Quote From: wifeofacopI am a police officers wife and would like to offer a different perspective. I have not read very many of the posts but from the ones I have read it seems that many have gotten off the subject of false confessions and onto the subject of cop bashing. This is not productive and this is what I feared would happen after watching the show yesterday. These are two very different things. False confessions do happen and they are a tragedy. That being said, I believe that it is not so much a problem with bad cops as it is a problem with a broken system.
Everyday police officers go out, putting themselves in danger. They see the worst of the worst and are expected to make life altering decisions in split second timing. Police officers come across to the public as bullies because they are trained that the minute they lose control over a situation, they are dead. They are trained this way to survive and even so every year we lose too many. If a cop is shot the media hypes it up as a tragedy, but if a cops shoots first it is seen as excessive force.
The control factor cannot be turned off in a moments notice and an officer has to assume every situation is a dangerous one so-ya-they-sometimes come across as jerks. Ask a police officers wife about control issues at home! We put up with it (to a degree) because we know that is what keeps them safe. Ultimately, it is all their negative characteristics that do keep them safe. They are suspicious, cautious, controlling, unemotional and in charge. I dont know about youbut I wouldnt want someone who may have to help me out in a crisis situation to be any other way...
Dr Phil, if you are reading this .You hold the reigns of a very powerful medium and what was communicated to 40 million people yesterday was that you cannot trust the police. You have planted an idea that this is the norm, rather than the exception to the rule. This type of message will seriously affect each and every one of our officers, including my husband as it continues to reinforce the negative stereotypes of law enforcement officers. If you wanted to address this issue, it should have been addressed from the other side - from the side of the men and women who are trying to hold together a broken system. They are not the villians in this. They do what they can with the tools they have been given and their job gets more difficult everyday. I am not defending "bad cops", but I would like to think that even these "bad cops" started out wanting to make a difference in their world. Until you have experienced the life of an LEO (law enforcement officer) or the life of an LEO family you cannot understand how the system, the job, the circumstances can beat you and your family into the ground. The vast majority of law enforcement officers get into this field because they honestly think they can make a positive difference in their worlds, but they quickly realize that they are not well thought of, their "hands are tied", and that nobody - not even their own bosses, not the system, not their buddy, has their back. Consider the fact that our Police officers protect our rights and freedoms as much - and maybe even moreso than our soldiers oversees. Would you ever consider doing a show on "bad soldiers"?? That is not politically correct, especially while they are engaged in a war. Why is it ok for the police to be attacked when they are "at war" everyday - even during times of peace. Would anybody walk up to a soldier in Afganistan and call him a jerk for rudely telling them to stop? Would anyone say I pay your salary and I deserve respect? Im going to sue you for patting me down?
While it is a tradegy that false confessions occur - I feel there would have been a better way to present this subject. I felt it was very one-sided and did our guys no good service and will directly impact them, their significant others and their children. I would be interested in seeing a show or series of shows on the real lives of police officers and their families as they work within this broken system..the marital stressors, job stressors, impact of shift work on family and children, PTSD, politics, depression and suicide among Police officers, Show the system - as broken as it is - from the point of view of a cop. Let people know - the reason a cop is sometimes rude with you is because he has no idea if you are about to shoot at him and he justs wants to go home to his family. Help people understand how THEY can help an officer feel safe, what to do and not to do and why things are done as they are. Ask cops what their biggest issues with the system are, ask them how it feels to be called an f........PIG and worse all day, everyday.... THIS would be a series to watch and THIS would be a very POSITIVE use of your very powerful medium and would help millions of Police officers and their families, and ultimatley if you help the cops, the system can only get better Thank-you for your time,
Well, I am not going to advocate calling police officers "pigs" or any other derogatory term. I do, however think the show was important to air. The first inclination is blind trust in the police and, sadly, that is not warranted. Police are human and have the same potential for faults as anyone else. In this case, the interrogation tactics that lead to false confessions are a type of "cutting corners." The problem is a lack of accountability; and that is systemic. It doesn't matter whether they are in the majority or the minority. Police officers who coerce false confessions should go to jail.
Would you ever confess to a crime you didn’t commit? What if the authorities, police you thought you could trust, said that you committed a crime and that they had evidence to prove it? Would you begin to doubt yourself, even though you knew you were innocent? Dr. Phil explores the psychology of false confessions. After a young man was shot dead at a local pizza parlor, Jon, 24, found himself behind bars. He then spent six months in jail before being exonerated from murder charges. Why did he confess to a crime he didn’t commit? What role did the police play in his confession? Learn how the truth finally came out. Then, experts say some ‘fess up for fame, others do so to escape torturous interrogations. No one knows the art of getting confessions better than 29-year veteran New York City Homicide Detective Louis Scarcello. Hear about his interrogations and decide for yourself if the tactics used by law enforcement cross the line into coercion. Then, Marty Tankleff was just 17 when he was convicted of murdering his parents -- based on what he says was a police-coerced false confession. Sixteen years have passed with Marty still behind bars, but the question remains: Did he do it? Share your thoughts here.
