Officers Take Attacks
in Stride
July 5, 2006 - Diana
McFarland
After spending three months nursing her right hand
broken during an arrest, Smithfield Officer Christie Bolton was
punched, twice, by another suspect.
The second assault occurred only five days after she returned to
duty.
"It was my welcome back present," Bolton joked.
In the last few months, two Smithfield Police officers, both women,
have suffered their share of assaults by suspects.
Officer Michelle Phillips was kicked in the face last month during
a traffic stop.
While it seems like Smithfield's women officers are getting beat up
more than the men, national research finds that female officers
are actually less likely to be assaulted while on duty.
Smithfield Police Chief Mark Marshall agrees.
It's been more of a case of coincidence with the cases they've had,
he said.
In all three cases, the suspects were intoxicated.
When some people get drunk, "they're just angry and strike out
against any type of authority figure," Bolton said.
Over the past five years, Smithfield police officers have suffered
eight reported assaults - five on male officers and three on
female officers. Most of the assaults occurred during an
arrest, said Capt. Alonzo Howell.
The officers have typically been kicked or punched. None of
the assaults have been fatal or life threatening.
Marshall has been punched, as well as former Capt. Phillip Hardison,
who is now Franklin's Police Chief. Officer Clay Seamster
was once spit on and his watch ripped off his hand during an
arrest.
Sometimes you can predict a volatile situation and sometimes it
comes as a complete surprise, said Bolton. When a male
suspect punched her in the jaw last month in the "old" Jersey
Park, the attack "came out of nowhere," she said.
Marshall said Smithfield officers handle violent suspects with
"appropriate" force and noted that it's been more than 20 years
since an officer here used lethal force. That was in 1984,
when the suspect fired several shots at an officer before the
officer shot back, killing the man, Marshall said.
"There's been no serious injury to a suspect and no lawsuits," he
said.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), which
releases a report each year on officers killed and assaulted,
most are punched and kicked during disturbance calls that occur
between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.
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The majority of
assaulted officers tend to be working alone and on patrol.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which compiles data on
officer assaults, concludes that women officers are less likely
to be assaulted while on duty, said Research Associate Mickey
Finn.
Margaret Moore, director of the National Center for Women and
Policing said she's never heard of women officers being being
assaulted more than men.
"It's the first time I've heard the question," she said.
Instead, research conducted by the NCWP found that because women
typically have good communication skills, they're better able to
diffuse potentially violent situations.
Communication and common sense are the best devices an officer can
use during a call, Marshall said.
At the police academy, male and female officer receive the same
training and are held to the same physical standards and both
genders are trained to become "hypervigilant," or highly aware
of everything that is happening - or could happen - in a
situation, Marshall said.
"It's not their job to be a punching bag."
Bolton, who's been on the force for four years, thinks it has less
to do with gender or race, but instead, some suspects are just
responding to authority.
"You put on that uniform and people react to that," she said.
Bolton said she only reports an assault if she believes the action
was intentional. Many times during an arrest, there's some
scuffling and flailing and officers are often hit, she said.
Verbal assaults are shaken off.
But, "unless they blatantly strike at me or really come across and
try to hurt me, I don't charge them with assault on a police
officer," she said.
In order to prevent assaults, "you have to be confident. If
you're not a confident person, they can read that," Bolton said.
Marshall said that the FBI has analyzed assaults on officers and
found that the main reason it occurs is because the suspect
"thought they could get away with it,"
In each case of assault, Marshall's department does an analysis of
what happened. Training is key, he said.
However, one must realize that "The suspects are not winning the
battle," he said. |
