"Victims" part 2

Recent press coverage of Acting Chief Maloney and other Law Enforcement personnel has drawn a variety of responses from the public, as read in their commentaries. Some are supportive, some make doughnut jokes (Really, donut jokes? Brilliant.), while others respond as if this is Law Enforcement’s first response to the issue.

Two of the most frustrating issues I have faced in the last 15 or so years in the emergency services, is 1) the media’s apparent inability to get the facts of the story straight, and 2) the public basing their perception on those stories.

Here are a few examples of responses in this latest story as presented in the Chico Enterprise Record:

Chico Resident (if that is your REAL fake name) says:

"Blah Blah. Talk is cheap. It takes three serious robberies before something is done. What about sting operations. Extra patrols during evening hours. The attacks happen from 11pm to 5am Thats when you need extra patrols. Protect the public already.STAY AWAY FROM THE BIKE PATH"

Jesse William Walker says:
"Seventeen attacks in four months and the top cop says ""We do not want to create a hysteria and suggest at all that this is an unsafe area and people should actually avoid it," During all of that time the cops do nothing. It's the same doughnut shop menatality they always have until the media lights a fire under their ****. After the first couple of attacks the cops could have put an undercover decoy and a couple of cops as backup into the act every night until the made arrests but instead they have all of their patrolmen and detectives "cracking down on parole and probation violators". Imagine, all available cops spending entire shifts every day of every week cracking down on parolees. We really do have a problem in Chico, but I think it is with a police force. Our cops don't want to get out of their patrol cars unless it is to get a doughnut."

Cornelius Cakely says:
"These attacks have been going on for a year and a half while the police have sat on their hands and whined that they don't have enough money. And what does the police chief say:"People just need to take a degree of responsibility on their own." Great! What an absurd situation.The Chico police are utterly pathetic. How many more people must be beaten unconscious and robbed on the bike trails around Chico State before they get proactive? Instead they hold press conferences at the scene of the crimes! There is a clear pattern to these attacks. These thugs could be caught in one night with an undercover decoy operation but the Chico police are too busy holding press conferences and writing traffic tickets to do that! Obviously they find that more profitable and less dangerous than protecting the public."

These statements in my opinion are made from people who get their “reality” from the media. It’s interesting to read people’s responses in the Enterprise Record and other media commentaries. So many people base their opinions on partial information (as presented in the press). Additionally, until the blog age, there has been little that Law Enforcement could do to keep the various news sources from editorializing our press releases.

The general public places a great deal of trust in the printed word. It didn’t occur to me until a great man told me that the news media is a private enterprise. I had never considered the fact that there is nothing to ensure that the media source will not present the "facts" of the story in a way that will suit their personal agendas.

People’s choices in large part are based on life’s experiences and perception of facts presented(such as those posed in the media). Our choices as Police Officers are also based on facts and perception. Perception is sometimes all we have to go on. Scenarios presented in seconds, with little to no time to react are responded to with the Officer’s perception of the situation and his/her training.

I recall one situation when I was working as a Cannabis Investigator with the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. My partner was interviewing a suspect in the kitchen and I was conducting a search of the living room. All of a sudden, I heard a loud commotion in the kitchen, consisting of the dogs barking, the table slamming into the wall, chairs sliding back, and the suspect running out into the hallway. My perception of the situation? The suspect assaulted my partner and was making a break for it.

I grabbed the suspect and got ready to punch him (yes, we get to do that sometimes). The suspect saw my actions and I felt him immediately submit. No punch.

When my partner came into the hallway out of breath, he saw my posture and called for me to stop. It seems that the dogs began to fight under the table and both my partner and the suspect were doing all they could to get away.

Lesson learned: things are not always as they seem. Would I have been justified in continuing my actions? Yes, if he would have kept up his “escape.” Perception is sometimes all we have.

Several people are calling for undercover stings and the like regarding these robberies. There are some topical points as well as some grave realities involved in dealing with this situation.

The first is that these robberies happen within minutes, if not less. The general area covers several blocks with numerous areas out of sight of the general public. There is no hope of having all Officers in all places, at all times. This is where the public comes in. Ending the “Stop Snitchin” nonsense that permeates our society and not hiding behind fear of retaliation is a good start. As Acting Chief Maloney says, "We will put resources toward this, and continue to put resources toward it, but we have to believe there are citizens out there with information that might help us solve these crimes."

Some hope that the Police as well as the government will do everything for them, abdicating any responsibility to care for themselves. This is a blind road to follow and can lead to severe consequences. In his book, “The Gift of Fear”, Gavin De Becker indicates that those who accept the fact that bad things (like robberies) can happen to them, deal better psychologically than those who walk around with blinders (condition white).

In one recent case, the victims were beaten 10 minutes after being warned by Officers that the bike path was unsafe at that hour. What do those Officers know? Apparently enough in this case.

Realities: putting an Officer in that situation is placing them in an extremely dangerous and likely will result in a lethal force situation. In general, more than two suspects (as is the general m.o. of these crimes) attempting to assault an Officer is a lethal force situation and the likelihood that someone is going to get shot is high. Add a suspect with a gun in the mix, and the outcome has a likely outcome. Every time an Officer goes to work, the thought is in the back of his mind that he may have to take a life. This not a pleasant thought, but is a necessary realization which will help keep the Officer alive.

The public needs to face this eventuality when they call for undercover operations and the like. There was a time when the majority of the public understood Law Enforcement’s reactions to such danger, but several social factors developed over a long time have worn down people’s resolve, in my opinion. It seems that people in general need to be pushed much further before they will stand for themselves or accept violent responses from Law Enforcement.

I believe in peace, but not at all costs. Not to cower in submission to Fascists and definitely not at the cost of letting myself or my loved ones become a victim. We were not designed to lie down like dogs.

So, again, there are places in this world where one needs to use common sense. Of course there are those who will say, “Well, this is America and I should be able to go where I want to.” To them I say, “You’re right.” But please understand that there are bad people in this world. They are willing to do bad things to you, and maybe a little forethought is in order. As Acting Chief Maloney said, “People just need to take a degree of responsibility on their own."

Public assistance and information is the key to solving this problem.

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The color codes of awareness…

I spoke with a friend a few years ago who had moved to a new city. He was telling me about how great the area was and how there was “no crime” there. I challenged him on this point, but he held firm…there is no crime in my town. I decided to do a little investigative work and went to the city’s Police website. There it was for all to see: car thefts, robberies, rapes, burglaries, thefts, juvenile problems, etc…no different than Chico.

I had another similar conversation with a new friend tonight. We were talking about Chico’s SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team, and he commented that it didn’t seem that there would be much of a need for a SWAT team in Chico. I understand his sentiments completely, for I used to feel the same way. I explained that Chico is a coin with two sides. I pointed out to him four residences within the immediate area where I knew drug dealers and gang members lived. I knew this because I have dealt with them all. This is not the kind of thing that people usually deal with and therefore usually don’t know about. Completely understandable.

People in general don’t want to know about the horrible things that go on in their city. I guess it makes people feel better, “knowing” that they live in a “safe” neighborhood. I remember my first house. It was in a great neighborhood and I couldn’t be happier. Then I went to the DA’s office and looked on the “Megan’s law” website. I learned that there were four registered sex offenders within a two block radius of my little house. A fifth was later arrested that year for molesting two kids. Great.

A little bit of the shiny veneer wore off my home that day and I looked at the neighborhood a little differently. The questions is this, was I better off for knowing this, or was I worse off? After all, I was a little more uncomfortable and had lost a degree of my sense of security. I personally think I was better off for knowing this. Maybe you disagree. The Chico Police Department has excellent crime analysis information available for public viewing, and will help you understand better the challenges our fair city faces.

Police Officers are blessed with the ability to see things that others often don’t. This is not a magical 6th sense reserved for those with a badge, but a skill that is bred into us from the academy. The concept is taught as the “Color codes of awareness.” Understanding these codes teaches a person how our mindset has everything to do with your personal safety.

These color codes of awareness have four colors to learn, depending on who is teaching it. I use four for simplicity. They are as follows:

WHITE: This is the code that most people spend their day in. People in condition white have very little awareness of the world past the glass in their cars, or the cell phone pressed tightly against their ears (sometimes both). Have you ever driven across town and can’t remember how you got there? This is driving in condition white.

Predators love people in condition white. Criminals have such an easy time because people do “condition white” things, like leaving their car and house doors unlocked, leaving their purses in plain view on the seats of their cars (“Surely, no one would break the window take it”), walking around late really, really drunk at night on bicycle paths alone, and a myriad of other similar activities.

YELLOW: This is the code that most Police Officers spend their time in. This is the code of the safe. People in condition yellow are aware of the world they live in. They experience more in life because they are “awake” to see it. This mindset is a choice. It takes almost no effort but to expand your five senses past the reach of your arms. Imagine a person slumping over in a chair and looking at the ground. Now imagine him sitting up and looking around. He is now aware of his surroundings. This is the difference between conditions white and yellow.

When I enter a room, I usually take a quick visual sweep to see who’s there. I know that my conscious mind may not see any dangers, but my subconscious most likely will. True fear (a life saving emotion, completely different from anxiety and worry) is derived when your sub consciousness picks up on danger indicators. Often times your conscious mind will have no clue what the danger is, but that does not mean it is not there.

RED: This is the code where you have identified a threat (real, perceived, or otherwise). You hopefully identified the threat because you were viewing the world in condition yellow, not because you looked up from your sweet little MP3 player and saw a big unfriendly person glaring at you.

This is the time to take active countermeasures: Walking, running, evading, whilst yelling or blowing a whistle, whatever it takes to get away. I have often been walking in public off-duty and saw someone I’d arrested before, or had previous “professional” contact with. Most often I am able to take another aisle and work myself to the other side of the store. The times where I haven’t been in the proper mindset have gotten me into some fairly uncomfortable situations.

BLACK: This is the code where things have gone bad. The person is assaulting you,
or an assault is imminent. Basically, there are very few rules when it comes to defending one’s safety. There are tools such as pepper spray, personal Tasers®, firearms, defensive key chains, fists, feet, teeth, (you get the picture) to deal with such incidents. Leaving the scene any way possible, before the assault is always the best option, if available.

I believe that the majority of condition black situations can be avoided by exercising the condition yellow mindset. You’ll be able to see it coming, and like G.I. Joe said, “…knowing is half the battle!”

There are some who probably will resist these ideas. In his excellent book, “The Gift of Fear”, Gavin De Becker of “Gavin De Becker & Associates” teaches us about the true nature of fear and its ability to keep us safe. Here are a few quotes to internalize:

“Believing that others will react as we would is the single most dangerous myth of intervention.”

“A woman could offer no greater cooperation to her soon-to-be attacker than to spend her time telling herself, “But he seems like such a nice man.”

“When it comes to survival signals, our minds have already done their best work by the time we try to figure things out. In effect, we’ve reached the finish line and handily won the race before even hearing the starting pistol - if we just listen without debate.”

I won’t quote the whole book, but I whole heartedly recommend Mr. De Becker’s works to anyone. I have suggested this book on several occasions in stalking cases, and other cases where “Mr. Right” turns out to be anything but. I hope that Mr. De Becker doesn’t mind me quoting his work.

I know that as we apply these principles in our daily lives, that we as a community will be a safer and therefore a happier place.

James Dimmitt

* Note: The self-defense topics described in this post do not necessarily reflect the official position of any law enforcement organization.

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