Highway Patrol behavior should be judged in context

Law enforcement officers are constantly forced to adapt to changes: changes in technology, changes in crime patterns and changes in societal norms. With the advent of modern media, law enforcement faces another change: a dramatic change in public expectation. Having been granted a constant, real-time window into the situations our peace officers face, we expect our law enforcement officers to be perfect. This has been the case with recent events involving the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol is a force of approximately 850 troopers. They carry out roughly 500,000 traffic stops every year. The Patrol is comprised of some of the finest men and women in uniform dedicated to protecting the citizens and visitors of our great state.

While the recent events portrayed in the media highlight the very worst of behavior, these incidents represent several dozen occurrences among literally millions of citizen contacts.

There is no justification for any person to use racial slurs. This is especially true of law enforcement officers, who carry with them the might and power of the government. However, most of the incidents we see in the media regarding use of force reflect extreme psychological stress, violently combative citizens, and fear for one's own safety and the safety of others. While these incidents are by all means regrettable, they prove the existence of a beating human heart behind every badge.

Law enforcement is a dangerous business in which one encounters thieves, drug traffickers and violent criminals with shocking regularity. Highway Patrolmen make these encounters alone and often far from the nearest backup. It is never certain that a beige minivan holds a soccer mom and her groceries. Numerous studies have shown that officers who assume they can differentiate the benign from the dangerous are injured and killed at a higher rate than those who assume that any stop could be deadly.

Understanding that, we must be cautious about confusing officers who act improperly with officers who are aggressive in their control of encounters.

As taxpayers and citizens, we ask much of our police officers without giving much thought to the enormous stress and sacrifice that accompanies a career in law enforcement. The managers of law enforcement agencies are often faced with hard decisions when faced with conduct that deviates from proper operating procedures.

We should not sit and judge from the comfort and safety of our homes the punishment we feel commensurate with the actions we have seen in only a few seconds of video footage. We must have confidence in a chain of command that fully informs itself before passing judgment about decisions made in real time under imperfect circumstances. There are few hard and fast rules when dealing with these types of situations. Very often the individuals with the least amount of information want to react and draw the quickest and harshest conclusions.

As the General Assembly rightly begins inquiry into the operations of the Highway Patrol, I hope we remember one thing: that if we begin to hold our officers to an unreasonable standard of conduct we risk creating an atmosphere in which our officers are too cautious, out of fear of reprisal. Not only would such an atmosphere discourage officers from engaging the criminal element (which in turn degrades the level of public safety), but it also would expose them to more risk from violent and even deadly assaults.

There is no excuse for law enforcement officers to act in an unprofessional manner. However, we cannot expect perfection from them, and in essence ask from them what we cannot offer ourselves. What we have every right to expect is that they perform their duties reasonably under the circumstances. And we must do that while factoring in the human element.

At the end of the day the two objectives of all police officers are to make our society a safer place than they found it and to not end their shift in a body bag.

Rep. Kris Crawford, M.D., a Republican from Florence, represents District 63 in the S.C. House of Representatives.