Keeping the peace during "trouble with subject" calls
One of the more common calls for service that a police officer must handle is referred to as a “trouble with subject” call.
These calls can be anything from a dispute between a business owner and a customer to a neighborhood dispute that has developed over years. The “trouble” can involve anything from violence to complex legal issues or trivial breaches of etiquette.
The obvious mission for the police officer called to the scene, is to make sure no one gets hurt, protect property in question and maintain peace in the community.
In the more difficult “trouble with subject” calls, the police officer's job is to separate the people having the dispute and listen to each person's side of the story.
Dreamstime photo
Unfortunately, most “trouble with subject” calls are not quite that easy.
In the more difficult cases, the officer’s job is to separate the people having the dispute and listen to each person’s side of the story.
The officer must remain neutral, open and unbiased while listening to the parties involved. Most people just want to be heard and treated fairly regardless of the eventual outcome.
Both sides of the “trouble” may be acting under the influence of: frustration, pride, rage, depression, fear, drugs, alcohol or any number of other emotions or factors that cloud judgment.
Usually the officer will find that one side of the problem is acting more reasonably than the other side and is thus easier to deal with. Even though at least one of the parties involved is being unreasonable, an officer must always avoid asking the most obvious question: “Why don’t you be reasonable?”
Everyone involved in a dispute thinks they are being totally “reasonable” and the other party or the police are being unreasonable. Therefore the question is very counterproductive to successful resolution to the problem.
What is more productive is to quietly convince one of the parties to be the “bigger person” and either drop the issue or try to remedy it another way such as: landlord-tenant dispute resolution, court, turning the other cheek, or leaving the business in question and not giving them any business in the future.
These calls are not easy, but they can showcase an officer’s skills in dealing with interpersonal conflict. The resourceful officer will stay calm, patient and try to channel the parties involved toward a successful resolution of “today’s problem” in order to keep the peace.
The resolution may not be the end-all of the problem, but it should buy time until emotions are taken out of the equation. If peace is restored and no one gets hurt the officer has successfully handled the “trouble with subject” call.
Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.
Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.
Comments
RJA
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 10:10 p.m.
Where I sit, these calls are not the more common ones, but MOST common of calls. (trouble with subject). To many parents call 911 for reasons that they should have control of. Example, my 14 year old daughter locked herself in her room, my 13 year old won't come in the house, my 12 year old son won't tell me what happened in school today. A father calls and says his 13 year old son slapped his mother. It goes on and on, 911 is for an emergency, the officers might be on a serious crash on I-94. These parents should have more control and not call officers to (baby sit their children). Again, great story Rich!
Michael Schils
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 8:13 p.m.
Perhaps you should have posted your comment as a reply to mine rather than posting into the main stream of comments. Maybe I misidentified the weapon due to my zeal to inject the subject of Tasers into the discussion. To answer your question, no, I don't think it is wrong for an officer to be ready for an attempted assault if he has a LEGITIMATE reason to believe such could occur. But the article seems more concerned with something completely different--how an officer should attempt to PEACEFULLY resolve a dispute between feuding parties. So maybe the photo with an officer in a draw-ready position was ill-chosen in relation to the main subject of the article. Do you have a source for your seeming claim that officers being attacked during routine contact with the public is anything more than an infrequent occurence? (FYI, I'm not sure how you would know that I sit on my butt all day, but I know for a fact that I walked to, and returned from, my refrigerator just a few minutes ago.)
Michael Schils
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 11:45 p.m.
Info regarding Taser-related deaths is readily available via a search engine. The link below is to an article from September that claims the number deaths in the US is rising. It links to a 2008 report from Amnesty International which "found 351 Taser-related deaths in the US between June, 2001 and August, 2008, a rate of just slightly above four deaths per month". <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/taser-related-deaths-accelerating/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/taser-related-deaths-accelerating/</a> Locally, an autopsy report determined that Stanley Jackson's death on August 20 was caused by repeated Tasering. <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/news/tasering-listed-as-a-cause-of-belleville-mans-death-after-drug-bust-in-superior-township/index.php">http://www.annarbor.com/news/tasering-listed-as-a-cause-of-belleville-mans-death-after-drug-bust-in-superior-township/index.php</a> Your interpretation of the photo above may indeed be correct. I was actually fishing for a response from the author, for which I have thus far been unsuccessful. BTW, I agree with your view stated elsewhere that replies on A2Com should show up by default. So I take back my previous suggestion, as I now understand why some choose not to comment via (hidden) reply.
Boo Radley
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 10:20 p.m.
Schils, Do you have a source for your claim that Tasers are "sometimes lethal"? The photo also doesn't look to me like the officer is in a "draw ready" position. It appears to me that he has his thumbs resting and hooked on his belt ... probably because he can't get his hands in his pockets because his holster is in the way. BTW ... I am posting this as a reply to your post, as you suggest is the correct way to do things. However, I understand why most members do not, because all of the replies are hidden by default and often never seen.
Hamburg
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 5:44 p.m.
Schils...He isn't carrying a tazer. His hand is hitched on his belt in front of his firearm. And by the way, look up and see how many times cops have been assaulted/shot at for something as simple as a traffic stop. You think it is wrong that he positions himself to be ready for a possible assault? I guess when you sit on your but all day you have the luxury to think that.
Michael Schils
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 5:17 p.m.
Is it just me or does the officer in the picture seem to have his hand positioned so as to grab his Taser with only a split-second's notice? I would hope that the sometimes-lethal weapon would be very close to the last resort chosen to handle such "trouble with subject" calls. (But I can't be so sure because the Law Enforcement guidelines for Taser usage are not available to the public...uhh, what about that, Mr. Kinsey, can you explain to us exactly in what situations we should expect to get Tasered by an officer? It would be a nice supplement to your earlier pro-Taser article.) (Note to moderators: Parenthetic and perhaps somewhat off-topic content that is submitted respectfully should not condemn one's comment to the dungeon.)
Kim Kachadoorian
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 3:46 p.m.
I personally have witnessed our police force in action on football game days when things get a little out of hand. I even watched them calm someone that was threatening to hit them. Every opportunity I have to see them in action has been handled well, I am very proud of our police and fire. I have watched them work in unison sometimes when things have already been out of control and the restore things back to normal as much as possible.
Bertha Venation
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 2:55 p.m.
Yep, I saw this on "Cops." Thangs sure ain't the same as when my grandpappy was Sheriff!
Craig Lounsbury
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 2:01 p.m.
"Unfortunately, most "trouble with subject" calls are not quite that easy." Within the context of the story I find the use of the word "unfortunately" curious. It may be "unfortunate" for the officer that he/she couldn't arrest someone but for society as a whole maybe its actually "fortunate". Because when someone is arrested then defense lawyers, prosecutors, judges, jury's, jails, courts, potentially come in to play. I suppose thats job security.
Michael Schils
Thu, Feb 10, 2011 : 4:48 p.m.
A person getting arrested is fuel for the Law Enforcement machinery we all pay for.