Deescalate

Taillight granny

On July 16, 2019, Debra Hamil was pulled over by a Cashion police officer for defective equipment, a traffic violation that usually results in a "warning" or if ticketed would end in an $80 fine paid to the court.

There was more to the incident than is visible on the short video but the longer video. Shows us that she was very cooperative, her family was known to the deputy an most of all the light actually worked but was only missing some of the red plastic and her whole family was looking to get a new box for the truck that was only used in their tiny community. There were other issues that escalated the emotion of both Debra Hamil and Officer Charles Missinne.

But the essential moment of change in the stop was when Officer Charles Missinne chose to escalate the situation to an arrest for not signing the ticket. As an officer he did not need her signature.

He can even write on the ticket “Refused To Sign”.

If she does not show the judged can issue bench warrant.

But was there any reason to involve the court's time.

She was not a threat to the community. The light actually worked. It was missing some red plastic but she said she would tape it up.

It is the professional responsibility of officers to "de-escalate" situations.

Instead Officer Charles Missinne chose to immediately escalate the situation to an arrest.

Why?

He made no attempt to explain signing was not an admission of guilt or she could be arrested if she did not sign.

She did eventually agree to sign but he wanted to arrest her anyway. This is what is called a "vanity arrest". This was not "protect and serve" action.

A warning would have likely fixed the taillight that week. He says he knew the truck box was damaged for months and issued no warning.

He chooses to make it court matter and elevates that to an arrest. Again why? The officer isn't paying all that cost to the city and the courts.

Then there is lost time to the officers who will be involved in booking, bail, etc. Trip to the hospital to have an old lady checked out after tasing her (twice). Is the community served and safer now old ladies will be more polite to Officer Charles Missinne?

If they did not dismiss, reduce and defer charges, the final cost to the taxpayers likely went over a hundred thousand dollars.

Officer Charles Missinne even stated, “You may not like the laws but we are here to enforce them. You guys are going to learn the hard way that we aren’t going to put up with it.”

Enforcing laws is not the same as teaching people "the hard way that we aren’t going to put up with it.” Officer Charles Missinne

Escalate vs De-escalate

Officer Charles Missinne chose not to issue a warning but cited Debra Hamil giving her a ticket which was his right as an officer. But escalating the situation and it was an abrupt choice of Officer Charles Missinne.

Debra clearly did not understanding the full process felt it was unfair. That is her right.

Debra began to explain to the officer that she did not think that she should have to pay an $80 fine if she can fix it and will get fixed. Every good and competent police officer would simply inform her that if she gets it fixed before the court date, she may plead her case before the judge who may choose to reduce the fine or even wave it.

But instead the officer insists she sign the ticket. Normally an officer would inform a citizen hesitating to sign that their signature is not an admission of guilt but simply is a record that they were actually given a ticket by the officer.

Refusing to sign a ticket can allow the officer to arrest the driver.

"Your acceptance and signature on a traffic ticket is not an admission of guilt, however, the refusal to sign a traffic ticket may result in your arrest. If you believe the officer acted inappropriately, you should: Document the officer's behavior and report it to the officer's agency in a timely manner."

By signing the ticket, you are providing an acknowledgement of receipt of the “notice to appear.” If you refuse to sign a traffic ticket it is at the discretion of the ticketing officer to arrest or not arrest.

The term "discretion" does not mean at the "whim" of the officer. An officer has numerous aspects to the performance of his duties.

If she continued to resist signing the ticket he should have simply properly informed her of that fact.

Most people do not understand that and it is part of the duty of an officer to inform people of the process in a manner to de-escalate the emotions of those involved. Proper training and officer discipline was not evident in the video.

According to Oklahoma government Operational Manual:

• "De-escalation tactics shall be used whenever possible, and when such delay will not compromise the safety of the officer or a citizen, and when it is not immediately necessary for an officer to take action to prevent the officer or a citizen from being assaulted or injured."

The Operational Manual warns that if "the subject is affected by conditions such as:

A. Medical issues;

B. Mental impairment or mental health crisis;

C. Developmental disability;

D. Physical limitation;

E. Communication barrier;

F. Alcohol and/or drug use; and/or

G. Behavioral/emotional crisis.

The Operational Manual continued with, "When time and circumstances allow for de-escalation, an officer's awareness of the above conditions shall be balanced against the totality of the circumstances when determining which de-escalation option(s) are the most appropriate to attempt to bring the situation to a safe resolution."

Numerous professional police practices were not done and policies were ignored by Officer Charles Missinne which led to an escalation of emotions and would now involve the time of the courts:

1. Inform the citizen that the signature is not an admission of guilt/
2. The officers job is just to warn or cite the driver.
3. The ticket is the citation.
4. If she does not sign it the officer has the right to arrest her and take her into custody.
5. He should inform her that he does not want to arrest her.
6. He could then ask her to please sign the ticket and that will take the option of arresting her off the table.
7. If she still refuses to sign he can then inform her that he can write on the ticket that she "Refused to sign", explaining that he did not want to do that because the judge would see she was not complying with the codes.
8. Then he would inform her that if she does not fix the light and appear in court or pay the fine, a bench warrant will be issued any police officer will be able to stop and arrest her.

Instead ignoring these simple interactions that normally de-escalates these stops he chose to arrest her and put her in cuffs and in order to do that he felt the need to tase her.

Difficult arrest

I include the video of an actual difficult stop and arrest

Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell says the situation couldn’t have been handled any better.

On August 5, Trooper Hayden Falvey pulled over Eugene Lewis for speeding on a rural road. Falvey was by himself. After Lewis admitted to using marijuana, Lewis was handcuffed and told he was under arrest. As Falvey tried to get Lewis into the cruiser, things quickly escalated.

Lewis’ brothers arrived on the scene and refused to leave as ordered by Falvey as the men recorded the activity.

The Highway Patrol video does show during the struggle to get Lewis properly seated in the car, Falvey puts his hands -- and at one point, elbow -- against the suspect’s neck.

According to Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell, Falvey’s actions were appropriate under the circumstances.

ttps://www.wdam.com/2022/08/12/dps-no-evidence-criminal-behavior-trooper-viral-mccomb-traffic-stop/

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Other professional opinions

A 65 year old grandmother known to a small community of 800 people and was given a ticket for a broken taillight by the officer. She did not want to sign the ticket. The officer could have informed that signing the ticket was not an admission of guilt and she could get it fixed and explain that to the judge and he may dismiss the fine. He could have written in that she "refused to sign". He failed to implement Oklahoma de-escalation tactics.

This was bad police work. Officer Charles Missinne chose to escalate the situation to an arrest for a defective taillight she said she would fix. She even eventually agreed to sign it but pride and vanity of both the citizen and the supposedly professional officer got in the way.

Here are several professionals shacked at the police choices made here. https://youtu.be/FXZw72Z_M4w

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Local reaction

https://kfor.com/news/cashion-citizens-question-police-tactics-after-woman-tased-during-arrest/amp/

Cost accrued

This was poor policework and bad judgement by someone who is paid to "protect and serve". He failed in the full scope of his duties.

This was not "protect and serve" action.

It was poor police skills and bad judgement to use an arrest as your best option.

An average cost to the taxpayer for an arrest in 2015 could be $13,607. Normal misdemeanor arrest are from $1,000 to $2,000 cost to the government.

A warning would have likely fixed the taillight that week. He says he knew the truck box was damaged for months and issued no warning.

He chooses to make it court matter and elevates that to an arrest with no attempt to settle peaceably despite many options recommended by proper training. Again why? The officer isn't paying all that cost to the city and the courts.

This is abuse of office, harassment and dereliction of his primary duty and poor police work which most commentors do not understand.

Minimum billing for arrest alone was itemized at a cost of $1576.72 but total actual cost to the taxpayer will run easily over $100,000. All for a taillight she was going to fix and would have fixed with a warning.

https://www1.odcr.com/detail?court=037-&casekey=037-CF++1900067

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I am amazed at the people who pass judgment without much research and poor perspective. 90 years of socialism in America has taken it's toll.

DE-ESCALATION Tactics

ALTERNATIVE TACTICS – DE-ESCALATION When circumstances reasonably permit, officers should use non-violent strategies and techniques to decrease the intensity of a situation, improve decision-making, improve communication, reduce the need for force, and increase voluntary compliance (e.g., summoning additional resources, formulating a plan, attempting verbal persuasion).

I recommend Force Science Institute’s “Realistic De-Escalation” course and the Police Executive Research Forum’s “Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics” (ICAT) training, which deals heavily with decision-making, particularly while dealing with people in crisis.

https://www.lexipol.com/resources/blog/de-escalation-a-commonsense-approach/

1. 1: Ensure your citizen contact procedures are legitimate and based on respect.

1. 2: Ensure your officers know their legal limitations prior to engaging the public.

Masked introvert Deaf prowler it ✓Remember that in the absence of reasonable suspicion, people do not have to stop and speak with officers.

1. 3: Appreciate that to influence a person, you need to understand their perspective and purpose. This is a concept Dr. Lewinski emphasizes.

1. 4: Do not presume what makes sense to you makes sense to others. Following some use of force incidents, we sometimes hear statements from officers such as, “If he didn’t do anything wrong, why did he run?” or “He didn’t have a weapon; why didn’t he just put his hands up and comply?”

13-year-old autistic son is experiencing