Lets see someone explain this one away with theory....
Feb. 11: Video showing unarmed transit guards watching a girl being beaten on a bus tunnel platform has prompted Seattle authorities to review security rules. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35357269#35357269
Here is another topic for discussion, involving the role of private security guards. It's one of the cases where you damn if you do something and damn if you don't do nothing. I will agree from a societal moral relativism reaction that one of them should have intervene. It have gotten to the point no one want to except responsibilities. As you mention in class the other day as an example: There was a theft taking place in the parking lot...and a crowd gathered to see...you witness it and many others but due to you having to be at an appointment in a few minutes you pass it on to someone else to wait on the responding security personnel to explain what happen. The same hold true to this incident, they following their company policies but is ridicule by the public by their actions. What kind of respect will now be shown toward security guards? No kind of respect at all. Of course, the company will try to say changes will be taking place about their policies because of the embarrassment of your procedures led to an individual getting extremely hurt. It have brought a negative image on their company and those working for them in the eye of the public. On the other hand, if the guard would have gotten hurt from the incident, it would have probably been a reverse response and the company would have involved their company policies to cover themselves against liabilities from the guard being hurt. Our society react to things that bring out negative images in life after it have happen.
ReplyDeleteWow! after watching the video of the 2 young girls fighting, I was shocked. I have seen this happen before and it is always heartbreaking to see this kind of anger and violence in juveniles. The video and other articles did not say whether the girl was arrested or what happen in the aftermath. Someone could have been seriously injured for life. There is a lot more to this story. It didn't appear to be gang related because it was just only the two girls fighting. Both girls needs to be in a violence prevention curriculum as part of a health education program for information on constructive emotion and the danger of anger and violence. Dr. Larry Siegel suggested that, having students analyze the precursors to a fight and practice avoiding fights using role-play and videotape would really help juveniles with their peer pressure and other social issues. But did the system fail these two girls? What if one of them died ? Does it takes the death of someone to put good programs in place to prevent this kind of violence?
ReplyDeleteThis video to me is nothing new. For the most part because these were two security guards who were unarmed. they were told to report what they observer happened. This was an easy task for them. not only did they not have to intervene but they probably saw this as a form of entertainment. in this case since it was two girls they probably beleived no harm was being done. no one wanted to intervene because they saw two security guards and they beleived the security guards would intervene. The security guards were told that they were suppose to observe so they probably figured someone else would intervene. The problem with this type of thinking is everyone believes somoene else will do it but in reality nothing gets done. So the problem continues until someone is either badly injured or killed.
ReplyDeleteWatching the video was hard, but to be completely honest if you really think about it, what would you do in a situation like this? A big part of this is diffusion of responsiblilty. None of the onlookers did anything because they expected the security guards to handle the situation. The security guards did nothing because they were unarmed and may or may not have even been slightly entertained. The report claims the security guards "technically" did their job. They called 911 and then reported what they had witnessed. Like I said before, what would anyone else have done in this situation? If it were me I think I would have done exactly what the security guards did. I would have called 911 and waited for the police to arrive so I could explain what I saw. A lot of people may not have even done that much.
ReplyDeleteHow can someone stand and see something like this happen? It is a scary thought to think that private security cannot do anything to protect you. This is an example of how private policing has not changed much from back in the 1970’s. Where do we draw the line? Just because the security guards did not have any weapons that does not mean that they could have not done anything to stop what was going on. So, if the girl would have been beaten to death by this other girl they would have be legally justified because they did their job by calling 911. If they cannot do anything then what is the point of them being there anyways.
ReplyDeleteI would hate to be in that situation, where you are watching something happen, but if you intervene you take a chance of litigations being brought up against you. That is like being stuck in-between a rock and a hard place. This kind of reminds me of the story about the lady in New York that was raped and yelled for help, but the people just watched or told her to be quite. I wonder why bystanders don’t step in and help. Is it not passed down from evolution in humans to help others in distress? To have a successful business the owners should want to have the best employees and employees that can do their job well. This takes education, or classes to help them learn the skills. So spend the extra money to have a successful business. The sad thing is this is not how most business owners think. When one is not willing to send the money, why not equip the security guards with pepper spray and give them some training on how to handle fights, or disputes. Honestly are they to only watch if someone is being murdered. All kinds of crimes can happen in a subway, so if they are going to have security guards then let them be able to do the job of making the people feel secure. How is anyone going to feel secure when security’s job is only to watch if a crime is being committed?
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video, the two women fighting really caught me by surprise. Even if the unarmed private security guard’s are only supposed to observe and report, it is only moral to stop a fight that is getting that out of hand. If I was in their shoes I believe that I would risks losing my job to stop this brutal beating from going any farther. At the end of the video you can see that the woman on the ground is practically defenseless as she gets kicked in the face. I understand that these private security guards are supposed to only observe and report, but that should be to an extent. If an occurrence like this is taking place they need to step in and at least stop it before this simple fight becomes deadly. The Seattle authorities need to revise their security rules to give these private security guards more power before the people of the city just think that they can get away with anything in the transit tunnel. What are the guards there for if there just going to watch all the crimes take place? Even if they do report the crimes that take place I bet most of the people that commit the crimes get away without being punished. I just think that it is sad that something like this has to happen for the Seattle authorities to review their security rules.
ReplyDeleteI think that was horrible for so many security guards and on lookers to stand by while that girl was being beaten. I understand what the policy of observe and report, however, I do believe that human instinct of protection should kick in when you see one person being severely beaten by the other. This is no longer an equal fighting ground. So is security supposed to “observe and report” if someone is being raped, stabbed, etc? At what point do your instincts kick in and become the voice of reasoning to stop this before someone dies? Does death have to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?
ReplyDeleteJust because these guys were security guards does not mean they cant be good people. the right thing to do in this situation would have been to stop the fight. one girl was getting her head kicked. does that not send a red flag to stop the fight. these guys wanted to see a girl fight. they should have stopped the fight and at least sent them somewhere else. people are going to get into fights. when there is multiple security guards around something should have been done about the situation, it should not have been taken to that extreme. the security guards should lose there job, what kind of business owner would want this kind of publicity?
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for the girl that was on the ground getting kicked in the face it looked like. I honestly don't know if I would try to intervene if I saw security there I think I would probably just call 911. Some people say they would do something to stop the problem but I think you really don't know what you will do until you are in that situation. The security guys in the video looked like they were trying to do something but then there is just one security that kind of just pushes the girl that is beating the other one, but she doesn't stop. Everyone around looks like they were waiting for the security to do something but nothing was done. Yeah, yeah observe and report is what their suppose to do but if it was one of their friends or someone they knew getting beat up and kicked in the face I'm sure they would have done something about it. Their job of Observing and reporting should really be changed or they should give them something to protect themselves or others.
ReplyDeleteWOW! That is just crazy. Law enforcers who are suppose to protect citizens, control crime, and maintian public order, are not their their jobs. Ha, Ha, Ha. To me it looks like the bystander effect is taken place and this can be explained by "diffusion of responsibility" (theories of psychology). In this case there were three officers. As long as one of them is thinking that the other will start interfering with the fight, the others are not going to do anything and wait for the others to do something. Diffusion of responsibility explains that as the number of people that are present increases, the amount of responsibility to complet a task decreses. For example, in a game of tug-o-war, when blindfolded, people tend to pull harder as to if they were not. Meaning that while one sees that others are pulling, why pull as much since others are there.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me that theses officers did nothing to stop these girls, but it happens.
I'm completely surprised by the video. The so called "security guards" should be called or named something else because they did nothing to provide security within the bus platform. This is horrible and what's more shocking is that this recorded evidence is proof that civilians will not provide help in an emergency because of the place they are in; where there are many other available people that COULD help. This is because of this social phenomenon called the "Bystander effect". For example, (a much less shocking one) a girl is walking down the hallway with tons of books in her arms and they fall down. There is only one other person near her when this happens and more than likely that person will help her. However, if she were to drop the books where there are a lot of people, more than likely nobody will help her because there are tons of people around her that COULD help her. It's pretty surprising how this happens, but I'm still shocked that these so called "security guards" didn't do anything at all. All they did was stand there and witness the fight. That was very wrong of both guards, each of them was putting the responsibility on the other, causing them to do nothing at all.
ReplyDeleteI honestly cannot believe that actually happened. I believe that the security guard not stepping in to seperate the fight is completely ridiculous. If you are put in a position of security what arer you securing if all you do is "observe and report". This happens though because of dumb laws that can actually get the security guard in trouble if he tries to intervene. That's a problem with the criminal justice system today you can't actually do something that is morally correct because we are scared of getting sued. For example, if you try to save someone that is about to die and they end up dying you could end up with murder charges. I believe we need to create a system that can achieve goals that are morally correct because im sorry but I don't want to be a person that just looks around at a person almost getting beaten to death because of fear of the law.
ReplyDeleteReally it all comes down to doing the right thing. Even though diffused responsibilty is a regular occurence. it still shocks me everytime i encounter it. Someone there should have taken responsibility and stepped in. The worst part is how we had to wait for an incident like this to happen before the pirvate security force was revaluated. These security officers are there to be a security blanket for the people and they do nothing more than watch their surroundings. Hopefully, a legitimate security force will be put in place to actually protect the people, as opposed to watch them get beaten half to death
ReplyDeleteIn this particular case, we can clearly see the disjunction between what is considered lawful and what is considered human. The private security guards, as far as the law allows, are not in the position to detain and restore order. They are not police officers, therefore any action that they might have taken to quell the violence physically could have been met with litigation against themselves and their company. However, humanly speaking, society sees this as open cowardice and a weakness of private security’s ability to keep us safe. In avoiding litigation and reprisal, the private security guards behaved appropriately. Unfortunately, their decision to observe and report open assault jeopardizes the feeling of safety and credibility that security guards attempt to uphold. It would have been better if the security guards had stepped in and detained the fighters rather than to abdicate the responsibility to law enforcement who could not have arrived in time to stop the violence effectively. In all things, we must ask ourselves these questions: is it legal and is it moral? If we let the law get in the way of doing what is truly right and good we risk losing sight of what makes people human and not law abiding machines.
ReplyDeleteIn many states this sort of thing would be and should be a crime. In my opinion this is a crime of omission. The guards were morally and most likely legally obligated to render aid and they failed to do so. They seen a young girl getting hurt and instead of even investigating further to see if was a real threat or not, they simply stood around and called for help and attempted to make it someone else’s problem. What if that young girl had been one of their sister’s, their mother, or even perhaps their wife? They certainly would have wanted someone to step in and do something more than simply watch and call for help. Regrettably this has turned into a nation that is becoming desensitized to this sort of violence. Very sad.
ReplyDeleteOnce again I know every one is looking at what the security guards should have done ect. But what about the people that were there. They did nothing! We should also evaluate what we teach people in the education system just as much as our laws and rules for security guards. The break down comes from society. We are so worried about the wrong things when teaching our kids that we don’t teach them how to act and react to life. This not only could have been prevented but stopped by someone if they only had better morals.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I’m completely in shock that the security guards did absolutely nothing to help stop such outstanding behavior. It was like they were somewhat amused by the incident. They wanted to watch, instead of putting an end to such deviant behavior. I’m glad the security cameras were working, since the security guards weren’t. Now there is evidence to who fought and to who sat around and watched. I agree with Axle that this is a social phenomenon called the “BYSTANDER EFFECT.” His example was very clear and true. It explains it all. What if these security guards were police officers? When we see men in uniform we tend to feel safe….but as we see in the video the two security guards demonstrated not all men in uniform perform their duties.
ReplyDeleteA theory that can possibly explain the situation at the transit could be the diffusion of responsibility,as previously mentioned, in which individuals assume that it is someone else’s responsibility to react. Even though there may have been some that wanted to help the “fear” of getting involved took over. The culture of fear has been breed in American society by media, opinions, and peers. Sadly, the lack of getting involved doesn’t help the victim. I agree with Elizabeth, thank god for working security cameras.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy! Though their job is to observe and report, they should’ve done the right thing and stopped the beating. Yes we are taught to go by the rules that our work has set for us but there is a time like in this situation that they one should put aside those rules if it prevented one from helping someone from harm or sometimes death. I hope the security force make a lot changes after this incident.
ReplyDeleteIf this were two men fighting would you have the same view on breaking up the fight? I think not. The danger for someone observing this fight were just as real, someone could have pulled a knife or gun and the good samaritan would have been a principal victim instead of a secondary victim.
ReplyDeleteNearly everyone has a cell phone and can call for help, a social responsibility is now the burden the witnesses to do the right thing. The security guard’s hands are tied by the company he works for, much like our police. The procedures have to be followed or the offender escapes punishment for their crime. The witnesses had an obligation to call for help observe and report to the authorities as well as making sure the offender remained on the scene. I know that I would not have had the strength or the knowledge to stop anyone from fighting. No one likes to see someone get hurt, no matter if the aggressor is the one loosing, it is for the people qualified to render aid. Or you could jump right in and take the beating for the person getting whaled on and you would be a voluntary victim. Who is to say if this is just a conflict issue or a deviant act being carried out due to hate? The local law enforcement has a duty to take them both into custody and sort it out.