Most Americans have jobs that require interaction with people. A great many occupations involve dealing with the public at large, which usually means a mix of familiar folks and strangers.
Our behavior in face-to-face situations is guided by our senses and assessments. We're constantly, even subconsciously, acting and reacting to perceived information about eye contact, body language and spoken words, expressions and tones of voice.
If we misread a co-worker in a meeting, for example, we might suffer an uncomfortable moment in front of peers. If we misconstrue a complaining customer's state of mind, we might be subjected to an embarrassing, angry earful.
But rarely does our very survival depend on making quick, correct assessments of people on the job.
Unless that job is police officer.
The Flagstaff, Ariz., police department recently released body-camera video from a rookie cop on a domestic-abuse call two days after Christmas.
The 14-minute video includes 24-year-old Tyler Stewart in his car prior to getting out and walking up to the home of 28-year-old Robert Smith, whose girlfriend had called 911 to report him damaging her apartment in a rage.
I watched a truncated six-minute version, which begins with Stewart exiting his cruiser. It takes him a little more than a minute to walk up an icy alley to the house and knock on the door, which is bordered with large-bulb Christmas lights.
Smith's roommate answers the door and announces Officer Stewart's arrival. Smith comes out of a room wearing a heavy parka and a dark beanie. When Stewart asks if they can talk outside, Smith stops, mumbles something and turns to go back in his room.
As Stewart waits, he takes a couple of steps into the house, peering into the room just as Smith emerges with his hands buried in his pockets.
They walk outside and Officer Stewart's first question is probably textbook protocol.
"Don't have anything in your pockets, any weapons or anything like that?" he asks.
"No sir, I'm just cold," Smith replies, and then tells the officer his tooth hasn't let him eat in days.
After a question about Smith's pain level--"On a 1-10 scale, it's a 12," he chuckles--the conversation moves on to the alleged domestic-violence incident.
The next three minutes or so seem absolutely normal. Smith smiles nervously and appears abashed and contrite as he answers questions about pulling down curtains, spilling nail polish and the dog that was "freaking out" during the argument at his girlfriend's place. Smith even laughs--"Oh, the pumpkin, ha ha"--when Stewart brings up the girlfriend talking about a broken handle or stem.
The only slightly out-of-the-ordinary thing is that Smith's right hand never leaves his pocket.
When Smith trails off in an answer, Officer Stewart suggests a search and moves in closer.
"You mind if I just pat down your pockets real quick?" he asks. Gone is Smith's good-natured smile, and he shifts his body stance, with his right arm farthest from the policeman.
"You don't have anything in here?" Stewart says as he reaches toward Smith's left-hand coat pocket.
"No, no, just my smokes," Smith mumbles while looking down at the ground.
Officer Stewart then says "Okay," and reaches over to Smith's right pocket.
Simultaneously, Smith's eyes come up and a blur of blue steel appears in his right hand.
That's where the video stops. The Flagstaff Police Department redacted the actual shooting, but reportedly what followed were three shots, then the body cam falling to the ground, then three more shots.
Four of the six shots fired from Smith's .22 caliber revolver struck Officer Stewart in the head. He later died from the wounds.
About 10 seconds after the sixth shot, the body-cam audio records a seventh. Smith shot and killed himself with the officer's service weapon.
The video has been described as chilling, harrowing, disturbing. Most importantly, it is enlightening because it reveals the terrifying speed with which a mundane situation can escalate to murder.
Only four seconds transpired between Smith pulling his pistol from his pocket and Officer Stewart lying mortally wounded on the pavement.
It's a painfully demonstrative lesson for those law enforcement critics so trigger-happy about blaming police first any time an unarmed suspect gets shot.
Police can't always tell who's armed and who isn't, and suspects lie without a thought.
Most of the time, a suspect with no gun-crime record standing outside in freezing weather might be innocently keeping his hands warm in his pockets, and a pat-down would prove utterly uneventful.
Use of police force isn't automatically police brutality. When the latter occurs, we have legal punishments for bad officers. When the former doesn't occur fast enough, good officers can end up dead.
As this Flagstaff video shows, police are in constant danger because of their commitment to protect and serve others.
Body cams will become more popular, and as they do we'll get more up-close glimpses into the lethal perils of policing.
Maybe then we'll all be a little slower to judge the split-second, life-or-death decisions officers sometimes confront.
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Dana Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.
Editorial on 01/30/2015