To Save or Not To Save

I can’t get the women who refused to do CPR at the California independent living center out of my mind. How can anyone standby and watch a person die without doing something? I can’t fathom it. We owe that to all humanity, plus I heard the news caster say she was a nurse.  Nurses have a creed and ethics, don’t they? Yes, I know CPR is not successful the majority of time it is used, but occasionally it does work.

As a police officer and thus a first responder we did CPR to give the family and the people in the area of the victim a ray of hope that they could be revived and saved, That we were there to help. It certainly made my fellow officers and me feel better to think we did all we could. It felt better to tell the victim’s family we did all we could.

Again, I heard on the news that the policy of the center was not to perform CPR or any lifesaving measures on persons in medical distress, but to standby and watch them until the paramedics arrived.  As a fellow human being that would be a hard policy for me follow.  I can’t help, but think if I were fired - I would have a good civil case against my termination.

I must not be the only one concerned because I heard about this incident for several days on various TV channels and shows.

What are your thoughts?

Until Later,

Sally S.

New Blog

I just created a new blog for my fiction writing projects. Please visit Gayle T. Reece on duty and give me feed back. I am a bit computer challenged at times. http://gayletreece.blogspot.com

Snowy Days, Snowy Nights Where Would I Be Without Some Help

This week we had the worst snow in this area I recall since I’ve lived in this area. And can you believe they are predicting more. When I was a police officer in the various jurisdictions around here I had problems adhering to department policies concerning officers not pushing vehicles out of the snow. I was told it was a liability issue. They didn’t want officers hurt. I usually followed policy to the letter, but this was an issue in which I was a rebel so to say.

It was too hard for me to call a wrecker for people who were stuck in snow when a little push from me would help them get out. They were so thankful and grateful when I saved them the long wait for a wrecker and the cost. I believe these actions fostered good feelings toward police by our residents.

I felt real attached to the Protect and Serve slogan on my patrol car. I believed that helping where I could was serving. I never got hurt. I knew my limitations. 

I hate to admit, there were a few times that I got my patrol car stuck in snow and folks stopped to help push me out. I was quite impressed by all the help that was offered.  Why shouldn’t I return the favor?

Not Barney Fifes

I feel the need to explain why I haven’t recently been posting many incidents in which I was involved. The fact is, I don’t have that many more to tell that you that you most likely wouldn’t find boring.  I’ll now write about current police issues, current societal issues, and my fiction writing.

The various jurisdictions in which I worked were small or relatively small and located in the Midwest. We didn’t have as many crimes or as exciting crimes as in the big cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago etc. like we see on TV and in movies.  We spent most our days and nights providing service to and protecting the residents and visitors in our communities. Much of that important work was very routine, and yes, at times boring. Occasionally we did get involved in dangerous or wild and crazy situations, as I have mentioned in many of my previous posts. Good investigative and good police work is necessary whether you do it several times a week or only once or twice a year. You train, you practice and you hope you do it right, that no one gets hurt, that you don’t get sued and you go home at the end of your shift. Please don’t get me wrong, I loved my work.

The novel I just completed and the next two I plan to write in this trilogy are about investigations concerning fictitious mysterious crimes that occur in a fictitious mid western city of about 25,000.  Hard working committed officers in these smaller jurisdictions haven’t received as much attention in our literary collections as the big city cops.

Sincerely,

Sally S

Responsibility

I feel compelled to comment on an incident that occurred earlier today in the Kansas City area. A three-year-old little boy was reported missing to the authorities at about 5:00 o’clock this morning. According to the news reports, he had not been seen since 9:30 last night when his mother put him to bed. When she got up this morning at about 4:45 he was not in their apartment. The child was only wearing his pajamas and no shoes or slippers and the temperatures were in the single digits with a wind-chill.

Many police officers from several departments as well as the fire department were involved in the search.  Fortunately, the young boy was found safe in a nearby apartment building at about 8:00.

It was also reported that this child had previously ran away and was found in unlocked cars in the area.

Why hadn’t his parents done something to prevent a recurrence of his leaving on his own? Maybe a door lock located higher on the door, beyond his reach even with the help of a chair? What about a lock that could only be opened with a key that the parents kept in their possession at all times. Admittedly, that would be a fire hazard, but a 3 year old child running around outside in the cold and with no adult for protection is not safe either.

I can only fathom the cost of the search. Some officers probably worked beyond their shift, which would involve overtime pay costs. Gas was burned in many patrol cars, ambulances and fire trucks.  It was extremely cold for the officers walking around looking for the boy. Yes, it is their job, but to expose anyone to such a frigid morning, when it could have been avoided, just doesn’t seem right to me.

To me, the crux of this incident is that life is fragile and should be protected. We all need to take more responsibility for our actions and for those we are entrusted with their care.  Additionally, the national, state and city financial resources are not endless.

As a society, how do we encourage and force people to take responsibility? For their actions concerning their personal safety? For their actions as a parent concerning their children’s safety?

Sincerely,

Sally S

Women in Crime Solving II

The two books I mentioned in today’s earlier post were about woman police chiefs.  It got me to thinking about women in high-ranking law enforcement positions.  I did some research on the Internet to see how many we actually have. I just marvel at how much easier this was than when I researched topics for both my undergrad and graduate work. I can just sit here in my recliner in my comfys.

In a 2001 survey, women made up only 12.7 % of the force on municipal police departments with 100 officers or more. In the same survey, when they looked at law enforcement officers in all city, county, and state agencies and departments women made up 11.4 % of the cumulative total.  Of that combined total only 9.6% of sergeants and lieutenants were women and 7.3% of captains and above were women. (“ Police Chief” magazine of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Jan 2013)

What do the preceding percentages mean?  We need to increase the number of female officers in order to increase the pool of captains and above to promote to Chiefs. The same article cited the two major barriers that exist in some departments to the recruiting and maintaining female officers to be sexual harassment and poor maternity leave policies.

According to a 2009 Chicago Tribune article there were 212 female police chiefs in the United States, which made up 2% of the police chiefs in this country.

As a culture, would we benefit from having more women in law enforcement? Should the ratios reflect that of our population? Do we benefit from having female police officers? How as a society do we get more young women interested in pursuing careers in law enforcement?

Til next time,
Sally S