I learned in Psych 101, the problem to changing negative behavior in our justice system is that the punishments are delayed from the action. Whatever we can do(within reason) to make it as painful (not necessarily physical) as possible on the spot of the behavior will help to eliminate it.

I would rather that friends of law enforcement focus their efforts in another direction. Almost every time that an officer has to wrestle with a subject, lawyers jump on the “brutality” bandwagon. That’s a concern for me, and endangers us because we pause before protecting ourselves.

Widening the debate to defend officers who aren’t following policy and training dilutes the defense that officers need in the vast majority of cases, which are cases where an officer is defening himself and still gets sued wrongfuly. Every time I touch a subject, I expect some kind of investigation that can threaten my career. You can believe that I (and a majority of my partners) don’t beat suspects that are proned out on the ground.

Instead, try getting a hold of film of officers acting properly, then showing the follow-up; the officer getting sued. It happens a lot more often. Even though these cases are often won by the officer, the damage is already done.

I understand that there are many stresses associated with the job, but that’s no reason to give the police license to do anything “in the line of duty”.

And yes, I know the Officer is in a world of hurt. He will suffer more than the bad guy will. Bad guy will get a settlement and he probobly aint even hurt.