My attitude in my interactions here mirrors closely how I deal with people in the wild.
Two weeks ago I detained a guy for running a stop sign in a residential neighborhood. As I contacted him and gathered his documents, I advised him why I pulled him over; this was about 10 minutes after I cited the woman who ran a stop sign with her child in the car and then proceeded to lie to me. Anyway, as I'm walking back to the patrol car to run him, I observed a young woman walk up to his truck and enter the vehicle. I allowed that to occur based on the environment, my assessment of him, his attitude, my reasoning for detaining him, etc. I had already decided he was getting a ticket the moment he committed the violation because stop signs/traffic enforcement were my focus(es) that day between the crime calls. When I approached his truck to administer his fate, I introduced myself to the woman who was now in the passenger seat. I learned it was their first date, so I immediately felt empathetic towards him. He asked me, "
Will this affect my hiring process with department XYZ and your department? I have my physical agility approaching." I ran him through a series of questions to see if he was trying to bullshit me, but he seemed credible. Empathy won! I took the ticket back and told him to slow it down and obey the laws (...
at least majority of them) if he's serious about this career. Deputy - 0 (...
if I don't include the liar), empathy - 1!!!
That was my good deed for that day. The next traffic stop I performed resulted in an arrest. Deputy - 1, empathy - none!!!!
