When you have police officers who abuse citizens, you erode public confidence in law enforcement. That makes the job of good police officers unsafe.
-- Mary Frances Berry
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The Chauvin trial is over, at last. As I wrote elsewhere, I take no pleasure from this verdict. It is a sad occasion, because none of this should ever have happened.
The lack of competent pre-hire screening is a sore subject with me. I have been doing police pre-hire evaluations since about 1974.
The way I got started was unusual to say the least. I was working for our State Department of Mental Health when my phone rang. The gruff voice on the other end growled, “McAdory here. To you recall hearing about that O***** matter?”
“Nope, Sheriff, Jog my memory”
“Judge Countiss* says I don’t have to give that SOB fifteen million dollars if you and Dr. Guild** examine all my people’s heads. When can you get started?”
Startled, I asked if he had talked with Dr. Guild. He had not, tasking me with that chore.
Now, one must understand Sheriff McAdory was an old school sheriff, but as far as I knew, he was a good lawman who served Hinds County, MS many terms. He was in charge of a brand new four story jail next to the courthouse in downtown Jackson.
Seems that Mr. O***** had an unfortunate ‘accident’ on the fire stairs of the new jail.
The inmate, Mr. O*****, was known to be an irritable fellow who could start a fight in an empty room.
The day of the alleged incident, Mr. O***** was alleged to have become rather irritable with three or four jailers on the fire stairs. When accused of thumping him, all the jailers did a good impression of Sgt. Schultz.
A lawsuit was filed in Federal Court, which is how I became involved with this case. There were no CCTV cameras in those days, so it was the word of an inmate versus some jailers.
As an aside, our readers should know that my good friend Dr. Guild was a rather unique individual. A polymath, he never actually completed college. He was accepted into medical school his junior year.
They had trouble keeping him busy in medical school, so he enrolled in law school.
He attended medical school and law school…..AT THE SAME TIME. Two months after completing his residency in psychiatry, he took and passed the bar exam. One more thing, he was a reserve deputy sheriff the whole time, doing part time patrol duty the entire time he was enrolled in medical & law schools. Other than that, he was involved in his passion for trains, collecting railroad memorabilia, and reading timetables like most people read the sports pages.
At any rate, Federal Magistrate Judge Countiss stated expressly that the ONLY people who could examine Sheriff McAdory’s staff was Dr. Guild and me. Substitutions not allowed. We agreed, charging a ridiculously low fee; hardly enough to justify our time, but we established a rationale that we were doing a public service, not trying to make money.
It was like getting an Army contract. Hinds County is where the State Capitol of Mississippi is located. I don’t remember how many officers we evaluated, but it took three months to get everyone interviewed, tested, and reports written. We did find several bad apples, duly reporting them to the Sheriff, who took action on our reports, pursuant to the consent decree he had signed.
Epilogue:
Sheriff McAdory has gone to the great Courtroom in the sky, as has Judge Countiss. Dr. Guild had a stroke several years ago, but is still living.
I continued to evaluate officers for almost fifty years. I prided myself on weeding out potential bad actors. Oddly, the main reason I failed applicants was anxiety, not hostility. I know full well where those claims, “I feared for my life,” came from.
In my lectures, I always point out that if an officer is that scared, they should never be issued a gun, much less a bullet to put in it.***
There were many interesting interviewees.
I like to tell the story of one guy who came in and sat at attention on the front two inches of his chair, sitting at an attention brace. He had a buzz haircut, looking as though he had just come from boot camp. Remember this was the late 1970s, when even Presidential candidates like Jimmy Carter had hair down past their ears. On top of that, this guy looked like the actor Dolph Lundgren. Steroids much?
I opened the questions by asking him why he wanted to be a police officer. Still at a sitting at attention, he barked, “SIR...I INTEND TO PUT AN END TO CRIME...SIR!”
I thought Dr. Guild was going to swallow his cigarette.
We asked a few more polite questions, then dismissed the applicant. Dr. Guild observed, “That guy would get himself and somebody else killed.” We failed the applicant.
There are many more stories. I may share a few of those that can be discussed in polite company.
* Federal Magistrate Judge John Countiss, III, Southern District of Mississippi.
** Donald Guild, MD, JD. Psychiatrist, lawyer, and sworn deputy sheriff.
*** Barney Fife reference.
Wednesday Lagniappe:
A musical news item popped up Tuesday morning in my recommended stories. The story says,
“Bob Weir recently welcomed Bert Keely into his home studio to record a special duet of John Lennon’s classic “Imagine.”
Weir supplies guitar and vocals on the pensive track, while Keely assists on bass, and it will appear on Keely’s upcoming box set Circle Back! (out June 4).
According to the musicians, it was recorded in memory of their mutual friend Richard Newton.”
Beautiful and tender version of the John Lennon classic:
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