PAX Centurion - Summer 2017

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • Summer 2017 • Page 49 Legal Thoughts: Kenneth H. Anderson, Esq. Anderson, Goldman, Tobin & Pasciucco, L.L.P., Counsel to Members of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association I still remember it like it was yesterday. The last day of fourth grade in Miss Ruben’s class when I brought in my 45 rpm record of Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out.” It was 1976 and the date marked the beginning of summer. Sunshine. Baseball games. Beaches. Cookouts. Ice cream. A chance to stay up late and watch TV. Summer is my favorite season. But with all the joys that summer brings, there are some not-so-great things too: sunburns, mosquito bites, poison ivy, ticks and lyme disease. These not-so-great things are all easily preventable though if people wear hats and sun screen, apply bug spray, watch where they travel, and check themselves periodically. For you all, I hope your summers are great, and hope you get some time for enjoyment despite the increase in shootings that summer brings, along with the out of control forced-overtime that is crushing the department. In writing my summer Pax article, I am going to make a bunch of predictions that I will look back upon in September. Hopefully, in the same way you can protect yourself from sunburns and mosquito bites, you can protect yourself from some things that I am sure will happen this summer. For my first prediction, I absolutely guarantee that more than one police officer somewhere will be fired this summer for making a stupid statement on a response call. Before writing this column, I read about the Providence firefighter who lost his job for telling a woman whose nose wouldn’t stop bleeding that she “should stop eating fried chicken.” The firefighter had already been fired once before, so I sense that this was likely payback. The firefighter’s wife, who was African-American, even testified in his defense at his termination hearing. Despite all of this, the statement he made was simply stupid. Two hundred forty-one years ago, people thought that Ben Franklin was wise because he sat by silently while others debated our country’s Declaration of Independence. Not everyone needs to be the smartest person in the room. Just don’t be the dumbest. Unless you have something profound or helpful to say, it’s probably best to refrain from commenting. Don’t be the unemployed person that others will read about because you said something stupid. Unfortunately, I am also predicting that somewhere in our country this summer a police officer will lose their job because they used excessive force in an incident that was caught on videotape. There is video everywhere, and every human being I know carries a camera with them in their phone. Everyone reading this article knows that this prediction will come true. And it’s not just the officer who loses his temper who will suffer in this fact pattern. There could be protests or riots. People will get hurt and property will be destroyed. This prediction will come true. Don’t let it be you who fulfills it. This summer, unfortunately, a police officer somewhere is going to get fired for putting in an overtime slip or a detail card for time they did not work. Some in the police world rationalize this as “the culture” of a police department. To non-law enforcement, however, Ahh… the things that happen in summer this is called “stealing.” Someone, somewhere, is going to be fired (and likely criminally charged) for trying to get money they did not earn. The risk versus reward of such a scheme is simply not worth it. Don’t lose your job or your pension for a few extra hours pay. Be content with what you have. Enjoy the summer. I can also guarantee you that throughout the summer, several law enforcement officers will lose their jobs for ill-advised social media comments, Facebook posts, or poorly conceived Tweets. The social media posts may offend someone’s race, religion, or they could offend fat people, skinny people, tall people, or short people. The posts may insult women or they might insult men. We all have the freedom of speech, yet freedom of speech comes with consequences. In addition to our freedom of speech, we all have the right to say that we have been offended or been victimized by hateful or stupid comments. Our world is full of feigned outrage. It is much more fun to laugh at someone else’s mistake and say “did you see what that idiot posted?” than it is to be the idiot who posted it. Think before you post. And don’t drink before you post. I hate to say this, but somewhere this summer there will be a police officer shot and killed in an execution or an ambush. On the day that I am writing this, a forty-eight year old female police officer named Miosotis Familia was shot and killed in NewYork City in what is being called an “unprovoked attack.” By the time you read this, many of you may have attended her funeral. The sad reality is that my prediction is likely to prove true, as much as I wish it wouldn’t. My advice to you here is to be as hypervigilant as you can. Understand that you have a very dangerous job in a very dangerous time. Watch your back. Take care of yourself, and watch out for your brother and sister officers. And please hope I’m wrong on this one. Sadly, this summer it is very likely that a police officer will be criticized for being too quick to shoot at a suspect. This could be a suspect who is running from the police, a suspect who appears to be reaching for a firearm, or an unarmed suspect who ends up getting shot by a jittery police officer. It could be a teenager or it could be an elderly person. I know this is a lousy prediction to make, but unfortunately it will probably happen. Hope it doesn’t. In continuing with the unpleasant predictions, sometime this summer there will probably be a police officer who gets injured or shot because that officer showed too much restraint. In your profession, you are often “damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” Regrettably, there will likely be a police officer who ends up getting injured or shot because they were fearful of media backlash for discharging their own weapon. An officer who chooses not to shoot when they would have been justified in discharging their weapon.Your chosen profession is not easy. Do the best you can, but make sure you go home safely at the end of each shift. Trust your instincts and your training. And also trust your union lawyers. See Summer on page 62