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I mentioned to a police officer recently that pounding on someone's front door while yelling "Police!" doesn't always succeed in communicating. Some people are

by m1n1 3y ago

I mentioned to a police officer recently that pounding on someone's front door while yelling "Police!" doesn't always succeed in communicating. Some people are hard of hearing. Some get distracted by the noise and therefore can't hear the words (they may have their own noise on their side of the door). Some have a fight/flight/freeze response to any loud noise, regardless of the context, and can't think straight. I figured he'd be interested in suggestions on how to raise the likelihood the occupants would know it's the police and not some gang bangers. Especially since it could save lives on both sides of an incident, including his. He wasn't personally interested in yet another thing to carry/deploy/remember when he knocks on doors, and said we can't worry about every "edge case". Whatever I said, he tended to push back. But after I pressed him some more, he said I could email a suggestion to my state's peace officer standards and training "POST" org. (usa)

dannyw 3y ago
What could be done instead?
- m1n1 3y ago
  I don't know but something involving light (perhaps the police color of blue) would help. Are there laws about sticking something under a door? There are hockey-puck sized devices you can attach to surfaces, which can turn them into speakers. Perhaps you can make clearer, calmer announcements compared to yelling, especially if the device can take a second to calibrate itself against the material. Once it's attached, your hand is free to do something other than knocking. And the device can play some standard announcement, so your voice is freed up as well to communicate with other officers or whatever. Yes such a device wouldn't be cheap, but if I were an officer and there's a risk of being misunderstood, I'd be interested.
bitwize 3y ago
There was a story back in the 90s about a Japanese guy who didn't understand what was meant when a cop yells "Freeze!" and was shot dead by police because of it. We really have to train new attitudes into our police, starting with the idea that as peace officers, their first priority is to keep the peace, like "first do no harm" for doctors, and not roll into every situation expecting to get a chance to be Dirty Harry.

by m1n1 3y ago

dannyw 3y ago

What could be done instead?

m1n1 3y ago
I don't know but something involving light (perhaps the police color of blue) would help. Are there laws about sticking something under a door? There are hockey-puck sized devices you can attach to surfaces, which can turn them into speakers. Perhaps you can make clearer, calmer announcements compared to yelling, especially if the device can take a second to calibrate itself against the material. Once it's attached, your hand is free to do something other than knocking. And the device can play some standard announcement, so your voice is freed up as well to communicate with other officers or whatever. Yes such a device wouldn't be cheap, but if I were an officer and there's a risk of being misunderstood, I'd be interested.

bitwize 3y ago

There was a story back in the 90s about a Japanese guy who didn't understand what was meant when a cop yells "Freeze!" and was shot dead by police because of it. We really have to train new attitudes into our police, starting with the idea that as peace officers, their first priority is to keep the peace, like "first do no harm" for doctors, and not roll into every situation expecting to get a chance to be Dirty Harry.