A Toddler Wanders Near a Busy Street. This Cop's Response May Surprise You.

Did he slap her in handcuffs and book her for negligence and abuse?

Wikimedia Commons

As someone who highlights cases where cops and child protective services intrude into the private lives of families (like this and this), I am positively delighted to showcase examples of the opposite happening.

After some folks in Butler County, Kansas, found a toddler wandering close to the side of a busy road, they called the police. Lt. Travis Pierce showed up just moments before the child's distraught mom. Did he slap her in handcuffs and book her for negligence and abuse? (A response that is rare, but it happens.) No.

According to KWCH news, "Lt. Travis Pierce's policing philosophy is simple; do unto others as you'd have them do unto you." From the news story:

"I'm a new dad and sometimes it's not bad parenting, this kid was fascinated with going outside and it was hard for his mom to keep up," Pierce said.

Pierce said putting the child into protective custody would hurt the situation rather than help, so he went with the little boy's grandma to Wal-Mart instead.

"She bought some extra locks and I advised her on the best type of security for a curious kid that age," Pierce said.

Pierce's help didn't end there. The grandmother and mom didn't know how to install the locks so Pierce went home and grabbed a drill and some tools. They installed the locks at the top of the door, out of the little boy's reach.

As the TV anchor said, this was a case to make Kansas proud. Other cops should follow Pierce's example.

Comments

[thom]

Events become news because they are out of the ordinary. It says something that this was news.

[Rich]

This.

Will it be news when this guy faces discipline for not, um, enforcing the law?

[LynchPin1477]

By that logic, there could be hundreds of stories not unlike this that never get reported because they are ordinary and not newsworthy. This could just be the rare case that gets picked up on because someone was in the right place at the right time. In other words, maybe the norm for most cops is to be at least decent, which is why the bad news stands out.

[Almanian!]

That's a nice thought. Now, back to reality...

[Brandon]

The norm is for most cops to be lazy and passive, and to ignore or encourage lawless, aggressive behavior when their colleagues engage in it. It may only be a significant minority of cops who actively commit atrocities, but most are complicit in those abuses, or they wouldn't keep happening without any consequences to the perpetrators. And then there's the special breed of monsters who make up federal LEO's, such as this recent example: http://reason.com/blog/2014/07.....o#comments

[LynchPin1477]

I see lots of articles on Reason about bad cops. No doubt they exist, and that they can be real psychopaths. But I also see lots of potential for confirmation bias.

[Brandon]

The fact that they exist in the numbers they do means that they are either a majority or a large enough minority that the decent colleagues can't hold them accountable. Look at the responses to the travesties reported in the "lots of articles" on Reason. They are never fired, rarely disciplined, and never prosecuted for blatantly criminal actions.

[Brandon]

Oh, hey, look at that:
http://reason.com/blog/2014/07.....r-scalding

Two Years Later, Guards Haven't Been Held Accountable

[LynchPin1477]

Reason has a bad cop story, what, once per day maybe? That is a bit generous, I think, but let's roll with it. And on average, maybe 2 cops are implicated? So that is roughly 720 bad cops reported on per year. There are 780,000 cops in the U.S. (per Wikipedia). 720 is about 0.1%.

Now I don't expect Reason to report on every incident, but you have to assume that they under report by roughly 500 times in order to have evidence that a majority of cops are bad. I suppose that's possible, but it seems unlikely to me.

I think you are on firmer ground in when it comes to the difficulties in holding bad cops accountable, and a general attitude of deference towards the authorities in these cases. But even then there is a risk of confirmation bias: you hear more about the outrage-inducing incidents of inadequate discipline (if any) than you do about the cases when discipline was more or less handled by the book.

My point isn't that cops are all just swell guys, but that you shouldn't pass judgement based solely on the bad behavior highlighted by H&R.

[Brandon]

http://www.vice.com/read/nypd-.....ed-him-721

How many cops are implicated here? And you hear about discipline whenever it is actually handed down, which is why you don't hear about it often.

[Brandon]

A very small percentage of police abuse gets successfully reported. Not every handcuffed grope or threat under color of law warrants any investigation, especially when the primary people who receive those reports are other cops.

[Aresen]

Lt. Travis Pierce is now on unpaid leave pending disciplinary action for conduct unbecoming a police officer.

[timbo]

Ha.

Nice to see a good deed done by a good person though. He went above and beyond what his job description calls for. Good employee.

Now every other terrifying, brutish cop that makes the majority should receive their training from this guy. .

Sadly he is the exception.

[Res Publica Americana]

We should be trying and executing cops who abuse their power, and THIS is remarkable? Decent, human behavior is now a remarkable trait in cops? Have we sunk that low?

[Matrix]

We'll take any good gesture we can.

[Christophe]

Well, helping people install locks in their own home is above and beyond the job description, even in Libertopia.

Gotta celebrate the small things.

[Hyperion]

Have we sunk that low?

Yes.

We should be trying and executing cops who abuse their power

The same is true for politicians, but that doesn't happen either, and that's really the root of the problem.

[sarcasmic]

THIS JUST IN! COP ACTS LIKE A HUMAN BEING! MORE AT ELEVEN!

[Scarecrow Repair]

More?!? You think this will happen again, and so soon?

s/sarcasmic/optimistic/

[sarcasmic]

They had to elaborate on the headline with some specifics, then get on to the weather.

[timbo]

Well said. This just in: Politician does not become corrupt scum within 3 weeks of getting elected.

This just in: BO understands capital markets and is not a complete moron. More at eleven.

[MegaloMonocle]

do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.

Umm, I'm calling bullshit on that. Because I'm betting he doesn't want to be stopped, ticketed, arrested, etc. If you really want to live by the Golden Rule, you can't be a cop.

I actually believe this is his philosophy when he deals with his fellow cops. They all have a mutual understanding that they won't enforce the law on each other.

[Curtisls87]

Having been raised in Kansas, I can believe that he believes in the phrase, regardless of the fact that he may not see the incumbent paradox of it with respect to his chosen profession. Most people I know there believe in the golden rule, even if they don't always apply it.

[RAHeinlein]

As a native Iowan, I thought the same (and argued extensively during my tenure in NJ) until THIS which took place a few blocks from my home...

http://www.iowastatedaily.com/.....963f4.html

[Kevin47]

Then you can't be a boss either, because nobody wants to be fired.

[LynchPin1477]

You presume too much. Who's to say that he wouldn't genuinely want to be ticketed and pulled over if he was driving dangerously?

[Almanian!]

Tulip? Weigel?

[Episiarch]

It's pretty dumb to complain about an anti-nut-punch, guys. I'd much rather see the occasional story where a cop is a decent human being than never, ever hear any. Because that would be pretty scary.

[Dweebston]

We never hear about this type of story because it's not reported. It's not reported because it's so common. So common that we never hear about it.

[The Last American Hero]

Just like we never hear about how they hold themselves accountable? Sorry, but until I see more stories of cops cleaning up their own profession, I'm not buying what you're selling.

[Dweebston]

Oh, I'm just pointing out the circular nature of that argument. News outlets will report whatever garners eyeballs, not by some ephemeral metric of what's notable, and this sort of human interest story is pure clickbait. No chance there's a million of these items going unreported for lack of interest.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You know what's scary? In the story I read of a mother, and a grandmother, but not a father. The cynic in me (which is basically just saying "me") thinks that the officer's kindness was predicated on a calculated effort to dip his nightstick in some easy single mom poonani.

[Libertymike]

Man, HM, way to deliver a nut punch to even the most passionate porcine haters who are giving this cop an atta boy.

[paranoid android]

90% of all kind acts committed by men are part of either a short-term or long-term strategy for getting laid.

My estimate may be off by as much as 10%.

[AlmightyJB]

Nothing wrong with that.

[WDATPDIM!?]

Need to see a pic of the mom to be the judge of that.

[sarcasmic]

It's pretty dumb to complain about an anti-nut-punch, guys.

Yeah. I look at it as an unexpected reach-around. Nothing to complain about.

[Drake]

Rural cops are generally okay. City and big agency cops are more likely to be dicks.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

True. In high school, my friends and I cut school and went to Indianapolis to goof around. There was a bar that would serve us, so we got a little liquored up. On the way back to our town, our car broke down. The local sheriff was driving by and stopped. He told us to get in his car, and he drove us back to our houses. Never asked why we were truant, drunk, drunk driving or anything. Just some light conversation and a free ride home.

[Hyperion]

I don't know how much that is true about the small town vs. bigtown cops.

I remember one time, I was 17 years old and me and some other guys were driving back from a rock concert in Cincinnati. We were totally drunker than shit and stoned too. We got lost. This was close to city center.

One of the guys said 'pull over to that gas station up there and I'll ask directions'. So I did.

I stopped and the guy got out and was walking up to the gas station office door. I was just spacing out and looking straight ahead for a few moments, and then I looked back towards the station and to my horror what did I see? A cop car, with my friend, who was the drunkest and most belligerent of all of us leaned over talking to this cop. All I could think is 'Oh, fuck me, we are so fucked'.

Since my drivers side window was down, I could hear the entire conversation. My friend was saying 'So, we were just driving back from the concert and we're lost, man! Can you tell me how...' Then I hear the cop giving him directions and then 'You look like you need to go home and sleep it off, that's what you better do before you get into some trouble'.

Holy fucking shit. I think a small town cop may have been more likely to give us a really bad time.

[Almanian!]

Not my experience. Cops in my little hick hometown were notorious dicks who liked to show everyone who had AUTHORITAH.

My best interactions have always been with State pigs. Sheriffs...mixed. City cops....mostly suckitude, regardless of city zize.

YMMV

/anecdotes

[jesse.in.mb]

The cops I've dealt with in the beach cities have generally been really nice, and I tend to be a little surly when dealing with cops.

CHP and state troopers on the other hand can sound themselves with a rusty wire hanger.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Sound = ?????

[Heroic Mulatto]

This is a set of urethral sounds, they go in your urethra.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Are these medical devices or some kind of fetish thing?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yes.

[jesse.in.mb]

Enjoy some emotional distress.

[Free Society]

This is no less than the second time in two weeks that you've reached out through the internet and punched my dick.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Let me make it three

Reddit.com/r/spacedicks

Click if you dare

[Episiarch]

You could have just linked to some Mapplethorpe pictures, jesse.

[Episiarch]

Of course jesse hates Ponch and Jon.

[AlmightyJB]

I'm sure the words Ponch and Jon mean something else both sexual and horrible to Jesse.

[AlmightyJB]

Ohio State Troopeds are total assholes as well. I've run into a number of pretty cool columbus cops and franklin county sheriff deputies. Some dicks but certainly not all.

[Libertymike]

Like a June night in December - in Manitoba.

[Almanian!]

AND NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED!

Thanks, Lenore! And good on the cop, fer reelz.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"...The praise makes me feel good but any officer would have done what I did," Pierce said.

Covering for bad cops. Typical.

[Free Society]

Systemic.

[jesse.in.mb]

A Toddler Wanders Near a Busy Street. This Cop's Response May Surprise You.

GRAH! The Buzzfeedification of Reason headlines is complete.

*Throws tantrum*

/tantrum

[MJGreen]

Handymen HATE him!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Top Ten Reasons You Should Read Reason

[Free Society]

**UPDATE**The family's dog was shot as the officer exited the home. **UPDATE**

[HeirToLiberty]

Reason, I love you. Srsly. We need to talk, though.

I'm willing to forgive this one, because it was probably unintentional, but can you please not do clickbait headlines?

[Christophe]

I think it was meant as a joke. Hopefully.

[Brandon]

This was actually a surprising reaction.

[Lady Bertrum]

I've always had decent experiences with cops. Got let go on speeding tickets and such.

[sarcasmic]

So you've never been the victim of a crime, and never been accused of a victimless crime.
I've been both. They don't give a shit about the former, and they take the latter personally.

[Brandon]

A "victimless" crime is actually a crime against police authority, and that is completely unacceptable to most police.

[sarcasmic]

Isn't that what I said?

[Brandon]

...In retrospect, yes.

[ant1sthenes]

Well, she probably seems like a very nice lady, and you just look like Trouble.

[LynchPin1477]

Same here. A few months ago I got pulled over for going 100 km/hr in a 70 km/hr zone (metric system, bitches). Not only was my insurance out of date (who knew?), but I also didn't sign the registration slip, which is a fine (who knew?). The cop only dinged me for the least costly violation (not signing the registration) and didn't give me any points. And this was in Quebec! And I don't speak French!

I was completely let off another time back in PA when doing 70 in a 50 (this time in mph. Imperial system, bitches). And other incidental exchanges with cops have always been fine, leading to my impression that most cops aren't really all that bad, and some are really good. Though when they are bad, they can be really bad.

[Episiarch]

You can go a long way by not being a minority and being totally polite to police officers who pull you over for various reasons. But all it takes is the wrong cop pulling you over on the wrong day (their wife just left them for someone who looks like you, or they have a terrible hangover, or they got made fun of by the other cops that morning and need to AUTHORITAH someone, etc), and all of a sudden you're having a really bad day.

Which is why I avoid any contact with the police as much as possible, even though the occasional times I have had to deal with them, it was mostly ok. Because I have run into the cop having a bad day, and it wasn't fun.

[sarcasmic]

They can be just as bad on their good days. "Woo hoo, what a wonderful day to crack some skulls! I just might whistle while I work!"

[Episiarch]

Yes, I guess my point is that you never know what you're going to get. Which makes it dangerous as hell, because these people can kill you or beat you and not face any consequences for it.

[WDATPDIM!?]

Check your hotness privilege, Lady.

[REMant]

Do they have busy streets in Butler County?

[aistamn]

El Dorado is 12,000-13,000 population. Highway 54 runs east through the town, so there are some freight lines that run from Wichita that way. I-35 clips he western edge of town. So some busy streets, for a town that size.

[DrAwkward]

This officer is a new dad, so maybe he hasn't been on the force too long either. Sounds like a rookie mistake, but I'm sure he'll get with the program soon.

[AlmightyJB]

Also, an honest politician.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....an-MP.html

[Brandon]

...I would. But I am disappointed that she apologized. Guess she hasn't been in politics long enough to become "independently" wealthy yet, so she still needs the gig.

[Sudden]

Not sure if this one made it into PM links, but I figure it's too late to get any exposure there, so here you go:

9th Court Judge Says Bring Back the Guillotine and/or Firing Squad

[AlmightyJB]

I totally agree. You want to kill somebody, let's not fucking sanitize it. Guillotine works everytime.

[Sudden]

Of course it was Kozinski, perhaps the most libertarian jurist in the entire federal judiciary.

[robc]

Moreso than JRB?

[Sudden]

I think so.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Kozinski generally kicks ass.

[robc]

Is Tulpa here?

What, only the negative cop stories?

[John Galt]

And the real Cleopatra was a dog.

[Jayburd]

I had an idea to start an execution tourism business in the Middle East after my buddy saw an execution on a street corner in Saudi. Trouble was, they didn't give any advanced notice.

[twoskinsoneman]

Ugh. It's depressing that it's NEWS that a cop decides not to destroy a family at the slightest opportunity to do so.

[Charles Easterly]

I was hesitant to read this article/story by Lenore Skenazy but am glad I did.

So shines a good deed in a weary world.

[Flemur]

The grandmother and mom didn't know how to install the locks ...

So they were, like, major retards?

twoskinsoneman:
It's depressing that it's NEWS that a cop decides not to destroy a family at the slightest opportunity to do so.

It's fake.

[Kristian H.]

"Put simply, what I'd like to do is see the first two years of community college free for everybody who's willing to work for it."

Seriously? I have a free $2000 if you are willing to work for it. Specifically, paint my house. Oh, you mean government work? Well, I don't have anything that easy. Sorry.