Excessive forces cases often full of ambiguity

Excessive forces cases often full of ambiguity
Personal problems sometimes collide with pressures of job
By J.J. Stambaugh (Contact)
Monday, December 3, 2007

Excessive force cases aren't usually the result of bad cops looking for people to abuse, officials say.

Most of the time, they are the result of complex circumstances that may include frightening encounters with suspects and officers who are wrestling with serious personal problems that are in turn sometimes the product of job-related

In late 2004, for instance, then-Knoxville Police Department officer Harry McGuffee was - by his own account - a disaster waiting to happen.

A former U.S. Marine Corps drill sergeant from Mississippi, McGuffee joined KPD in 1999 and quickly built a solid record of accomplishments, working closely with federal authorities intent on combating inner-city violence and taking part in a number of high-profile arrests.

But things started to go awry when his father was murdered by two black suspects in July 2004 in Florence, Miss. He and his wife also were dealing with marital problems, and as time crept by, his performance began to deteriorate.
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First let me say right now that if they are under stress, they should be taken off the street and given whatever they need to recover so they can go back to work and not "spaz out" on others. I really suggest you read the rest of this article.

With that out of the way, I want to remind you that while there is a mountain of evidence of PTSD in police, firemen, as well as other emergency responders, we still question the same evidence in combat troops. Why? When they are sent into combat, their traumas are not isolated, or once in a while. They are constant.

I want to stop reading blogs with a set agenda to dismiss all evidence of this wound. They are humiliating themselves by attacking our troops instead of helping them. When they dismiss evidence, studies and reports, they are in fact attacking the people we count on most in this country. Our military men and women, our police, fire fighters, emergency responders, all are necessary to our survival. Because of this we need to take care of them when their minds and bodies pay the price of service to us. PTSD can strike in a traumatic event, yet these people go through them over and over again. Treat them early and treat them all with all they need.kc