Correctional Officer Bashings? Why it’s Happening

We are experiencing an agonizing and dreadful trend on the outside of prisons and jails as well as the inside the walls. Cops on the streets are becoming vivid targets of those anti-government movement people and as they are arrested, incarcerated for their crimes they re-focus their deadly energies on correctional officers who represent the same line of authority as the cops do on the streets.

Police brutality has been addressed by the public with retaliatory strikes of police killings and maiming. People are attacking cops on the streets when they are most vulnerable and are successfully putting them in coffins or hospitals at whim.

Why there is such anger and animosity but most importantly stark brutality focused on police officers is becoming a most urgent concern for many agencies but the trend extends beyond the streets as arrests and detainment often result in convictions and incarceration.

Correctional administrators should be joining police advisory boards in this subject as the violence transfers directly from the street to the jails and prisons in one swift moment. These perpetrators often give no warning other than verbal or boastful comments that they are going to take out a pig but most just take a most opportunistic approach when they see the officer most vulnerable to an attack. This is not solely a street related problem.

Having a gun on the street is the most favored type of weapon used against police officers. Once arrested or convicted these types of individuals seek other types of weapons that can inflict major harm if not death when used appropriate. Knives or shanks, darts, spears and other sharpened object are their preferred weapon of their choice.

The difference between being shot or stabbed slashed or beaten to death with a blunt object is not any more comforting than being shot. The results can often be the same as the amount force used and weapons involved can determine the difference between life and death. Either way, there will be no warnings.

It is speculated this anti police brutality stems from what appears to be a socially growing sentiment of what they perceive to be police brutality in the communities. Whether it is against Blacks or Latino or even White people does not change the fact that the sentiment has grown and actions are being planned or made to take out cop, any cop hence the danger to correctional officers when working their beats inside jails and prisons.

Their justification to kill cops is justified by their words they are hating cops for what they do to other people as they are pictured killer cops of those that live on the streets or taken into custody for crimes committed. This crisis is spreading quickly and will eventually hit every workplace that has the makings of an authority figure or oppressive in conduct.

 

This explosive phenomena has already hit the streets this year and leaking into the prison setting. 2014 has been a very deadly year for cops and the same can be said about the violence inside of jails and prisons. Resistance to authority is growing and measures need to be made to protect staff from unnecessary harm or risks while working their beats.

When you take the time to look deeper into this trend you should be able to connect the dots to gangs as well as individuals acting on their own. The struggle to advance the cause to kill cops is not limited to violent offenders as it can very easily leak into a militant group that has ideals similar to those on the outside that cops are the enemy henceforth so are the correctional officers.

This reflection is based on the current explosive disorders we are experiencing in the communities towards cops and the increased violence towards custodial employees inside jails and prisons. This reflection captures tones of racism, social outrage and other emotional outburst that are acted out with violent episodes planned or spontaneous in nature. This makes it a most urgent concern for staff working unarmed and often alone inside jails and prisons.

There is no doubt that there are groups inside the jails and prisons who are fanning the flames of hate towards cops and are suggesting the same treatment for jail and prison employees. To think otherwise would be detrimental to the safety and wellness of these employees and shows a careless attitude towards this kind of behavior.

Confronting those who believe in their struggle to put cop brutality at the forefront of their agenda will only result in conflict and violence. Management has to develop tools to diminish this risk and put proper procedures or resources in place to lower the risks to officers working without any defensive weapons all the time.

There are many kinds of strategies which can diminish these threats. The most obvious is better staffing patterns and better resources to increase vigilance and command presence. The administration need not take extraordinary security measures to stave off such attacks but it can simple train the officers better and reduce complacency by ensuring supervisors are watching their officers and ensuring rounds and duties are performed as required and no short cuts are taken.

The other tools are unannounced mass searches of all areas as well as staff, visitors and prisoners to reduce the possession of weapons, drugs, contraband and cell phones. These elements can and do contribute to an unstable workplace environment volatile and unpredictable for employees to work within.

The other side is that workers can also spread the ambers or sparks of this conflict. Their own actions can determine how a prisoner reacts to their directives and orders whether they are lawful or reasonable, when delivered in a disrespectful tone, it may create the very spark that sets off this kind of behavior. Therefore the responsibility falls on staff to remain fair firm and consistent with their prisoners and not create hostilities on their shifts.

Needless to say some prisoners are just waiting to smash a cop. Their objective is to be recognized by others and be put in a leadership position whether for a gang or a cause to take such brutal action against prison employees. Short from rioting, these individual acts or resistance send a message to others that it can be done and the system can only react to such an event as there aren’t enough resourced to quell the disturbance immediately.

In the wave of vile and destructive behaviors, property is damaged or set on fire and the cost is tremendous to replace or repair. That carries with it a psychological advantage the prisoner feels they did something worthy of their defiance and resistance to figures of authority who control them in the end but not at the moment of conflict.

It is feared that as long as there are extremists at the head of the table making suggestions that cops must be smashed and defiance must exist, there will be other erratic and random activities taking eventually. This type of thinking leads to rioting, going on strike and eventually hostage taking as their cause accelerates into demands that they be treated fairly and not brutally as they have convinced themselves the cause is right and the end justifies the means.

The administration cannot afford not to pay attention to the trends within the community towards police officers and other figures of authority as it will bleed over into the jails and prisons when they are eventually captured, convicted and committed to the penal systems designed to house and supervise such offenders.

 

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