A Different View

While facilitating a Safe Driver class for people who have been arrested for DUI, aggressive driving, speeding, and distracted driving I have begun to these people and their behaviors differently than I did for 28 years as a Police Officer. As I listen to their stories of what happened and how it has affected their life, I think back on the many people I arrested for DUI, careless driving, or speeding. The overwhelming majority of people in the class express feeling the emotions of shame, regret, fear, embarrassment, and anger. For many, they cannot get passed it and think this defines them. If I realized how people are feeling who I arrested would I have acted differently when arresting someone? I don’t know but it is worthy of thought and consideration. Is this a message new young Police officers in the Academy should receive? How about you? When you listen to the news do you assume something about people who have been arrested and that this defines them? They like all of us need consequences for our actions but shaming and thinking less of them may not be one of them. Remember the parable of the person who was trying to take the speck out of someone’s eye while they had a log sticking out of theirs