We are, in the supposedly democratic and developed world, not without terrible events happening on our own doorstep by those that are supposed to be protecting our freedom. Rodney King beaten brutally in the US in 1991 pales in to insignificance compared to Jean Charles De Menezes being murdered by British police because of a poorly executed operation based on flimsy evidence here in the UK, or Alexis Grigoropoulos being shot to death for (allegedly) throwing stones at a police car.

We can now add to this list, along with however many other possible unreported or undiscovered incidents, Oscar Grant, a man being arrested and detained along with several other people on a subway in San Fransisco by transport police, shot in the back despite being restrained by two police officers with another standing by ready to assist. The sad thing is some of his last words are reported to be a fear of getting tazed, in a country that brought us “don’t taze me bro“, he knew he was going to get shot with something while being restrained, little did he know it would be a gun.

Protests have taken place, and unfortunately grown violent, and the officer that murdered this man has resigned his post. With a $25mil lawsuit on the way against the agency this is sure to be a case that re-stokes the issue of police brutality and abuse of power, if not also race relations.

What is utterly unacceptable in this day and age is not just that these tragic things happen…we know that individuals may well gain positions of authority where they can abuse their power, be it through police brutality or more subversive crimes against individual liberty in other areas, and need to remain vigilant and stopping that from happening…but also that our authorities continue to make excuses for these actions from day one without basis for doing so other than loyalty and PR management.

If your employees do something terrible, don’t just jump to their defense. Don’t condemn them either, but at least respect the victims you’ve created by taking a considered and professional view to finding the facts of the matter and dealing with them appropriately. Claiming, as has been reported, that the police officer didn’t realise it was his gun and not his tazer, or that potentially his gun went off while in it’s holster, both easily disputable with the above video, only harms credibility and relations with authorities. Furthermore it disrespects those such as the 4 year old daughter that Oscar has now left behind.