6 Comments

Heartbreaking and, at the same time, infuriating

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Thanks for your comment!

In the research I don't set out to find cases like this, but I seem to stumble into them a lot!

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Very interesting case, but I could have done without your characterizing the police in general with “self pity.”

Signed,

Former resident of Japan who is retired from law enforcement

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Thanks for you comment!

I tried to be fair to the police in a case in which there were gross errors made which could've led to a very different outcome. The temptation is to default to the modern layman's position, "of course the police are incompetent/evil!" etc. etc., which I why I went out of my way to address the entire psychological environment in which law enforcement must work.

Maybe I didn't make it clear enough they were innocent errors of procedure rather than judgement. I'm sure as a law enforcement retiree you've seen plenty of these heartbreaking occasions too.

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You did not specify it applied to that case. You basically said LEOs have self pity. Self pity has never been a part of the makeup of any LEO I know. Ever.

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Glad that's not been your experience! To clarify, I listed it with stress, addiction, and heart attacks -- obviously none of which are universal to all cops.

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