Sometimes There's Nothing to Do But Take Full Responsibility

I've been focusing this semester on situations involving law enforcement and how communication has impacted tactical decisions as well as how post-event reactions are handled.

One situation that is unfortunately close to home is that of Victoria Snelgrove, who was a 22 year old Junior at Emerson when she died during celebrations after the Boston Red Sox won the ALCS over the New York Yankees in 2004. She was an innocent bystander in the general vicinity of a crowd of people where police reported that some people where getting out of hand. A gun that fires pepper spray packets was accidentally discharged, hitting Snellgrove in the eye and mortally injuring her. She died the next day.

In the aftermath, the Boston Police took full responsibility. It's really all they could have done, as the facts were painfully clear and there was no excuse for what happened. In some cases, police have been known to "protect their own" when events like this take place. But when the rest of the city was so overjoyed with the Red Sox victory, to try to cover it up of shift blame would not have been well received at all.

The police commissioner, Mayor Menino, and Governor Mit Romney attended Snelgrove's funeral as a show of support and sympathy for the family, and the officers involved were all punished.

This situation was a tragic accident, and by accepting full responsibility from the start, the Boston Police avoided what could have been an ugly backlash from the public.