Cranky Old Man

You can't please 'em all

Eric Haines lives in his father's basement in Paterson, New Jersey, just across the street from a freshly anointed memorial to a childhood friend who was shot to death two weeks ago- Haines' second friend to die violently in as many weeks. A white sheet hangs over a chain-link fence, facing an authence of Jesus candles sprinkled with dirt kicked up from a recent rainstorm. A few dozen feet away, several men are gathered outside a corner store, where they will remain past nightfall.That's not your fault.In the 1980s and 1990s- the "tough on crime" eraincarceration was touted as the simple solution to our crime problem. Today, the United States imprisons 1 percent of its entire population. Including the number of people on probation and parole, one in 31 Americans is under supervision of the criminaljustice system. Mass incarceration has succeeded in reducing crime, but the strategy has diminishing returns. The offense rate of the top 20 percent of offenders is more than 10 times that of the average prisoner- a few very active criminals commit most of the crime. But under the current system, offenders who could be more cheaply deterred or rehabilitated instead incur the most expensive- and, from the perspective of its effect on the community, damaging- form of punishment possible. This is why, even as the number of incarcerated people has increased exponentially, crime hasn't decreased at the same rate.The train was slowing down when the accident occurred, but trains pulling into a platform run about 30 mph, said Utah Transit Authority spokesman Gerry Carpenter.It's important to understand that most people who violate parole aren't committing crimes. In New Jersey, a full 81 percent of parolees who return to prison are doing so because of technical violations- two of the most frequent are failing to report as instructed and failing to obtain approval for a change of address. To throw someone back in jail for two years because of a technical violation seems unfair even to probation officers, many of whom are relieved to have more choices. "It gives you other options instead of just locking them up," says Sgt. Albert Kozak, a New Jersey parole officer. "Instead you put them in a place like [residential assessment center] Logan Hall, and they learn their lesson."A. I'm the last person on earth who should tell you there are no stupid calls. Some calls you could use to define the term stupidity. But people always do what they do for a reason, and that reason can be the most important thing you need to learn about them during a one-hour encounter. Are they impaired by chemicals? Are they seeing and hearing stuff you don't see and hear (hallucinating)? Are they being pursued by someone? Those are all answers you need to get while you're still on scene.Haines joined a local affiliate of the Bloods in 2001, and gang life brought him security and fellowship but also criminal obligations. "I wanted to live the street life and get caught up in it," Haines says. "You see guys and all the hot girls, the cars, the jewelry. You're working at McDonald's, you ain't getting that. It's not gonna happen. Why would I bust my ass all day and make like $100, when I can make like $1,000 doing nothing, selling drugs?"-- Lana GrovesQ. Right, but we don't have all night, and this call was outside of our normal response area. You would think, now that the crisis is over, this guy would be a little more reasonable. And now we have a complaint in our files.A. Actually, that's unreasonable. Trouble's your game. If you don't get at least a couple of complaints a year, you've been lucky. Most of the people you meet on calls are in some kind of crisis. If you just stop and think about it, anger is a fairly common response to crisis. Some people lie, some people laugh, some people cry, a few take it in stride, and lots more get mad. Sooner or later a few of those folks who get mad are going to blame their problems on you, no matter how well you treat them. And, you know what?

Thom Dick has been involved in EMS for 39 years, 23 of them as a full-time EMT and paramedic in San Diego County. He is the quality care coordinator for Platte Valley Ambulance Service, a community-owned, hospital-based 9-1-1 provider in Brighton, CO. Thom is also a member of EMS Magazine's editorial advisory board. Reach him at boxcar_414@yahoo.com.

Author: Dick, Thom