Why is apologizing so very hard?

November 18, 2009

The following was in today’s Charlotte Sun Editorial section. It’s perfectly written, and what I’ve said all along. I couldn’t have said it better.

CCSO compounds failure by not issuing apology

OUR POSITION: Apology could have prevented black eye for county law enforcement.

Everyone knew this was coming two months ago when Nathan Lee filed suit against the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office over the department’s botched handling of a 911 call that many believe would have saved his wife Denise Amber Lee’s life.

Everyone knew the defense’s lawyers — county taxpayer lawyers — would cite arcane legalese to shelter the department from responsibility. Everyone knew the sheriff’s office would appear callous and arrogant.

Try this on for size: “Absent a special duty to protect a person from being victimized by a criminal act, a governmental agency’s duty to protect a citizen is a general duty owed to the public at large, and any actions taken in fulfilling that responsibility will not be subject to scrutiny by way of a suit for damages.”

None of us as individuals expect personalized protection from the police, as the sheriff’s lawyer wrote in a motion to dismiss the suit — and force Lee to pay for the county’s trouble of defending itself. But to contend the department’s duty is to protect only the “public at large” is such tortured lawyerspeak it defies common sense. Criminal acts almost always are directed at individuals. The sheriff office’s duty is to protect people and their property, not the “public.”

We know sheriff’s deputies put their lives on the line every day with the intent to protect people. We also know they and their bosses are human and therefore imperfect. Somebody messed up that day when Lee was kidnapped, raped and murdered. Sheriff’s office officials compounded the error by conducting an investigation that didn’t even include interviews with then-Sheriff John Davenport, his chief deputy (and current sheriff) William Cameron or Major Dan Libby, who supervises the 911 call center at the center of the lawsuit.

The probe, belatedly overseen by an FDLE official who signed off on the shoddy review, began a disturbing trend of defensiveness and insensitivity that got the department sued. Nathan Lee has repeatedly called on the department to assist his crusade to improve 911 training so somebody else’s wife, mother and daughter doesn’t die. We strongly suspect an admission that the sheriff’s office fell short that evening and a willingness to work with Lee on his training project would have averted a lawsuit.

Instead, we’ll continue to read that the sheriff’s office had no “special relationship” with Lee that bound the department to be “uniquely responsive” to her predicament. The fact is, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office responded in an extraordinary way, in part because Denise was the daughter of one of their own, Sgt. Rick Goff. On-duty and off-duty deputies hunted for Lee as she fought for her life and after she lost that fight. Cameron himself was in the field doing everything in his power to find her.

It wasn’t enough. An apology from Davenport (or later from Cameron) may have spared Charlotte County the shame and expense of having its public servants claim we deserve no special protection. Our deputies and their bosses don’t believe that, but their lawyers — our lawyers — have to say so. And for what? So we can save money that never needed to be spent in the first place?

Much will be said and written as this case plays out in court. Fancy legal phrases and obtuse arguments will fill court files and news pages. But everyone knows it might have been avoided with two simple words: We’re sorry.

Posted in 911 Reform, Denise Amber Lee, News, SW Florida news