Ferguson Fallout

Throughout the day, the media has been hinting at and downright promoting the news that a verdict would be reached as to whether or not charges will be brought up on Officer Darren Wilson. For months, riots, race baiting, and allegations have been regular occurrences since the shooting occurred in August. Every time news was leaked from Ferguson, the same cycle repeated itself: judgments, accusations, and race baiting.

While there was some speculation to the contrary, the decision not to indict was not a surprise. Given the fact that they knew what was going to happen, I give the people in charge of making that decision a lot of credit for sticking to the facts that were presented. They know that while we cannot say with 100% certainty what happened during the altercation, there is simply not enough evidence to support an indictment.

That is something that seems to be lost on those taking to the streets this evening… no one knows exactly what happened and no one has been able to come forth with evidence that would secure and indictment. Even the eye witness testimonies contradicted one another. Like many things, we were not there so we can’t say for certain what exactly happened.

However, there are more disturbing undercurrents to this whole situation. The contempt that many people feel toward law enforcement that has been on display is itself contemptible. People refuse to acknowledge the nature of the job and the risks that each officer takes on a daily basis. These men and women risk their lives putting themselves in the middle of chaos and are asked to make split second decisions in those moments. They should be praised for the work that they do not chastised for not acting fast or slow enough.

While there are undoubtedly ‘bad apples’ here and there that doesn’t mean that entire departments or law enforcement as a whole should be put on trial in the media. And, when it comes down to it, very few people are willing to put themselves in that position. These people are trained to take the best course of action to ensure public safety and to subdue or eliminate threats to that safety when necessary.

But, honestly, all these riots and protesters aren’t really looking for justice. They were searching for an excuse to violently vent their frustrations with the world. Unfortunately, Darren Wilson, law enforcement, their own community, and, as it turns out, Israel are the ones that have already been convicted of causing their lives to be less than utopian.

Lack Of Communication

No matter how much you plan there are some days when the phone is just not your friend. Not only for what does and doesn’t happen over the phone but because of what happens while you are on the phone. Being connected to three phone lines during the work day, there are moments when I am working on something just waiting for one of them to ring like a communications form of Russian roulette.

It all began in the morning when my cell phone decided not to ring and sent someone directly to voice mail. Understand that I always answer my phone and when this happens it is highly annoying at the least and, when it is a call I am waiting for or generally a call I should take, it bugs the crap out of me. That was just the beginning. When the phone chimed to let me know I had a message (about ten minutes later) I picked up my office line and tried to return the call… voicemail. It would have been nice to have answered the phone as I was unable to get a hold of the publication for the rest of the day.

As the no ring scenario was playing out, I was also sending meeting requests and trying to fit all the pieced together to get another call scheduled for the early afternoon. Juggling three time zones is not as challenging as people want you to believe. With all times and the dial in confirmed it was stored away on my calendar until the reminder popped up to alert me of what I had done earlier in the day. I dialed in and found that one person was missing… can’t staff an interview when only half of the people show up. So back to the beginning. It turned out to be an email issue but I think the phone put it up to the task.

Two hours later, staffing a call to help out a double booked colleague, and this time the reporter was not on the line. At this point I was getting quit frustrated having had absolutely no success on the phone. Finally, toward the end of the day the rescheduled times were coming around and my colleague, for some reason, had me cover the call again despite no conflicts during the new time. We are all busy so I dialed in and everyone was on the line!

Thirty minutes later and the other interview, the one I scheduled, was about to begin. The problem was that the first conversation was running long. Time to multitask and get all forms of communication going at once. I got the second reporter on standby and as soon as the first call ended I brought in the next interviewer and pushed through the next thirty minutes. After over an hour on the phone and multiple follow ups (mostly sending promised files/documents) it was time to circle up with my colleague to make sure everyone was on the same page.

However, there was a slight problem as, while I was on the phone, they decided to duck out the back door and not let anyone know that they was leaving. I literally asked around and no one knew where they were or when they left. It’s one thing if you have to leave a little early, I understand that, but you have to let people know that you are heading out the door (emergency situations being the obvious exception). Well, as I found out later in a 45 minute delayed reply to my text, that they had to be somewhere at 6. No emergency, no client meeting, just somewhere, someplace where their phone is rendered useless and a lackadaisical mentality is acceptable.

On the verge of demolishing most of the phones in the office, my departure for the week was overdue. I packed my things, walked away from my desk, and assisted one of the younger people in the office as they cleaned out their desk, turned in their key, and headed out the door for the final time. I know that feeling and I really felt for them as they packed up their personalized space into a few small bags. I forgot about the phone issues and the long day as I tried to offer my limited wisdom and encouragement. Sometimes things aren’t so bad at the end of the day when you know that the next day has the potential to be much better.