Police Shootings Risk Analysis and Activation Protocol
Risk Analysis
There has been an increase in the trend of police shootings in the US. Data from Statista indicates that there were 1,021 fatal police shootings in 2020, 999 in 2019, and 292 in the first four months of 2021 (Statista, 2021). With the rise in police shootings, the organization needs to acknowledge the risk of such incidents taking place within the premises or the likelihood of one of the staff getting involved in such an incident. An incident of police shootings at the workplace would have significant emotional and psychological effects on the affected employee as well as the rest of the staff. The thought of witnessing a colleague go through such an incident would be traumatizing for the staff, damaging to their mental health, and might elevate distress as they may be unsure about their own safety.
The families of the affected employee may blame the organization for failing to defend their loved one and may face psychological distress as they try to defend the character of their loved one (Alang et al., 2017). Generally, such an incident would reduce the productivity of the employees, particularly the affected employee, if they have...
Further, the rest of the staff would need to take time away from work to organize protests, grieve, attend court proceedings, or organize funerals. The organization would be forced to deal with reputational issues that could drive customers away, especially if they believe that more could have been done. Thus, police shootings place a significant risk on the organization. To minimize these risks, there is a need to develop a crisis management plan directing the staff on how to respond and act when faced with a crisis of this
nature.
Activation Protocol
Triggers
This plan provides a mechanism to ensure that threats of violence related to police shootings are addressed before they occur whenever possible. The protocol is intended to identify threats of violence and address the threats before they are carried out. The plan applies to any organization-sponsored functions or events, whether or not they are carried out on the organizations premises. The staff are to immediately put this crisis management plan into action in case of the following imminent warning signs that a police officer if behaving in a way that is potentially dangerous to self or others (Virginia Department of Education, 2002):
a) The officer is carrying a firearm or any other weapon and has threatened to use it
b) The officer has presented a detailed plan (time, method, place) to harm or kill
c) The officer exhibits severe rage for seemingly minor reasons
d) Serious physical fighting between the law-enforcement officer and a colleague
e) Altercation and destruction of property
f) Detailed threats to use lethal violence
Any member of staff, upon perceiving a threat based on these imminent warning signs shall:
a) Assume the threat to be serious
b) Immediately report the threat to the designated authority
c) Be available and cooperative in providing a statement of information to the authorities and their anonymity shall be guaranteed
Next Steps
Once…
