Police watch as man drowns - due to risk assessments!
By Bizziebod
@Bizziebod (3497)
May 14, 2008 7:21am CST
What has the world come to? Three police officers stood by and watched a man drown while two members of the public jumped in to help him! This happened in my town yesterday - I'm appalled! This was the statement from the police today..
("Police receive training in water safety, but I'm not at liberty to comment, at this time, on what the actions of the officers were. Obviously that will all be looked at as part of the investigation.
"There will be a transparent and thorough investigation."
Force guidelines published by Devon and Cornwall Constabulary say that the task of rescuing members of the public from water lies primarily with other emergency services.
The guidelines read: "Police officers and staff should not put themselves in unnecessary danger by trying to effect a rescue that they are not trained to undertake.
"Officers and staff who have successfully completed Police Lifesaving Certificate training should act in accordance with that training having first completed a dynamic risk assessment.")
Shocking actions, this man was apparently homeless - I wondered if they would have acted the same way if it was one of their colleagues or an influential business person? I think NOT!
Surely it's human nature to try and help someone whose life is in danger.. obviously not if your in the police!
Here's the link to the full article..
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=136993&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231418&home=yes&more_nodeId1=137002&contentPK=20617760
5 people like this
7 responses
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
14 May 08
Reminds Me of the story last Year of the Boy who drowned because the 2 community officers on the scene hadn't been trained in water rescue techniques...
@Bizziebod (3497)
•
14 May 08
Yeah I saw that on the news.. it's a sad state of affairs isn't it?
1 person likes this
@ShepherdSpy (8544)
• Omagh, Northern Ireland
14 May 08
I can remember public information "shorts" on TV,at least one of them was about what to do if You see someone in difficulty in the water..what happened to those?
@SassyKittyKat (2135)
• Australia
14 May 08
"The guidelines read: "Police officers and staff should not put themselves in unnecessary danger by trying to effect a rescue that they are not trained to undertake."
Ok, so they let the public, who's not trained in anything of the sort, put their lives in danger, while they stand by and watch...If you ask me, it's just being cowards to just stand by and watch while people are drowning. A lot of people are not trained when it comes to emergencies but sometimes you just have to get involved when there's no one there more equiped to handle the situation.
More and more my respect for policemen are dwindling. Is there any good cops out there anymore. It's ridiculous! My husband calls the police force the biggest gang in America and I am inclined to believe he's right these days...
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
•
14 May 08
My thoughts exactly, I'm just stunned.. It's not the first time I've heard of that happening here in Britain, a couple of years ago the same thing happened with a small lad in the North of the UK. I think it's time the do-gooders of this world threw away their handbooks and let people get on with the job of saving lives!
2 people like this
@SassyKittyKat (2135)
• Australia
14 May 08
Exactly, I mean the main thing is that the a life gets saved. Personally, I couldn't live with myself knowing that I just stood back and did nothing to help.
@KrauseHome (36447)
• United States
15 May 08
This is sad that something like this had to happen. And I am sure, if this would have been someone in a suit, or such, they would have tried to help more, and should be held accountable for letting this man drown, and worse yet, watching this man drown. I do not blame you for being a little upset with this one at all.
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
•
15 May 08
Unfortunately this isn't the first time it's happened, there was an incident with a teenager last year who drowned while two community police officers looked on. It really does leave you with little faith in the police especially when they stated it was up to 'other emergency services' and here was me thinking the police were one of the 'emergency services!' Thanks for your response.
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
14 May 08
We had this happen here about a year ago. The only difference is the two cops on the scene didn't know how to swim so they decided to call for help instead of making a bad situation worse. I guess I can understand that to a degree but you with think that with a town that has the Nickname "Three Rivers" .. police officers would at least know how to swim.
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
•
14 May 08
Gosh yeah you would think so wouldn't you? I can understand in that case because they couldn't swim, but in the article I've posted to day it says the police officer got in afterwards, so he must have been able to swim!! Thanks for responding :-)
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
14 May 08
I would have jumped in to try and save him training or not. I am not trained to rescue someone and I am not the best swimmer in the world but if someone was drowning I sure as heck am not going to just stand there and watch them drown I would feel like I was commiting murder by just standing and doing nothing! Those officers were cowards! Cheers to those that did dump in!
I have always been told if you try to save a drowning victim grab them from behind wrap your arms around them from behind them otherwise they will try to grab onto you to keep themselves up and end up pulling you both under.
I have a feeling if the man would not have been a homless man that more people would have jumped into save him.
1 person likes this
@Bizziebod (3497)
•
14 May 08
Yes I have that feeling too. I applaud the two members of the public that did jump in to help him though. It's about time police officers where taught in the academy on basic life saving methods if they have to 'go by the book'!
1 person likes this
@mommy_uv3 (109)
• United States
14 May 08
wow, that is kind of scary, and makes you look at them in a whole new light. the people that you are supposed to trust your life with, would jut let a life slip through their hands because they didn't want to "get wet" for all we know. I do believe they would have acted differently if it was another officer or a "big wig" because then they would have gotten some sort of recognition out of the deal, to where a homeless man has nothing to give, but his thanks. i just can't believe someone would let someone die when they have the chance to save them.
1 person likes this
@nancyrowina (3850)
•
14 May 08
Thats ridiculous, there are ways to help someone who'd drowning from the shore so there's no excuse for just standing there. You'd have thought all Police officers would be trained to perform rescues like that wouldn't you? It wasn't long ago that a young boy drowned after saving his sister while two community support officers watched. with all these things happening you'd think the Police would start training their staff in basic life saving skills, we learned it all at school when I was a child.
@Bizziebod (3497)
•
14 May 08
You would think it would be common sense to train all police officers wouldn't you? Especially in areas where there are dangers of drowning! Common sense prevails yet again I'm afraid but this time it's ended up costing someone their life!
1 person likes this
