For Every Action There's a Reaction.

Prosecuting police officers for the killing of a homeless man was a pretty thankless job. So much so, that no one wanted to do it.  

The DA had conflicted out because she worked with the officers’ police department on a daily basis. And none of the other DAs, throughout the state, were willing to take on the case as a special prosecutor.

It was a really high profile shooting, with national media coverage, and polarized positions about the shooting. Not just locally, but nationally too. 

One of my attorney clients stepped up to fill the void. It’s just who she is. She’s always been willing to take on the challenging cases. And she built a very successful practice doing so. 

And she took this case on pro bono. Sparing the taxpayers a significant amount of money.  

Over the years, I worked on many cases with her. Including a recent police shooting case on the civil plaintiff side, where we achieved great results at trial.

So she asked me to do some investigation work on sensitive aspects of the case. And to do so pro bono as well. She asked me to do the work because she didn’t feel comfortable with having the police assigned to the prosecution, who were from the same department as the shooters, handle the sensitive work.

Yeah. It’s unwise for a police department to investigate its own. But that’s for another day.

Eventually the case went to trial, ending in a hung jury. 

Although unsatisfying to both of the polarized camps, it was a good result. As it’s nearly impossible to seat a jury without at least one juror, believing that the police are always right in their actions, even if the evidence says otherwise. 

Shortly after the trial, the lawyer asked me to work with her firm on workplace violence prevention and personal safety.  

There were people angry over the officers’ prosecution, and people angry that the police officers weren’t convicted. And both sids were lashing out as Americans now regularly do when they disagree over something. 

As Jerry Garcia used to sing, if the thunder don’t get you, the lightning will. 

According to the most extensive survey conducted on violence targeting lawyers, surveying lawyers from multiple states and practice types, about 40% of lawyers have been threatened with violence or physically attacked, because of the work they do.  

So, conducting a safety assessment and a training for the law firm was a good idea in general, and not just in response to the response to the prosecution. 

A big concern for the firm was the location of the building. It was easily accessible on foot and by car, and the parking areas were open allowing anyone to drive or walk right up to the building, or to approach someone getting out of their vehicle in the parking lot.

And in addition to that, there were safety concerns for the partners and staff going to and from the different area courthouses, which as trial lawyers they did frequently.

Here’s some of what we worked on together:

• Assessed the perimeter security. Including all entry and exit areas, lighting, and looked at early arrival and late departures practices. We also reviewed visitor check in practices, including the layout of the waiting area. From a safety position, the goal was to make it more difficult for anyone to lay in wait for the attorneys or their staff, to reduce as much as possible the amount of time that an attorney or staff member were by themselves in a vulnerable position, and also to make sure that no one was able to roam about the office building unattended.
• Recognizing potential safety threats before they could become a direct threat to safety. We did a lot of work on recognizing potential safety threats and what to do if they encountered someone threatening their safety. We reviewed approaches for inside and outside of the building, in the parking lot at work, on routes to the courthouse, and even while at the court house despite there being court security. This was really important to do because if a safety threat can be spotted early enough, that safety threat can be avoided, or at least prepared for. We also covered parking lot safety extensively since it’s the 3rd most common location for a violent attack.
• We examined the ways an attack was most likely to occur. Including the types of weapons that could be used, and drilled different approaches to keeping safe and creating the opportunity to exit safely when different types of attacks happen. Changing the dynamics of an attack, and self-defense are critical skills to have, since most attacks rely on the element of surprise and happen without any chance to de-escalate or to take other interim safety steps.

These are just a few of the areas that we worked on. In today's reactive world, the work professionals do can be seen through different lenses. or many professionals, Workplace violence prevention, and personal safety require you to take a holistic approach that starts with a safety assessment, and works through the different variables of a potential attack to help keep safe.

My free workplace violence prevention checklist is a great road map for designing a workplace violence prevention plan. Download it here. 

If you'd like someone to guide you step-by-step through the process of designing your workplace violence prevention plan check out my Protect Your Employees, and Your Bottom Line, From the Harm Caused by Workplace Violence Workshop here.