NYPD COMMISH
ACTS SWIFTLY
TO SHOOTING
OF BRONX WOMAN
Mayor and
Police Commissioner throw Sgt. Barry under the bus,
Impose
sanctions in an unusually rapid response
TAGS:
NYPD, SGT. HUGH BARRY, DANNER SHOOTING,
CASTLE
HILL BRONX 43RD PRECINCT,
COMMISH
O’NEILL’S RUSH TO JUDGMENT,
POLICING
MORE IMPROV THAN SCRIPTED
(Wednesday October 19, 2016, Castle
Hills, The Bronx, NYC) The Crime Scene Unit had barely completed their
methodical tasks in the apartment where hours earlier Deborah Danner, a
66-year-old woman with a long history of mental health problems was fatally
shot by NYPD Sgt. Hugh Barry, an 8-year veteran of the Department, when the
police Commissioner very publicly levied sanctions on Sgt. Barry. Commissioner James O’Neill placed Barry on
“modified” duty which includes his surrendering his gun and shield. The swiftness of O’Neill’s response and the
irresponsible nature of his public comments sent a clear and disturbing message
to the NYPD rank and file. “How can he
say that we ‘failed’ in this incident before any kind of investigation has begun?”
asked one high ranking MOS from the 43rd Precinct within the bounds
of which this incident transpired. “If
some gross miscalculation or terrible lack of judgment was at the heart of this
shoot, the facts will of course come out”, commented another NYPD ranking
official not for attribution.
Indeed, the new Commish acted
in an uncharacteristically rapid reaction that seems to belie his 30-plus years
of experience as a NYC Cop. One would be
safe in the belief that this Commissioner who worked his way up the ranks
during his career would at least provide some measure of a “benefit of the
doubt” towards one of his Officer’s and allow due process of the internal
Departmental investigation to begin.
That not having been the case, both O’Neill and Mayor Bill de Blasio
appear to have already acted as prosecutors, jurors, and judges in their rush
to condemn Barry’s actions. That they
are both essentially politicians one can excuse some measure of loose talk but
O’Neill who has only been in his current position since September appears to
have already become a politician and has forgotten the real life dynamics of a
situation such as that the responding Officers encountered last evening at 6:15
upon entering Danner’s apartment at 630 Pugsley Avenue.
Danner’s neighbors called the
Police reporting that she was exhibiting very erratic behavior, ranting and
raving in such a way that they were concerned for their safety. The fact that her neighbors were well aware
of her mental illness and what she could be like when “off her meds” speaks to
the level of threat the responding Officers could face. While the latest Department protocol
instructs that an Emergency Services Unit (ESU) be summoned to an EDP call,
Sgt. Barry and the other Officers found themselves in a very “time sensitive”
situation. As is often the case the
scenario went from one of de-escalation as Danner dropped the scissors she was
menacingly wielding only to pick up a wooden baseball bat and lunge at Sgt. Barry. Was Barry expected to take a blow to the head
from this EDP when every Officer knows that EDPs can exhibit unnatural
aggression and strength? There are many
questions to be asked and answered and that renders Commissioner O’Neill’s statements
and sanctions regarding Sgt. Barry that much more inflammatory and
disheartening to the NYPD rank and file.
What the Mayor’s and
Commissioner’s comments and the subsequent virtually universally negative media
coverage seems to imply is that Danner, even armed with scissors and then a
baseball bat, could not have possibly presented as “serious threat” to the
safety of Barry and the other Officers.
This perception is not only patently erroneous; it runs contrary to what
every MOS knows all too well; any call involving an emotionally disturbed person
(EDP) has the inherent potential of physical confrontation and violence. That
is just a fact of policing. This point
is reiterated because it is essential for a civilian to try to grasp the
dynamics between all those who found themselves in Danner’s apartment last
night.
The EDP label is a broad
classification that runs the spectrum from a person severely intoxicated or
under the influence of some drug or another up through and including people
with well-known and diagnosed mental health disorders which themselves have a
wide range of pathologies as well as a myriad of variations and variables that
affect the “state of mind” of the individual.
In many cases there is simply not time to gather information about the
individual in question. Circumstances
create the actions and response as does the physical environment and absence or
presence of others.
ZONE OF SAFETY
The Patrol Guide of the NYPD,
the official “Bible” of policy and procedure for MOS makes several references
to a “Zone of Safety” that should be established and maintained in many
scenarios and is clearly mentioned in the sections devoted to EDPs. The zone of safety is a “minimum of 20
feet”. What the Patrol Guide cannot do
nor can any policy or procedure no matter how detailed and well trained
Officers might be, is set in stone; the specifics of the call dictate the
actions in response to that unique scenario.
There are far too many variables to consider in the “area of
conflict/confrontation”, too many factors to consider. Policing is far more an endeavor in
improvisation rather than acted according to a well-defined script.
A case in point, if one has
never been in a typical NYCHA apartment or any of the common five-story
walk-ups of the outer Boroughs, the size of these living spaces cannot be fully
appreciated. Most of these apartments
are variations of the old “railroad flat” layout where one room leads to
another in a linear manner just as train cars are connected. These rooms are small. In many floorplans the largest single space
may be no greater that 12’x10’. This is
an incredibly small space within to operate in a police action particularly
involving an armed and threatening EDP.
Much has been made of the fact
that Sgt. Barry was equipped with a Taser, a CEW (Conductive Electrical Weapon)
which is technically not the same as a “Stun Gun”. The Taser shoots two (or more) darts that
remain connected to the handheld weapon through which an electrical charge can
be delivered. Tasers are notoriously
ineffective when the darts are unable to make contact directly with the skin
and often the darts themselves become dislodged as the individual continues to
move. In Danner’s apartment, the zone
Barry was operating in was much smaller than 20 feet and, as such, the Taser
was not an effective choice.
The physical spaces that
Officers typically find themselves working in are indoors; narrow, dimly lit
corridors and stairwells, small, cramped apartments containing still narrower
passageways and very limited means of egress.
If you grew up in an apartment in a five-story pre-war walk-up in Upper
Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens, you are familiar with just how
restrictive these spaces can be.
Restrictive spaces can simultaneously allow greater and restrict further
the options Officers have at their disposal.
(Of course this discussion is addressing indoor locations; out on the
streets zones of safety and the conflict/confrontation spaces are highly varied).
THE PROXIMITY OF POLICING
The simple reality of policing
is that it is very often a “hands on” business.
While no two calls will ever be identical due to all the variables of
the scenario, Officers acquire instincts, judgment and reactions via their
experience. The real training of MOS
begins after they graduate from the Police Academy; it takes place on the
streets and alleys, the open spaces and claustrophobic corridors and
stairwells, subway platforms and amid all the elements of our complex urban
environs.
One component of Police
response that is often overlooked by uninformed outsiders, the always ready to
pounce and denounce the Police media, hack politicians and bloviating “activists”
is that of time. Events can occur with
amazing rapidity; a nanosecond of hesitation on the part of an Officer engaged
in a dangerous interaction can result in injuries up to and including lethal
damage to one or many of those in proximity to the engagement. Yes, NYPD goes above and beyond instructed
MOS in the latest “de-escalation” techniques and “best practices” but real-time
policing can require split-second decision making.
Whether enacting a “pat-down”
search, making an arrest, subduing those involved in a usually volatile domestic
disturbance, breaking up a street fight, or wading into the middle of some
foray or another, Police Officers are often required to be physical; people in
a fight, a suspect about to be placed in handcuffs, or any of the other regular
activities inherent in Police intervention, perpetrators can be extremely
aggressive in their resistance, to say the least. The potential for the use of physical force
is as much embedded in policing as are the hard won experiences an Officer will
carry with him or her for the duration of their career and beyond. Clearly most Officers would much rather
intervene on a job without the use of physical force but, again, the
circumstances can beg otherwise.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Policing in our City is not
for the faint of heart; we work within the sprawling five Boroughs of what is
the most densely populated urban environment in the United States. Actually given our 8.7 million plus
residents, the volume of people who commute in to work and recreate, travelers
passing through our train, bus and mass transit stations, and tourists, NYPD
does a remarkable job day in, day out despite a lingering bad reputation our
City notorious gained in the late 1960’s up until 1994. Arguably it was the election of Mayor Rudy
Giuliani that ushered in a new wave of policing practices, policies, and
techniques.
After all those dark years as
the crime capitol of the USA New York City is and has been the “Safest Big City”
in America as measured by the DOJ statistics of all major crime categories and
we have maintained this lofty title for the last 18 years. No one among us can argue that NYC is not a
safe place to live, work, or visit. The
credit goes without shadow of a doubt to the men and women of the NYPD. When an Officer is vilified by the very
Department he or she works for, the Mayor and the press, it is a sad state of
affairs we find ourselves in. The least
the Department brass and City Hall can do is afford an Officer such as Sgt.
Barry his Constitutional right to due process under the law. When those of us who enforce the law become
excluded for political reasons or any reason at all, it can instill in Officers
a moment of hesitation during an engagement that could end is a tragic
catastrophe.
Certainly the Department
regrets that Ms. Danner put herself in a life-threatening position; no Cop ever
wants to kill a person in the Line of Duty but, it does happen. And no one except those present in that small
apartment at 630 Pugsley Avenue really knows what went down and how it went
down.
The Brooding Cynyx support
Sgt. Hugh Barry and hope he is returned to full duty status as soon as the
investigative process will allow.
Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2016 © All Rights Reserved
Copyright Brooding Cynyc 2016 © All Rights Reserved
