When citizens elect their leaders, they ascertain that security is paramount as they entrust the role without any doubts whatsoever to the individuals concerned. However, since the leaders cannot partake of the role by themselves, they delegate the role to the authorities that work for the government and ones who are closer to the citizens (Rogers, 2015). As such, to better safeguard the security of citizens, the police officers are entrusted with the major duty of nurturing law and order at the lowest level, thus, maintaining direct contact with the people they serve (Worden, 2015). Even though some of the police partake of the duty that is delegated to them positively, others undertake to abuse their authority to mishandle the subjects they are meant to be protecting in numerous instances of brutality. As such, this paper provides a case where police brutality is shown to conflict with their duty.
Instance of Police Brutality
There was the case of a good nurse bad cop video that went viral in which the medical practitioner was arrested at the University of Utah. This particular case involved Alex Wubbels, who is a nurse at the burn unit, under the Hospital located at the Utah University, and Jeff Payne, who is police at the Salt Lake City Police Department. Even though the nurse tried to complain to the police that she was being physically hurt in the due course of trying to arrest her, the latter went ahead to mercilessly force her wrists into cuffs. Thereafter, he dragged and shoved through the hospital door to his car.
The issue at hand that led to the arrest was that the nurse had refused to violate the rights of an unconscious patient. In as far as the hospital policies are concerned, a medical practitioner does not have the right to draw patients’ blood without their consent. In this case, the patient in question, who was not a suspect of any crime whatsoever, was caught up in a struggle between the nurse and the law enforcement officer. The latter wanted the nurse to draw blood out of the patient, yet the nurse was for the idea that it could not be done owing to two reasons which are self-explanatory; one of which was that the patient was unfit for such an activity and secondly, the patient had not approved of it.
Each of the individuals in the above instance had a duty. The nurse had a duty to the unconscious patient and had to ascertain his or her well-being. The police, on the other hand, had a role to play in ensuring that both the patient and the nurse were in good hands and safe. However, contrary to anticipations, Jeff Payne, the police officer in question, did not bother abide by the duty that was delegated to him and went in as far as disobeying, not only the uniform and the police badge, but also the hospital and police policies (Rogers, 2015). The nurse, in view of trying to prove to the police that she was on the right and he was not, provided a document that contained the policy of the hospital regarding the issue against the withdrawal of a patient’s blood without their consent.
Apparently, the main reason as to why the nurse happened to have found herself in handcuffs and the reception of maltreatment in the hands of the police was because she challenged him. No one is above the law and that includes even the police (Worden, 2015). Therefore, in the course of doing the role that is delegated to them by the authorities concerned, the police ought to understand that their first client is the public, which should be treated with all respect and should enjoy full human rights as anyone else unless proven guilty.
Conclusion
A mere challenge at work does not always mean disrespect, but cases do vary. Police brutality in most instances is not prompted by the citizens but rather the police. The reason is because they do not handle the subjects in accordance with the way the legislations require. In essence, it is high time the police start creating a conducive environment around the citizens and not the tension that rises every time a citizen lays eyes on police. A such, the feeling that is expected when in the presence of law enforcement officers is the sense of safety and security and not fear.
