer could have ignored this little act of rebellion on your part. The officer could have pulled up beside you and simply started a casual conversation, ignoring your behavior or, if he felt compelled to address it, done so by asking about it, although he would have made a lot more points with you by ignoring your behavior, having a brief, friendly conversation with you and driving off. You've won a little victory here, but you know it was the cop who made it happen, and that means you appreciate it, just a little.