Deputy Smithcom Case Study

Read the case study (Deputy Smithcom) on p. 17 (Stevens, 2008). What would you have done differently than Deputy Smithcom? If you were his supervisor, what would you do? In your recommendations, be sure to use at least two crisis intervention strategies outlined on pp. 79-82 ( James & Gilliland, 2017).

Case Study:
Deputy Chris Smithcom was a deputy sheriff at the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana for 10 years. In late 1997 while working night patrol, he received a missing persons report involving a mother and daughter. He proceeded to the station to complete the paperwork rather than answer a disturbance call, which was close to his location. During the drive, the dispatcher advised that shots had been fired at that location and someone was down. A vehicle pursuit was in progress. Several police vehicles respond including Smithcom. The pursuit lasted for 10 minutes and Smithcom and the subject engaged in a gunfight. Both were injured. After Smithcom was hospitalized, he learned that his closest friend had been killed at the original location along with the subject’s wife. Smithcom was devastated because he felt that he should have backed up the call but wanted to start the paperwork on his missing person case. Smithcom was honored by his department for his heroics during the gunfight but he was miserable with grief and guilt. He couldn’t face his dead officer’s family and retreated into his own world of despair. He alienated family, friends, and the department. Smithcom says, “It has been a year and a half of hard work and forgiving and realizing that I didn’t pull that trigger, the subject did. My department and fellow deputies never saw what I have become, or they didn’t want to see.”80 It appears that Smithcom is demonstrating the police “code of silence,” which implies to never show signs of weakness. What would you have done differently than Smithcom? If you were his supervisor, what would you do?Deputy Chris Smithcom was a deputy sheriff at the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana for 10 years. In late 1997 while working night patrol, he received a missing persons report involving a mother and daughter. He proceeded to the station to complete the paperwork rather than answer a disturbance call, which was close to his location. During the drive, the dispatcher advised that shots had been fired at that location and someone was down. A vehicle pursuit was in progress. Several police vehicles respond including Smithcom. The pursuit lasted for 10 minutes and Smithcom and the subject engaged in a gunfight. Both were injured. After Smithcom was hospitalized, he learned that his closest friend had been killed at the original location along with the subject’s wife. Smithcom was devastated because he felt that he should have backed up the call but wanted to start the paperwork on his missing person case. Smithcom was honored by his department for his heroics during the gunfight but he was miserable with grief and guilt. He couldn’t face his dead officer’s family and retreated into his own world of despair. He alienated family, friends, and the department. Smithcom says, “It has been a year and a half of hard work and forgiving and realizing that I didn’t pull that trigger, the subject did. My department and fellow deputies never saw what I have become, or they didn’t want to see.”80 It appears that Smithcom is demonstrating the police “code of silence,” which implies to never show signs of weakness. What would you have done differently than Smithcom? If you were his supervisor, what would you do?

Stevens, D. J. (2008). Police officer stress: Sources and solutions (1st). Pearson. eTextStevens, D. J. (2008). Police officer stress: Sources and solutions (1st). Pearson. eText

Page 79-82 crisis intervention strategies attached.
Also references are listed as well.

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