I admire anyone who can work as a Correctional Officer, in Texas or anywhere else. I spent over a decade as a Texas Peace Officer and I can assure you that I felt much safer on the mean streets than I imagine that a Correctional Officer can feel while surrounded by hundreds of people who want to hurt or kill him or her, people who have the numbers and the advantage all on their side. As a police officer I have faced two, sometimes three people alone, but never twenty or thirty, or even a who cell block full. I would much rather face an armed assailant one on one then to try to supervise many people who are supposedly unarmed, but any one of whom could possess some weapon clandestinely made and concealed.
On the other end of the prisoner spectrum, the Correctional Officer may be called upon at any time to try to subdue an unarmed but very strong, very violent person. The act of using one's physical power to subdue to a violent person can pose as much of a risk as attempting to disarm an armed prisoner. Officer Tedder was in fact involved in an incident in which she had to subdue a violent prisoner. The incident left Officer Tedder exhausted, as it would any person. Officer Tedder had trouble breathing after the incident and decided to walk to another area of the unit to rest and recover. A short time later she collapsed. Fellow Correctional Officers came to her aid and performed CPR but were unable to revive Officer Tedder. She was pronounced dead a short time later. Medical authorities suspect that Correctional Officer Shana Tedder suffered a heart attack during her contact with the prisoner.
As I said before, I would not be willing to do the job that Correctional Officers are called upon by society to do. Frankly, I do not have the nerve to be locked in the prison with all those prisoners. There was a time that Correctional Officers were viewed as ranking lower on the scale of "importance" than "real" Peace Officers. The truth is that Correctional Officers face all the dangers that policemen face and more, and may do it with far less help than would be available to officers on the street. Now I am proud but saddened to honor Shana Tedder, Correctional Officer, with the honor due all Texas Officers who give their lives in the line of duty. Correctional Officer Tedder, thank you for your years of service to the people of Texas. May you rest in peace.
I pray that the Good Shepherd comforts Officer Tedder's family and her fellow workers who must go on with their work inside of Texas prisons even as they are in the full grip of shock and pain at her loss. And I pray for the safety of those that must carry on in our state and national prisons, and in local detention centers everywhere.
On the other end of the prisoner spectrum, the Correctional Officer may be called upon at any time to try to subdue an unarmed but very strong, very violent person. The act of using one's physical power to subdue to a violent person can pose as much of a risk as attempting to disarm an armed prisoner. Officer Tedder was in fact involved in an incident in which she had to subdue a violent prisoner. The incident left Officer Tedder exhausted, as it would any person. Officer Tedder had trouble breathing after the incident and decided to walk to another area of the unit to rest and recover. A short time later she collapsed. Fellow Correctional Officers came to her aid and performed CPR but were unable to revive Officer Tedder. She was pronounced dead a short time later. Medical authorities suspect that Correctional Officer Shana Tedder suffered a heart attack during her contact with the prisoner.
As I said before, I would not be willing to do the job that Correctional Officers are called upon by society to do. Frankly, I do not have the nerve to be locked in the prison with all those prisoners. There was a time that Correctional Officers were viewed as ranking lower on the scale of "importance" than "real" Peace Officers. The truth is that Correctional Officers face all the dangers that policemen face and more, and may do it with far less help than would be available to officers on the street. Now I am proud but saddened to honor Shana Tedder, Correctional Officer, with the honor due all Texas Officers who give their lives in the line of duty. Correctional Officer Tedder, thank you for your years of service to the people of Texas. May you rest in peace.
I pray that the Good Shepherd comforts Officer Tedder's family and her fellow workers who must go on with their work inside of Texas prisons even as they are in the full grip of shock and pain at her loss. And I pray for the safety of those that must carry on in our state and national prisons, and in local detention centers everywhere.
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