Read the case study (Prince George’s County ) on p. 117 (Stevens, 2008) and answer the underlying question “What would you do if you were in charge?” by providing an assessment using as a minimum, two crisis intervention strategies outlined on pp. 79-82 ( James & Gilliland, 2017) and any other applicable information from our weekly readings.
Case Study:
By any measure, Prince George’s County (near Washington, DC) police have shot and killed people at rates that exceed those of nearly any other large police force in the nation. Since 1990, they have shot 122 people, killing 47 of them. By one standard—the number of fatal shootings per officer—they killed more people than any major city or county police force from 1990 through 2000. Almost half of those shot were unarmed, and many had committed no crime. Unlike many departments, Prince George’s top police officials concluded that every one of the shootings was justified. Examples of the shootings ruled justified pertains to an unarmed construction worker who was shot in the back after he was detained in a fast-food restaurant. An unarmed suspect died in a fusillade of 66 bullets as he tried to flee from police in a car. A homeless man was shot when police mistook his portable radio for a gun. And an unarmed man was killed after he pulled off the road to relieve himself. An investigation by The Washington Post found that during the past decade, Prince George’s police miscalculated the threat they faced dozens of times—mistaking an object for a gun or a sudden movement for an act of aggression. Moreover, the police department defended shootings by issuing reports that were riddled with inconsistencies, contradictions, and half-truths.
The crisis intervention strategies are attached.
