Public Messaging: From service to stardom.

Captain Clay Higgins calls himself a patriotic American. Others refer to him as America’s toughest cop or even “The John Wayne of Cajun Country”. He’s most known for his viral Crime Stoppers videos where he speaks directly to the criminals in an intimidating and demeaning manner as opposed to the traditional method of addressing the Crime Stoppers audience (potential witnesses or people who could send in their tips to help solve crime).

Higgins’ tone has raised a few eyebrows but overall, he’s been more popular than not and has aired regularly on local TV. He caught the attention of Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show in 2015 as well. And many cops think that, after seeing all they’ve seen and done all they can do,  he’s just saying what they want to say and it’s how they feel about the criminals they go after.

A few weeks ago, Captain Higgins posted another video (seen below) and it caused quite the controversy.

After this video, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) spoke out against Higgins saying he was ignoring the constitutional right to a fair trial (ABC News, 2015), meaning he was speaking to people without considering they were “innocent until proven guilty”.

A week later, pressured by the bureaucracy of his police department, Captain Clay Higgins turned in his badge and willingly resigned. In a press conference, he said:

“I would rather die than sacrifice my principal…People believe in the message and it’s about courage and standing up for what’s right and that’s what I’m doing today….I am not concerned and will continue to not be concerned about the gnashing of teeth from the very small part of the population that has a problem with the truth.” (Captain Clay Higgins, 2016)

But did the Captain take it too far? Was his messaging unethical or do you think there’s a place in society for harsh and intimidating messaging towards criminals?

According to Clay Higgins’ Facebook page, as of March 11th,  he’s received 26 television show offers (reality show types) and he says “the prospects are very very high”.

But, if police are not willing to showcase this style of messaging and the ACLU are against it, do you think it’s acceptable if positioned as a reality TV show?