Could the police learn something from nurses?

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On how to safely deal with a violent or even non violent person. Of course I do realize that in public there are weapons involved, however I do believe that they can learn something from nurses. Not to mention that nurses have to deal with potential weapons too.

Specializes in retired LTC.

To me, it has always seemed to be that police officers (and other law enforcement staff), exhibit a 'brotherhood' mentality. Like a 'machismo' attitude. Even females in the services seem to absorb the same sentiment. I would hold that the same is seen among military staff.

I do wonder if it has something to do with the fact that law enforcement (and to some degree, military) are male dominated. That's a lot of testosterone.

I realize that the camaraderie and loyalty bonds that officers develop are good things. Necessary to the effectiveness of the group. I'm NOT knocking them. But in some cases, it appears that the pendulum swings over tooooo far. And when that happens, the public catches a glimpse of just how deep and extensive it is.

Nursing certainly doesn't demonstrate those bonds. I can't think of any other profession that does so; except maybe religious to some extent.

So how does it stop??? I don't have the answer.

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1 minute ago, amoLucia said:

To me, it has always seemed to be that police officers (and other law enforcement staff), exhibit a 'brotherhood' mentality. Like a 'machismo' attitude. Even females in the services seem to absorb the same sentiment. I would hold that the same is seen among military staff.

I do wonder if it has something to do with the fact that law enforcement (and to some degree, military) are male dominated. That's a lot of testosterone.

I realize that the camaraderie and loyalty bonds that officers develop are good things. Necessary to the effectiveness of the group. I'm NOT knocking them. But in some cases, it appears that the pendulum swings over tooooo far. And when that happens, the public catches a glimpse of just how deep and extensive it is.

Nursing certainly doesn't demonstrate those bonds. I can't think of any other profession that does so; except maybe religious to some extent.

So how does it stop??? I don't have the answer.

There are unit and shift cliques. Some can be very tight

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
1 minute ago, DesiDani said:

There are unit and shift cliques. Some can be very tight

But they don't injure or kill people and then lie to cover for one another. They don't falsify documents or lie under oath to protect killers.

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1 minute ago, toomuchbaloney said:

But they don't injure or kill people and then lie to cover for one another. They don't falsify documents or lie under oath to protect killers.

Kill no. Injure, yes. Some nurses got fired cause they restrained someone with the hands above their head. I'm not sure if another nurse saw it and reported it. Or Mgt happen to see it. As for falsifying records, I doubt that has never happened in nursing.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
10 minutes ago, DesiDani said:

Kill no. Injure, yes. Some nurses got fired cause they restrained someone with the hands above their head. I'm not sure if another nurse saw it and reported it. Or Mgt happen to see it. As for falsifying records, I doubt that has never happened in nursing.

So I'm a little bit confused by your equivocation here. Are you saying that management and other nurses are in the habit of lying and falsifying records to protect bad nurses like they routinely do in American police precincts across the nation?

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Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.
On 6/6/2020 at 8:39 AM, rzyzzy said:

Cops have an “us vs them” attitude. “As long as I go home safe”, and referring to the people they’re hired to protect as “civilians”..

They’re flying an alternate *flag* for chrissake!

The terminology used is showing as a symptom of the disorder. By separating themselves from “us”, we’re not valued at the same value.

There’s no need to reconcile or diffuse things with your neighbors and friends in the community because they’re “them”.. separate and unequal.

The pot is completely spoiled, and it’s been poisoned so badly that it needs to be tossed out.

For the first hundred years in this country, there weren’t any “police”.. so there IS a way to create a new pot that actually has real oversight and accountability.

The idea that a couple cops could knock down a senior citizen in public, on camera, in daylight- then 52 of them would “resign” as “special response” officers *because there was a tiny bit of accountability* shows you the attitude that we’re dealing with. They’re out of control and must be stopped.

Most people when faced with a real or potentially deadly situation will have/develop a "I want to go home safe" attitude.

Throwing the baby out with the bath water is not going to help. Disbanding and defunding the police will not help. There is a reason police were formed here. Private citizens with guns taking the law into their own hands (as a group like BLM), yeah, can't see how that can possibly go wrong. Reform, education, oversight, that is the answer IMO.

The cops in Buffalo stated they quit the special response team bc the union told them they would no longer back any of them for issues that arise from any of the protests.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
On 6/6/2020 at 12:47 PM, Daisy4RN said:

Most people when faced with a real or potentially deadly situation will have/develope a "I want to go home safe" attitude.

Throwing the baby out with the bath water is not going to help. Disbanding and defunding the police will not help. There is a reason police were formed here. Private citizens with guns taking the law into their own hands (as a group like BLM), yeah, can't see how that can possibly go wrong. Reform, education, oversight, that is the answer IMO.

The cops in Buffalo stated they quit the special response team bc the union told them they would no longer back any of them for issues that arise from any of the protests.

Why should police be "backed" for behaving in cruel, dishonest and dangerous ways? I'm glad that those police resigned from that response team. Anyone who believes that police should enjoy LESS accountability has no business being on a SWAT type team. IMHO...

Honestly, the American police started with a couple primary purposes...to monitor and control the movement of blacks and poor people, and to protect the property and goods of the white people.

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Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.
14 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

Why should police be "backed" for behaving in cruel, dishonest and dangerous ways? I'm glad that those police resigned from that response team. Anyone who believes that police should enjoy LESS accountability has no business being on a SWAT type team. IMHO...

Honestly, the American police started with a couple primary purposes...to monitor and control the movement of blacks and poor people, and to protect the property and goods of the white people.

For the very same reason nurses unions back nurses, it's their job. Nobody said they should have less accountability, just representation when complaints are made.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
21 minutes ago, Daisy4RN said:

For the very same reason nurses unions back nurses, it's their job. Nobody said they should have less accountability, just representation when complaints are made.

The history of the "backing" that police seem to expect from their unions is immunity from prosecution or consequence from dangerous behavior and attitudes. That's what police seem to expect from their union.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
1 hour ago, toomuchbaloney said:

The history of the "backing" that police seem to expect from their unions is immunity from prosecution or consequence from dangerous behavior and attitudes. That's what police seem to expect from their union.

These are quite the generalized statements. Because police are supposed to be trusted, bad behaviour is highly publicized and sensationalized. Not unheard of for situations involving nurses also.

I think we need to be careful of over-generalizing any group, whether it be by race, age, occupation or any other broad factor. And all media accounts of anything need to be taken with a grain of salt.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
29 minutes ago, TriciaJ said:

These are quite the generalized statements. Because police are supposed to be trusted, bad behaviour is highly publicized and sensationalized. Not unheard of for situations involving nurses also.

I think we need to be careful of over-generalizing any group, whether it be by race, age, occupation or any other broad factor. And all media accounts of anything need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Baloney.

It's only because everyone has a camera in their pocket do we even BEGIN to realize the scale of dishonesty and violence in our police departments.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
31 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:

Baloney.

It's only because everyone has a camera in their pocket do we even BEGIN to realize the scale of dishonesty and violence in our police departments.

It still does no good reviling the rank and file, most of whom just want to do their jobs. The brass who allows miscreants are no less culpable than the rotten individuals themselves. They're part of the swamp that desperately wants draining.

Daily contact with the lowest functioning and worst behaved segments of society does change one's outlook on humanity. There needs to be more actual support, not suspension of standards and accountability. And certainly not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

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