Who would have thought that Danny would get in hassle for NOT being a hothead?
Normally, he is the type that will get in perps’ faces and straddles the road between acceptable conduct and police brutality.
However in a sworn statement to how occasions are altering, on Blue Bloods Season 11 Episode 6, Danny discovered himself within the scorching seat when he selected NOT to shoot at a perp with a gun.
The IAB case in opposition to Danny appeared absurd.
Wendell: How may you let him go? I heard you had been a cop’s cop however I suppose I heard fallacious.
Danny: No, you have not. We have got his tackle so we’ll get him. However not for nothing, you escalated the scenario once you drew your weapon.
Wendell: He assaulted me and stole my weapon. And also you let him go. That is what occurred.
Officer Wendell filed a criticism as a result of he was offended that Danny thought that whether or not or not a perp introduced a right away menace was as necessary as whether or not he attacked a cop. Due to that criticism, IAB was within the unenviable place of questioning Danny about ulterior motives for NOT taking pictures.
IAB probed to search out out whether or not Danny was afraid of being attacked by bystanders, whether or not he was attempting to keep away from the trouble of being investigated for a clear shoot, and whether or not he did not do his job in order that he would not be accused of extreme pressure.
Certainly the IAB officers realized how foolish that every one sounded.
Whereas asking all these inane questions, IAB managed by no means to convey up the apparent elephant within the room.
Pratt was Black. Danny was white. If he did select to not shoot for any purpose aside from pondering it was pointless, it will have been as a result of white cops taking pictures Black suspects has sparked mass protests and loads of pressure between cops and civilians.
Deliberately or not, IAB’s response to Danny made it seem to be they needed to punish him for NOT being the sort of cop that shoots Black suspects on sight.
That stated, there was a center floor between taking pictures Pratt and letting him go. No one introduced this up both, however I did not perceive why Danny did not shoot at Pratt’s tires to cease him from escaping.
Ultimately, all of it labored out. Pratt turned out to not be responsible of homicide, turned himself in, and thanked Danny for saving his life.
The extra wrinkle of Danny’s perp being suspected of homicide irritated me.
It was pointless and irrelevant. Whether or not or not Pratt murdered somebody later had nothing to do with whether or not he was a menace to Danny’s life for the time being that Danny selected to not shoot him.
But when Pratt had been the assassin, it will have implied that Danny ought to have seen that coming and shot him even when he was non-threatening throughout their encounter.
I do not need a police pressure that shoots folks primarily based on a hunch that they are going to be violent later. That is a recipe for catastrophe.
Danny’s lieutenant should not need that both.
Danny’s case had fascinating parallels with two of the opposite main storylines.
Like him, Erin was embroiled in a debate over whether or not a probably violent particular person ought to be allowed momentary freedom. Nonetheless, Erin was on the opposite aspect of this and was attempting her damnedest to maintain a violent defendant in jail.
Each Erin and the decide had a degree. Money bail necessities do influence poor folks’s lives greater than rich folks’s. An individual who cannot afford bail is locked up pending the end result of a prison case. Even when they’re harmless, they could possibly be spending a 12 months or two behind bars.
And since there’s a wealth hole between races, in observe, this usually implies that folks of colour go to jail pending trial whereas white folks go dwelling. That definitely is not justice.
Nonetheless, the bail reform regulation appeared to be meant for the 98 p.c of individuals accused of non-violent offenses and never the 2 p.c accused of assault, rape, and homicide.
After I labored at an alternative choice to money bail program in New York Metropolis, folks charged with violent crimes had been typically not eligible to take part for this precise purpose.
I can perceive bail reform demanding that prior dangerous acts not be thought-about, however it appeared foolish that current hazard to the neighborhood is not alleged to be a think about bail selections.
It appeared that permitting judges to think about the probability of a defendant hurting somebody whereas out on bail would clear up the issue.
Non-violent alleged offenders can be launched ROR, and violent alleged offenders can be held pending trial. This is able to assist the jail system work the way in which it is alleged to — to guard the general public from those that are harmful quite than those that are casualties of the Struggle on Medication — and assist resolve the inequity the decide referred to.
That is why I’ve blended emotions about Erin’s response to this.
On the one hand, Crawford was proper that Erin disobeyed direct orders and will have harm the division’s repute, opened them as much as a harassment lawsuit, or in any other case triggered hassle by trailing the defendant to see if he dedicated against the law.
However Maloney WAS violent and DID attempt to violate the momentary restraining order and assault his ex-girlfriend. That did not appear to matter to Crawford, who was centered solely on Erin’s function in getting him re-arrested.
What if Maloney had killed his ex-girlfriend? That might have put all the bail reform program in danger, triggered an enormous outcry, and left the decide and protection legal professional in want of convincing people who they did not do one thing horrible by letting this man go.
Crawford wanted to take that under consideration, and I believe her perceived rivalry with Erin received in the way in which.
Lastly, Jamie’s division received a social employee driving alongside!
As an MSW myself, I used to be thrilled with this storyline, although there have been some flaws in it.
I used to be shocked that Claire had no sensible expertise with working with police earlier than her ride-along.
After I was in social work faculty, I labored within the courts, however a few of my classmates labored straight with the NYPD or at Rikers’ Island. So I believed that if Claire needed to enter this area, she possible would have had an internship on this space earlier than she graduated.
However the greater problem, at the very least for me, was Jamie’s angle.
Jamie dismissed this system as “woke” nonsense that will trigger issues within the division. However when the child with psychological sickness grabbed Claire, I remembered that Jamie was once particularly expert at EDP circumstances.
Earlier than changing into a sergeant, Jamie was usually attempting to cease his superiors from taking pictures at perps with psychological sickness whereas he tried to speak them down.
He was upset to search out out {that a} lack of assets made it more durable for folks with emotional and psychological well being points to get assist and annoyed that so a lot of his fellow cops shot at these folks as an alternative of attempting to cope with them.
So this kind of program appeared to be precisely what he was advocating for again within the day, and it did not make sense that he had develop into so conservative that he did not consider in it.
Lastly, I by no means realized how a lot Frank seems to be like Teddy Roosevelt till he was gazing that portrait.
That wasn’t the purpose of his story, however the similarity cracked me up.
Frank: This final 12 months has been like life in wartime. For this division. For the town we serve. And also you deserted your duties to your fort within the Bronx.
Butler: With all due respect, I haven’t got to take this.
Frank: I might double verify that Chappequa supply.
Butler: They known as you?
Frank: I known as them.
Butler: You gonna destroy my profession, sir?
Frank: You probably did that your self. Dismissed.
I appreciated Frank being arduous on Captain Butler. The man needed in charge all the things from anti-cop sentiment to lack of senior officers for his precinct’s poor efficiency, and that is not a very good trait in a pacesetter.
Butler was changing into a legal responsibility, and the Bronx is hardly a spot that wants the scandal of cops sitting round doing nothing whereas crime charges rise.
However I want Frank would have left it at forcing Butler to face the implications for his non-action. He did not deserve that job in Westchester as a result of he wasn’t main his present workforce successfully.
As an alternative, Frank went off on a tangent about how New York Metropolis desperately wants cops proper now, so due to this fact he needs to make it inconceivable for anybody to hunt greener pastures.
That is not good management both; It is going to make some cops resent him and had nothing to do with why he did what he did to Butler.
Your flip, Blue Bloods fanatics.
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Jack Ori is a senior workers author for TV Fanatic. His debut younger grownup novel, Reinventing Hannah, is out there on Amazon. Observe him on Twitter.