Last Sunday evening, officers were dispatched to investigate a call of an armed subject. When Aurora Police Department officers arrived on the scene, they concluded that is was domestic-related and subsequently surrounded the residence where it was purported that an armed male was held up.
More than a dozen police officers were present. They surrounded the residence, along with several other houses in the immediate vicinity. Officers heard a single gunshot ring out and immediately entered the home where they located a male with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Prior to the gunfire, many concerned neighbors approached the officers who were set up on the perimeter and inquired what was happening. When something involving emergency personnel occurs in a neighborhood, it is common nature for the residents to be inquisitive.
The problem in this particular situation was that officers were being approached while the incident was in full throttle. The officers had knowledge of an armed man and were positioned outside the residence while a plan for entry was being formulated. My understanding is that a few neighbors were unnerved by the fact that the officers would not give them details about what was unfolding.
After speaking with a few officers who were on the scene, I realized that there were two very different perspectives on the scenario. The residents had a legitimate concern that there was an armed man loose in the neighborhood. The police were impatient with the neighbors because they were still gathering intelligence and waiting for direction. They were not pleased with the citizens who approached the scene to inquire, simply because of the obvious risk involved.
Through training and experience, police understand that people can be extremely unpredictable—especially in situations where emotions run high. This lack of predictability can result in danger for both the officers and those in the vicinity. The police assume that risk because they are equipped and trained to handle high-risk scenarios. What may seem like withholding or rudeness to a citizen may actually be an officer focused on the threat. Even while focused on one threat, an officer has to be heightened to all of his or her surroundings. If residents are approaching the officers, their attention is diverted.
In situations like this, the police officer’s responsibility to keep the public safe from harm will supersede an uninvolved citizen’s desire to know what is happening. Rest assured that if the residents were in any sort of danger, the police would have communicated such and gave clear and concise direction. Officers are instructed not to give any information to anyone at the scene and are encouraged to refer any inquiries to a supervisor or media relations. This is to protect the integrity of the investigation and those involved.
Keep in mind that there is also an element of privacy that should be taken into consideration. If it were your family member who was inside that house, my guess is that you would not want the police officers on the scene giving your neighbors the play by play. The police have a front row seat to the tragedies of life. With that, we have a responsibility to maintain confidentiality both for the investigation and out of respect for the individuals involved.
We often criticize what we don’t understand. It is my hope that the police can empathize with citizens who are fearful for their families and do their best to distribute information as soon as they are able. Conversely, my hope is that citizens gain a better understanding of policing and begin to understand that keeping you safe is our number one priority.
Kristen Ziman is a Lieutenant with the Aurora Police Department in Illinois. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Aurora University and a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Management from Boston University. She is a sixteen year veteran and has worked in various divisions including Community Oriented Policing, Domestic Violence Reduction Unit, Field Training and Patrol. Read her blog at http://beexceptional.blogspot.com/
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Kristen, this is why social media needs to be built into the ICS system, not just as something to monitor (as in the manhunt for Maurice Clemmons in WA) but as something to use to communicate. Most citizens these days have smartphones with Web capability, and officers on scene should be able to tell them, “Check our blog. Check out Twitter.”
At which point a media person or supervisor on scene — yes I do think, in this day and age, that someone with public communication authority should always be on scene, no matter the incident scale — should be feeding updates of exactly the nature you just talked about, dispelling rumors, etc.
People now expect real-time information. Your post here is great, but honestly, it’s too after the fact. Trust is built as a crisis breaks and the communication that people are used to actually continues. I am sure that building this into the ICS would take work, and would have to be continually refined. Worth it, though, I think.
Excellent article, Kristen. We do need to be more proactive with educating our citizens about how and why we do business in a certain way before incidents happen, so that they understand what we are doing. We also need not to use that proactive education as a shield later, of course.
Other concerns are that too much information too early can jeopardize the investigation (limiting the possibilities for hold-back information), aggravate the situation (some individuals are motivated by or seeking attention in public media to fuel personal or political aims) or create unnecessary panic by releasing incorrect information too early.
I agree with Christa that we need to be faster and more open with communication in emergent scenes, using all available channels, but I think that trust is truly built beforehand. If our citizens trust us because we have been open and transparent and proactive in giving them information day in and day out, then when there is a crisis and we cannot explain they will be more understanding and more patient with us until the time comes when we can.