What to do When a Policeman loses touch with Humanity?

Today some friends are burying their father who died last week after his health took a sudden downturn. One of them, Penny got the urgent call to get to hospital. Penny is a conservative driver at the best of times and on this occasion was aiming to get through traffic as best as she could to try to be with her father before he died. Her driving (she admits she was speeding but certainly not at ‘hoon’ level or even the upper end of a fine level) attracted the attention of a Policeman who pulled her over. Getting a ticket was the far from the most significant issue on her mind, and Penny admitted she was speeding, explained what was happening and hoped the Policeman in question would allow her to proceed on her way. Time was of the essence. He didn’t – instead he held Penny up for what seemed like an inordinately long period of time (over 12 minutes), in what, I can only assume was some form of ‘lesson’ whilst he wrote out the ticket. Penny didn’t make it to hospital before her father had died arriving about four minutes after he had passed away. One of our group duly described the policeman in question as in pretty unfrienly terms. Maybe, but that would assume…

the actions of the policeman were deliberate. As an ex Policeofficer I suspect that in this instance, he has lost touch with the humanity aspect of policing. After all, here was an opportunity to assist someone in need. Perhaps a guided escort was possible? Perhaps some understanding was possible? Perhaps a chance to give a quick lecture and a suggestion to be careful. But no. Penny was not speeding excessively – even the ticket shows what the Policeman thought given the fine. Given it is the International year of Solutions, I need to offer one:

This person needs to be given a chance to be re-educated in the roles of policing. Where speed cameras have minimal understanding and offer no discretion or acceptance of context, humans do and the Force ought to give this person an opportunity to re-connect.

He ought to be prevented from issuing any tickets for the next three months – instead, any issues worth pursuing should be done so only by summons. The extra workload and paperwork will allow him to take pause to consider the story of the person and if their story is of minimal relevence, issue a summons. Otherwise he’ll have to listen to the person he is talking with;

And Penny should not have to pay the fine – her loss of not being able to make it to hospital on time to be with her father is a penalty of such significance that the speeding ticket is an insult that merely highlights this officer’s disconnect. So I’ll be offering to pay it on her behalf

A Fork in the Road for the National Party

Mar 9, 2016

Life is full of interesting and not so interesting choices. Some seemingly mundane or innocuous choices turn out to be life makers (and breakers). Occasionally the noisy intensive choices turn out to be little more than a passing zephyr carrying dust. The National Party in Australia have just been presented with a ‘Fork in The…

Read More >

A Common Mistake That Kills Your Ability to Achieve

Feb 23, 2016

It probably does not get much simpler than this – no MBA required, no advanced training needed. And rather than give you the ‘mistake’ I’ll just give you the solution which is this: NEVER mistake the positiveness of Your Intent… with the ACTIONS you have taken! You cannot improve if you convince yourself that ‘good…

Read More >

Xmas and all that paper

Dec 24, 2015

In parts of the world it’s Christmas day, a time for excusing your retail spending on a ‘worthy cause’. Which is fun in some ways and delusional in others 🙂 Don’t allow my grinchness deter you from enjoying today. As for me, I’m delighted that a) my present was wrapped in old newspaper and b)…

Read More >

Victorian Election – who should you* vote for?

Nov 25, 2015

Part of being effective as a futurist is being able to assess potential issues and their impact over time. The Victorian State Election is on this Saturday and though many say that State elections have little bearing on issues we face, our system means that the fluctuations at a Federal level are often countered by…

Read More >

Curing Brain Cancer One Fund-Raiser at a Time

Oct 16, 2015

‘m wrapped to be acting as EmCee for the third year in a row at Blackwood 8’s Celebration of Hope event, raising money to find a Cure for Brain Cancer. And delighted that the event has sold out. But fret not – you can still bid for some great auction items online or make a…

Read More >

Memo PM Turnbull – Your First 100 Hours

Sep 14, 2015

The major party in Australia’s dual party Government, the Liberal Party, has removed their leader Tony Abbott, replacing him with the previous leader, Malcolm Turnbull. PM designate Turnbull may be inclined to spend the first few days appeasing and reassuring his party members that everything will be okay. And that would be a mistake. Public…

Read More >

Picking the Right Futurist for Your Strategic Insights

Sep 11, 2015

When I look at my overall client types, it seems to me that I have two main types of client. The first is a client that has a good business and is generally successful and wants a futurist to help keep them ahead of emerging issues and opportunities. The second main client type is one…

Read More >

The Outsider’s view of the Inside Futures

Aug 26, 2015

As a consultant, one of the great puzzles I consistently discover is the mindset many clients hold with regard to their own abilities to conceive of and pursue, their own approach to futures thinking. I know this is not an issues restricted to futurists as where some clients have a ‘not invented here’ approach to…

Read More >

What the Weather Bureau can do to help this Drought

Aug 17, 2015

I’m going to come back to an idea I first floated back in 2004. By and large it is hard to change societal perceptions. Doing so requires on going effort, time and often resources like money to create marketing campaigns of some description. Unless you have a crisis. And right now it might be fair…

Read More >

How to Stop Japanese Whaling in its Tracks

Aug 17, 2015

Whilst I appreciate the efforts that Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd and the various Australian Governments have given regarding their aims to have the Japanese cease their annual whale harvests, I’m not quite sure they are tackling the issue through the best means available. Sure the confrontational approach of ramming ships, climbing aboard vessels, getting in the…

Read More >