Yesterday I was at a friends office chatting about the market and the upcoming event we were attending. While we were doing this a man entered the office and went into the first room inside and grabbed a laptop computer off the table and ran out. He was seen by one of my friends employees and the police were called.
My friend was pretty irritated by this and when the police arrived some 70 minutes later he let them know how unhappy he was at the fact that it took them so long to arrive. He also noted that he was in a doorman building where a person should not be able to just saunter in and get on the elevator. This is a building in midtown Manhattan where his rent would shock just about anybody who isn’t familiar with Manhattan rates, and there is a significant premium for the “security” of the doorman.
So here’s the reason for the motivation to blog this:
Within 30 seconds the Police officer asks my friend in a tone that can only be described as accusatory why the door wasn’t locked. He essentially dressed my friend down as being irresponsible for not locking his office door during business hours in a building where there is a full time security staff. At that point 3 of the 4 officers that had arrived left and a fourth, a young woman stayed to take a statement. My buddy was pretty upset by this point and was probably a bit less diplomatic than he should be, and this young officer really lit into him for being responsible for the delay in the Police response time because he hadn’t taken enough safeguards to prevent the theft in the first place, and “jobs” like this were so numerous the police were overwhelmed.
At that point I had seen enough, and offered my opinion to this young officer. I told her she was out of line, in a respectful tone of course, and that while my friend could possibly have been more courteous to her and the other officers (and I am not sure he was all that far out of line anyway), that she and my friend were on the same side in this, and the ultimate responsibility resides totally with the thief, period. She started to reply it’s only common sense to take precautions, and I agreed. Precautions like having video surveillance and full time security on site, and paying more money for it than her salary and then some. Emotions were back to a more cordial level at this point and the report was filed and the police were provided with a video from the office camera’s and the building’s security camera’s. Hopefully the thief will be caught and get what’s coming to him.
Now for my commentary:
My friend is about the most generous, honest, and nice guy you’d ever have the good fortune to meet, and he was derided as responsible for his own property being stolen. These officers resented HIM for having their day interrupted to respond to his call! I am certain that the young men and women were good folks, no doubt under the kind of work stress those of us who aren’t in their shoes will never understand, but that in no way excuses the fact that they were reflexively blaming the victim for the crime.
THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CRIME LIES ENTIRELY WITH THE CRIMINAL
If every person in this world had the moral compass of my friend, there would be no need for locked office doors or security cameras. Sadly that is not the case, so we must take precautions to safeguard our persons and our property, but to hold my friend or any honest person responsible for the act of a criminal because they let their guard down is a terrible thing. A blame the victim mentality is cruel to the victim, and harmful to society. We must endeavor to not allow this to permeate our thinking because it serves the opposite purpose to what we intend.
