PAX Centurion - Fall 2017

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • Fall 2017 • Page 47 have our training and experience to guide us. But all of these scenarios are before the arrest. So why, after the arrest. do we take such huge risks with our precious “safety?” Why is that placed on the back burner? We take a prisoner that has been arrested out of our secure holding cells where we are not allowed to even bring our weapons into because of safety concerns and take them to a unsecured open area where ANYONE can walk into off the streets and be within two feet of us and our “patient.” Is it not in the realm of possibility that someone knows of a prisoner who has been arrested and has been transported to an unsecure facility? And they would like to see that person suffer more in some way? They wouldn't even need to bring their own weapon as there is the potential for endless items that could be used as weapons against a prisoner as well as the officers guarding them. Again, the word I keep repeating is UNNECESSARY. Yes, they are handcuffed, but they are also carted into X-ray rooms, bathrooms, treatment rooms. Nurses are always asking if they “need to be handcuffed.” We take such precautions in our stations with the prisoners. Noone is allowed back to the holding cells to see or talk with prisoners (except lawyers i know). No firearms, No one officer booking, we are at our most cautious when booking prisoners, especially violent ones. So why are we continually throwing all of that out the window and taking these unnecessary risks because of liability?Yes, they ARE unnecessary because 90% of the time there is no reason for them to leave the cell. Let alone be transported to a hospital ER that is basically a funhouse of potential weapons for any prisoner who really wants to hurt us. There have been escapes, assaults and damages to hospital equipment by these “patients.” Officers and medical personnel have been spit on, bit, verbally abused (that's not a big deal, cause we are used to that already) all AFTER being arrested and placed in a secure holding cell. None of these incidents have moved the needle to come up with a better course of action for prisoners who already have been arrested. I won't say it in print as I am a superstitious man, but does some horrific act have to happen to one of our officers for this unnecessary risk to be corrected? In this unprecedented era of anti-police violence and rhetoric, it is hard enough to keep ourselves as well as the public safe. Why are we voluntarily ignoring our rules and precautions because a prisoner decides he wants to be a patient?