Poll Do You Feel Safe Around Law-enforcement Officers?

[GWhizz]

@shimmerz I'm a nurse so I hope we're not all bad ;-)!

I was verbally abused by a Sergeant recently. I was basically accused by him of wasting police time because someone reported my plan to self-harm and when I didn't go ahead (because they came after me) I was called an attention-seeking manipulating bitch by him! He also refused to allow me to sit down and kept me outside in the freezing cold (a sick vulnerable pregnant young woman), it was as though he would have only been delighted if I had gone ahead and he hadn't gotten to me on time. I get that he was mad about the situation. But his mental health skills were shocking - way to push someone over the edge!

I've never held much faith in authorities though if I'm honest - people in power positions tend to abuse their authority sooner or later, or get to where they are because they're that kind of person (in my experience anyway, I have very little trust obviously).

 

[darrenS]

GWhizz...Police are not trained in mental health and yet they have to deal with it on a daily basis , imagine yourself without mental health training ..having to face the variety of situations they do - and then you get a person who self harms and is pregnant....of course he is going to react he is not a mental health worker and to train them in mental health would go opposite to their actual training - they are there as a community service but in a law enforcement capacity ...not a mental health capacity

 

[scout86]

Unfortunately, a lot of what they have to deal with directly or indirectly involves mental health issues. They really SHOULD get some training to help them with this. It isn't fair to them or they people they deal with that they don't.

 

[Lionheart]

I had to say both yes and no.

I've had some unhappy experiences with some of them, but others are quite friendly and helpful.

I think many of them have PTSD (treated or not) and many may possibly have power and control issues and that worries me a bit.

 

[shimmerz]

They carry guns. They can use them. They aren't trained in mental health issues when such issues can be misunderstood very easily when one does not understand them. Need more be said on the case of whether they should have training?

 

[therisa]

@Blue Survivor , am sorry, if I have come across, as disregarding your views and opinions, in this post. @FridayJones ,within my family, on both sides, I had an uncle (my dad's brother) served 20+ years, with the RCMP, and two cousins (2nd cousins, on my mom's side), with different regional forces, in Ontario.

 

[GWhizz]

@darrenS they are trained over here. I was sectioned under the mental health act by him! Also I'm a nurse and I have minimal mental health training. It doesn't mean I lack common sense or basic human compassion. I didn't self-harm by the way. He said because I didn't I was looking for attention. You don't know the full story

 

[darrenS]

many of us dont lack compassion or common sense...but what is common sense ? does that equate to compassion ? all i am trying to say is , police have to deal with the worst of the worst, they in many cases are given a hard time by the public and i too have had the displeasure of bad experiences, but applying common sense would tell me , that dealing with what they have to deal with at times they are going to be cold, rude and grumpy.

I used to see them regularly in my street, as a couple would cause all sorts of problems, he was a white supremacist , with access to many guns, and having spoken with him, also had severe mental health issues, with a propensity for violence. Now the police would come and intervene, at one time they sent his wife to a phsyc ward. Now imagine dealing with that and then having to go on with your day.

Having also myself a few years back being a trained alcohol and drug counselor i can also say, there are times when your compassion and manners are tested and we are all simply human. To expect a police to understand self harming is way beyond their training and to expect every professional to respond the way you think they should is a bit much.

 

[GWhizz]

@darrenS I didn't say they are 'all' bad, did I? I also said he was understandably mad. But you did not see him or him verbally attacking me. In fact, two of his colleagues were pretty shocked and apologised to me but said they couldn't do anything because he was their senior. Also I did nothing to provoke him nor did I call for his help. And I was 100% cooperative with him so please, stop throwing your assertions about the situation, one I found pretty traumatizing. I am not trained in self-harm but if I see a patient who makes an attempt, I have zero right to attack them for it. That could only potentially push a vulnerable person over the edge, as it did for me. The tough love bs approach does not work in these situations unless the person is genuinely seeking attention which is probably rarer than believed.

Anyway, we all gave our anecdotal stories here. Please stop judging my experience. I didn't share it for that reason.

 

[TXbandit]

I put yes and no. No because I was raped by a undercover narcotics officer which was one of my uncles friends. I shake when I get pulled over even for something small. It makes me panic and feel uncomfortable.Yes because I have friends that work for the local sheriffs department. I have known them for years and did not know they were cops when we first met.

 

[darrenS]

@GWhizz im sorry if you mistook my comments as judging your experience, that was not my intent

 

[GWhizz]

@darrenS thanks for your comment. I'm sorry if I took you up wrong. I just feel pretty defensive about the whole situation. I didn't expect him to understand me or that I had just had a dissociative flashback where I recovered a blocked memory which had led me to the compulsion to want to do something drastic to escape it. I completely understand that law enforcers have a rough and tough job in front of them. But it never gives anyone the right to throw their weight around or refuse someone basic human rights such as taking a seat. Trust me, I do not envy their job though, I would not be able. But lots of people are not able to be nurses or counselors and so they choose another profession. If I felt unable to work with people in a humane and respectful manner and in consideration of their legal rights, I would quit my job today. Put it this way, some people are in the wrong profession or they get so burnt out they forget that they chose their career to help/protect people. The day I stop caring for and putting my patients 1st, is the day I'll walk away from my job. I only get job satisfaction when I know I've given 100% that day.