(Pinellas Park) Police did their jobs, hid their feelings

[teach1st]

I was impressed with how the police in my town handled their Schiavo duties. I know a few and have talked with them about this. The article below, from the 4/10 St. Petersburg Times, hints at what the officers I talked to say: There wasn't a hint of consciousness.

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/10/Neighborhoodtimes/Police_did_their_jobs.shtml

PINELLAS PARK - Like Jesus, some police officers wept.

They also searched their souls and prayed for guidance as they grappled with duty to God vs. their duty to carry out manmade laws while protecting the hospice where controversy swirled over Terri Schiavo's fate.

All this, while they faced a daily barrage from Christian protesters who called them "Nazis," "murderers," and compared them to the Roman soldiers at Calvary during the crucifixion of Christ.

They also faced death threats just for doing their job.

More

[Spinzonner]

1. Fascinating "Culture of Life" those "Christians" have

[ClintonTyree]

2. Yes, their "moral clarity"...

and Christ-like actions really shone through in a tough situation. Their compassion for others was amazing. :sarcasm:

[murielm99]

3. Think of the hospice workers.

They may be accustomed to death, but the article indicates they were also helping the officers through all of this. Who is supporting them?

And the cost of the overtime! Maybe they should bill it to Randall Terry and some of the other prominent nutcases who were there.

[Demit]

4. "Final figures have not been tallied, but the city had billed the hospice

for $98,162 in overtime costs as of last week. In addition, the city has calculated it has paid another $33,190 in overtime that will not be billed to the hospice. Those numbers do not include the costs the city will bear for officers and public works employees...."


How can the city bill the hospice?

[rodeodance]

5. there does not seem to be any "consciousnes clause" as there is for

pharmacists and other health care workers.


..."I've talked to several of them, especially those who are Christian," McNeil said. "They wanted to know if we were doing the right thing. . . . My job was to encourage them and remind them that we were there for the specific job of protection. . . . I am not the only officer who prayed a lot."

[BlueIris]

6. It still disturbs me that anyone in law enforcement or health care

feels entitled to make inappropriate moral judgments about people they come in contact with while discharging their professional responsibilities, or that those folks get any sympathy for forming, passing, and then SHARING those judgments. True, I'm not a cop being called a Nazi while doing my assigned duty, but still. I'm outraged this merited news coverage, let alone an article showcasing those who want to applaud the police for admitting they neglected their obligation to be impartial.

[MBoyle]

7. It was a divisive issue - and the police did their jobs

I can understand that some of them probably felt they "should have run in there and stopped this" as did the protesters - but instead, they did their jobs, knowing that to some extent the sanity of the republic to some extent was what they were preserving (in this case, the rule of law over the rule of mob law). I can see how some were personally conflicted, and regardless your beliefs on the Schiavo issue, I still think they should be commended for doing their best as public officials in a very difficult setting.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

8. Welcome to DU, MBoyle.

[newyawker99]

11. Hi MBoyle!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[dsc]

10. No they didn't neglect their obligation

since their obligation is to ACT impartially not BE impartial. Just like the gay officers who have to protect Phelps' right to protest, the black ones who have to protect the Klan's, and the pro choice ones who have to protect Operation Rescue's; those officers are asked to do their jobs not to have no beliefs whatsoever. Just who would you have be police officers, Beavis and Butthead. Aside from them, I can't think of anyone who has no opinions on any issues of the day whatsoever.

[drdtroit]

9. Where were the countless arrests,

That certainly would have occured had this been an anti-administration stance or anti-war?

[Jack Rabbit]

12. I wondered about this

It was an easy assumption that some of those officers would have preferred that the law were on the Schindlers' side rather than Mr. Schiavo, but they accepted that it was otherwise. They knew what their duty was and carried it out.

We salute them above all.