Should the FBI have 'compassion'?

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Should the FBI have compassion? or any emotion at all, besides determination?
I would rather not be protected by an organisation that sympathsises with suspects; that's what juries are for. I would rather be protected by an implacable protective force,as long as they obey the laws

Justice and compassion are incompatible. I would think that it would disrupt their ability to clearly and fairly apply the law. Emotions would get in the way - the law is black and white. It could also lead to an officer not doing their duty properly or fully, or personally deciding upon what to do instead of following the rules.

I agree that compassion for the suspect could indeed interfere with the investigators' judgment, but I also think that compassion for the victim and the victim's family can be a good thing, giving them a boost to their motivation and determination to solve the crime and giving the rather abstract concept of justice a concrete reality. And I think it is probably something that can't be helped. From what I know, the FBI tends to deal with some very grisly and/or large scale crimes (especially the Investigative Support Unit, which aids local officials investigating cases involving serial murder and rape). Not only are they less likely to sympathize with the suspect such cases, but feeling at least some degree emotion for the victim and victim's family is, I think, unavoidable, and I find that to be a good thing simply because I'd worry about someone who could look upon or hear about a grisly crime (and some of these crimes are beyond terrible) and not feel at least some emotion. These are the best law enforcement officials in the country, and I think they are well-trained and experienced enough not to let their emotions interfere with their judgment. I remember reading in a book by former FBI agent John Douglas, who worked in the ISU, that he and his colleagues often did get quite an emotional reaction to their cases, and that many of them, himself included, had at least one case that haunted them (the book by the way, is called Journey into Darkness, and is pretty good if you are interested in this sort of thing). I also remember him mentioning that FBI agents who work in the missing and exploited children's unit are especially motivated by emotion for their victims; the walls of the unit are covered with their pictures, which are, I think, marked in some way when the child is recovered, and it seems like they will stop at nothing to get every single one of those pictures marked. I don't have any factual basis for this of course, but somehow I just don't think they would be as motivated and determined as they are if there were nothing on the line but a paycheck and an abstract (as opposed to concrete) idea of justice.

I believe everyone and everything should have compassion, but it should be guarded by cynicism and realism. One must be understanding and empathetic, without letting oneself be manipulated by lies.

They're just saying "Hey, we're the good guys. Keep that in mind." Don't read so much into it.

"the good guys?" "compassion?" yeah, right

Read this for an example of FBI "compassion":

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... _sue_govt/

Like I said, don't read too much into it. Its intent has more to do with PR than their actual policies.

Exactly. Further more, not having compassion can also lead to one being manipulated by lies.


The law may be black and white, but the world sure isn't.

[quote=summary of midge's post]compassion for victim equals good.[/quote]

I'll give you that. Though i'd be concerned if i was wrongly accused of the child killings, what with their mistaken hatred of me.

Are you sure it's not the other way around? If someone made a false accusation of a horrible crime, an impalcable force would just get the suspect in with no bias, discharge him when it's clear he isn't the murderer. Whereas a compasionate force would do the same, but their judgements would be impaired by emotions, causing further distress to the falsely accused.

Having compassion and treating people compassionatly are two different things. Like all emotions, FBI agents should be carful about the compassion they feel for both suspects and victims as the two are hard to tell apart somtimes. But they should treat all people with compassion as it is their job to set a higher standard and they don't have the luxurary of picking who not to show compassion. Just replace the word compassion with politeness and common human desensy.

But at the base of it, Griff hits it right on the head, its more for PR then anything else. Can't blame them for wanting some good PR. In a world where most people think of the FBI and other law enforcement as a single entity with no concern that it is just a bunch of people doing a job in countless different situations and for inumeral different personal reasons.. Well when a few bad eggs on one coast break the rules and harm some people can put a bad light on other people on the other coast doing nothing but trying to keep people safe, we can forgive them a few vague positive adjectives in their mission statement.