Cop arresting woman that's delusional

Some strong language in the video - No audio first 30 seconds.

Saw this floating around and wanted to share as I think the cop does a REAL good job of keeping this woman calm and the situation deescalated. This is how you deal with someone that's nutty.

About 1:45 in he calls for backup but basically plays along with the woman's delusions so that she doesn't get suspicious or combative. If you get bored of the craziness skip to about 12 minutes in. Highlights include "If I had a gun I'd shoot you're f-ing head off", "Aww don't threaten an officer like that April."

I know a lot of people will probably find her ramblings funny, but I think it's incredibly sad. I can't imagine how hard it would be to deal with delusions like this.

Link

a reply to: Domo1

Oh look....silence....

Good vid. The lack of audio confused me at first (on my mobile, didn't see the warning below the vid). Firm but fair and kept things cool.

Thats how police officers should act, descalation not total escalation.

100% difference.

a reply to: Shamrock6

Thanks I put that in the OP.

a reply to: Domo1

.......yes, yes you did. No excuse, sir. I'll start pushing.

a reply to: Shamrock6

Ha, meant to say I edited the OP to add it.

a reply to: Domo1

Oh. Well crap, that's enough of that pushing then!

Seriously though, nice to see the occasional post about something good involving LEOs for once. Don't know how much attention it'll get though; not enough beatings and blood for some on here. anyway though!

a reply to: onequestion

Agreed. Unfortunately we don't get to see the good very often. I think there are a number of reasons for that. Almost all my dealings with police have been incredibly positive, same with most of the people I know. That isn't to say I'm not all for calling out crappy cops, but there are a lot of professional and patient ones too.

Wow that was fascinating and sad and weird all at the same time. I too feel bad for people like that. Her delusions as far out as they are, are real for her.

a reply to: Night Star

Thats something I think a lot of people don't get. Must be terrifying having to deal with that, because to her it is very real.

Good example of how useful a body cam can be.
In particular in demonstrating how the cop locked her door at the end. No room for a claim that he invaded her privacy.

Though the contents of her apartment might have been kind of interesting.

This incident was handled in an extremely professional manner by this officer (the others weren't too bad, either). My only issue with the camera is that he could turn it off.

I don't want to be 'that guy', but unless these cameras are able to run for the entire shift that the officer works, without his/her having to operate them, there will be incidents in which the cop turns off the camera, and 'interacts' with the suspect in custody.

a reply to: ProfessorChaos

If it is turned off, it is obvious that it has been turned off. Not much point in catching an entire shift though.
I'm pretty sure that when (if) body cams are required, they are required to be on during the entire encounter. Otherwise there wouldn't be much point.

Good to see, he had some patience. It can be very difficult to deal with the mentaly ill and with less services available its becoming more frequent.

a reply to: ProfessorChaos

While not really the point of the thread, I completely agree. Wanted to show a good example of a cop dealing with a crazy and how it should go down. Just a little patience and thinking ahead made this violence free. I'm not sure if that's a camera he purchased himself or if it's department policy.

OK I Googled it. It's a pilot program.

The Spokane Police Department has begun our beta test for the body-worn cameras, which will run until the end of the year. During this time we will be testing the cameras, the cloud in which the video is stored and retrieved, along with our IT infrastructure. In addition, we will be conducting community outreach to inform the public about the body camera implementation as well as to receive community feedback.

The policy for when the cameras are turned on has been a key point of discussion and with good reason. With any technology like this, there are always concerns for both police transparency and citizen privacy.

Link

a reply to: Phage

Well, they can require it be turned on, but if the officer says on camera "No, I'm not going to talk to her anymore." and turns off the camera, how do we, or those in charge know whether or not he did or did not talk to her again?

a reply to: Domo1

I felt the officer did a really good job, and as I said, I don't want to be 'that guy', but someone's got to play devil's advocate.

Checking it out now... She's right. Those aren't real cops. They're aliens. If they were real cops, they would have already tased her, tackled her, put her in a chokehold, and pumped a whole clip in her. What's wrong with these guys? /sarcasm

Seriously, what's this woman doing out on the streets? She has some real issues. Or does she?

a reply to: ProfessorChaos

You're good, you brought up a great point. I thought the same thing when he went to turn it off. At this point it sure seems better than nothing though, both for protecting people from the police and the police from crappy people.

a reply to: ProfessorChaos
That is a good point.

But if something occurs afterwards (a brutality claim) it may tend to remove some of the "benefit of the doubt" which cops are generally granted. "Why did you turn off the camera, officer?"

Not foolproof. But much better than just having to rely on eyewitnesses (or the lack thereof).