Jumping the gun - you aren't always right
The Dallas Morning News recently had a story about an English teacher who had been accused of sexually assaulting a student. Unfortunately, there is nothing unusual about that. However, the story quickly took an unusual turn. The following day the alleged victim contacted the reporter who covered the story, and explained that nothing had happened with the teacher. Instead, she said only stated something happened after the police officer refused to accept her denials.
You might wonder how that can happen. The fact is that does, and there probably a number of reasons for that. Most people are intimidated by police officers; young people are probably more intimidated. Most have been taught to respect authority, which certainly includes police.
As this case demonstrates, sometimes police won't take no for answer. In that situation, you have two options; either stick to your story, and be uncomfortable, or tell them what they already believe. You might wonder why they don't just get up and leave, but do you really think a teenager is going to do that.
Many times police investigators have made up their mind about what happened. Many times they are right, but when they aren't bad things can happen. Psychologists call this "overconfidence basis"; you are convinced you are right, and refused to accept the possibility you might be wrong. It can creep up, without any conscious effort - in fact, most people don't realize it's happening. It's a dangerous thing to do when someone's freedom and liberty are on the line. You often hear police officers say they can tell when someone is lying to them. There is no doubt they have a lot of experience in interviewing people. However, the fact is that no one, no matter how experienced, is good at discerning the truth. Research suggests that at best some of us may be right slightly more often than we wrong.
It's not hard to uncover the roots of wrongful convictions; this is it. In almost every case there was evidence that could established someone's innocence. The evidence was either ignored, or not followed up on because the police were sure they had the right person. Sometimes they were absolutely sure, which points out another problem. The more convinced you are of something doesn't mean you are more likely to be right.
Police officers have to make decisions, and form judgments. You can't expect them not to. Like anyone else, they can make mistakes. The best we can hope for is they recognize the possibility that they may not be right.
