The 50-year(?) old petite 5 ft tall court deputy (unconfirmed about size and age) was sucker-punched to the face breaking numerous facial bones and going down flat on her back. She lose the gun to the prisoner and he later pulled the trigger in a few minutes of rampage inside the court building. Michelle Malkin and La Shawn Barber have their inputs and comments from readers on this police handling gone awry.
Now, with my being 8 years into the martial arts business so far, size does matter. Psychologically, and in many ways physically. For those who are bigger, did you ever ask yourself saying "I bet I can take him, he's smaller than me." ? Ok, if so, did you ever ask yourself this about a much bigger person who is about 4, 6, 12 or ever 16 inches taller and maybe an additonal 40 - 150 pounds heavier, more muscled with this thought "I bet I can take him." ? If you're the regular 5 foot 8 inch American Joe, that's like you saying you think you can take on a guy who is exactly 7 ft tall - the same difference of 16 inches in the Nichols case. Now, do the same thing but with the opposite sex, a woman and you're a man thinking this. Size does matter, it gives you that psychological edge. You don't see 5 ft tall petite female bouncers "manning" the doors at dance clubs, do you? Although that could change because of a different reverse-psychological hold on aggressive male patrons. Women do have their places in security and enforcement, however. Look for pros and cons in both situations but you need to take height as an advantage to help even the psychological odds.
AN Argentine nightclub is trying a cunning psychological ploy to prevent bloody fistfights among its patrons — hiring women bouncers.
“It’s based on the premise that says you don’t hit a woman,” said Daniel Monin Juregui, head of the security agency that protects the club on the outskirts of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires province. Six women with martial arts training will guard the doors at the club. When a woman steps in to break up a scuffle, “a man, in general, doesn’t react aggressively,” Juregui said. “And there is a fear that if a woman beats him up he will never recover from his friends’ ridicule”.
But a bouncer story is an entirely different story (these are not six 5ft tall petite women bouncers btw) from a lone (female) court deputy escorting a violent male offender. Now had the petite court deputy been more aggressive in protecting herself while escorting Brian Nichols she might have had a chance since Brian would realize she's more aware of her surroundings and environmental conditions. I believe a larger male police escort (should be at least two police escorts) would have had a better psychological hold over Brian given him reasons to have second thoughts about his attempt on fleeing (on a rape charge, no less). But clearly there were problems in the chain of custody event.
The chain of events led a number of legal analysts and former judges or court officials to question how efficient the security was at the Fulton County Courthouse. Why was it that an accused violent rapist was being escorted by only one deputy? How could the suspect get the gun away from the deputy?
"Clearly something broke down in the system," said Howard Safir, a former New York City police commissioner. "One thing you never see in a federal courthouse is an exposed weapon."
Although the question should be asked, why was an accused violent rapist escorted by only one petite small female court deputy? Further investigation of this chain of custody protocols will need to be looked at. Now, I don't want to be political correct. It's bad form in my opinion. Common sense need to be the over-arching factor here on addressing certain issues. You can have women in police enforcements since they are an important addition to the police force. But to have one lone, petite, female court deputy handling a much larger violent offender and former football player who is nearly twice the female court deputy's weight and several inches taller. You tell me that there is nothing wrong in that picture.
2 comments:
This entry is sticky because it can open a can of worms. If you're going to question women in the police force, then there are other people to question. For example, overweight and obese security and law officers. They do need to be in shape to chase the perpetrators. I think that the bottom line is that each officers has to do their best to serve and protect.
If you'll go back to M. Malkin's blog and read up on a commenter, whom I assume to be a cop. The Altanta court house system isn't really up to par with security measures. I mean, Nichols should have been handcuffed when led into court...he wasn't. Not all officers working at the court possess firearms. There's just so many other factors that we cannot just look at that female officer who was sucker-punched.
Besides, Nichols did have the element of surprise on his side. Granted, it could have been prevented.
Larry, I have already said that women in police enforcements are an important addition to the police force.
In addition to your comment, I also believe that men and women in police enforcement ought to have a much higher physical standards (i.e. “fitness”) that they must adhere to while in the force, much like being in the Armed Forces.
My article mentioned the failings of the system...a lone female court deputy watching over a prisoner in a cell while he changed his orange jumpsuit into his street clothes requiring to unlock the handcuffs. Links to Malkin and La Shawn have discussed this, and updated it, too. Even nobody was watching the event unfold on the security cameras. All of this was entirely preventable.
It's not a sticky can of worms since this is about security, fitness and protocols, not about Political Correctness which I avoid.
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