HUMANITY

Kenneth Howard's Post on LinkedIn

When I started Robert's Reader, I made a conscious decision to shy away from politics, controversy and posts that would divide readers. My thinking is that opinions are like a-holes. Everyone's got one and those on one side run parallel to those on the other side like railroad tracks - they never seem to meet.

Kenneth Howard recently posted the picture above on LinkedIn that received over 2200 comments in the first 48 hours. I thought it was worthy enough of a subject to discuss in this forum. I currently have about 150-200 readers to this blog and find you to be intelligent, thoughtful and balanced.

I replied to this LinkedIn post with this:

Absolutely. I just completed an ethic class at my local community college and one of the subjects we covered was the bystander effect. It appears that many would rather video a event for their YouTube channel than assist. First responders like law enforcement, fire and rescue and healthcare workers deserve our respect and help whenever possible. These are the people who run toward danger when everyone else is running away. They are the ones who we depend on when we’re in crisis and know that they’ll be there in times of need. These people are no different than the rest of us…they have families and loved ones that are counting on them to come home safely. There is no question in my mind.

You should know that I was in the military police while in the Navy, have a cousin who is a detective, a relative in New York who is a police officer on Long Island, friends that are in the FBI and DEA as well as local sheriffs and children that were EMTS and Paramedics, and our son's friend who is a fire fighter. Straight out - my opinions may be biased.

While most of the responses were positive, I was more than a little surprised when I saw responses to the post like:

"Define "in distress" would I call 911 to save him? Yes, but I live in a town where police officers watched a man drown as he cried out for them to help him. Do police have the same accountability as the person who poses the question here expects for us to have? Aren't humanity and accountability a road that travels in two directions."

"Recently that question requires more consideration, as little as 10 years ago yes without personal consideration, they are now a tool of oppression"

"So, I can get shot for trying to help? No thanks."

"Literally don't care about your opinion of it. Go find a boot to polish."

"Just be careful. Jumping into a hostile situation could cause confusion. Officers may not know if you're helping or ambushing. Make yourself known before going in to help"

"Depends on the situation, won’t put my family at risk, but if alone, would assist if possible."

"Your risking being blamed for the distressed that has happened to the Police person. Our police, prosecutors and judges will blame you for what happened and usually falsely charge you with whatever happened and the distressed incident."

"Real police officers…yes…. Masked imposters…no"

"That sounds pretty dangerous. If they aren’t at least quite probably a dangerous criminal the police shouldn’t be wrestling them and if they are the police shouldn’t expect civilians to get into the line of fire and jump into the fight. I feel like best case scenario a cop says “hey thanks dude”, and worst case scenario you get shot and potentially arrested if it’s not clear what you where trying to do. I wouldn’t."

I'm encouraged that the majority of replies were positive with most people saying that they would assist a police officer in distress.

During the ethics class last semester, we talked about Bystander effect. There was a video of a middle-aged couple who were being accosted by several young men in the middle of the street. The couple was clearly outnumbered, and several onlookers took out their phones to video the event and comment on what was happening in front of them rather than intervening or even calling 9-1-1.

In discussion about the incident, there were comments like, "I didn't want to get involved. I didn't want my name associated with the police report. I didn't feel that I was strong enough to not get hurt myself. It wasn't my business. This is what the police are trained to do. Let them handle it, it's what they get paid for."

I don't have all the answers here - I understand that everyone may feel differently depending on their particular situation or abilities. I am asking the question...Thoughts?