A panel of professionals who work in dangerous environments met Thursday morning at ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus for the Morrison Institute Policy Roundtable, “How ‘Violence Professionals’ Use and Endure Aggression,” to share their experiences and opinions on violence.
Arizona’s rate of violent crime was about 19 percent higher than the national average in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Our goal is to contribute to the public discussion on this important issue,” said Bill Hart, senior policy analyst for the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at ASU. “Nothing said today should show that we are glorifying violence.”
The panel included NFL and two-time Super Bowl winner Grey Ruegamer, decorated Iraq War veteran R.J. Mitchell, 28-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department Richard Cosenza and mixed martial artist Joseph Benavidez.
A common trend throughout the discussion was the idea that there is good violence and there is bad violence. The question is, what constitutes the two?
“The difference between us and the bad guys is that we have rules,” Cosenza said. “Thugs control other people. They aren’t in control of themselves. The good people are.”
Cosenza is currently a patrol sergeant in the Black Mountain Precinct. With the department’s Employee Assistance Unit, he helped coordinate counseling services for other officers, including post-use-of-force counseling for officers involved in an accident resulting in serious injury or death.
In his counseling, Cosenza would preach expanding life beyond the workplace.
“If you make police work your life it will destroy your life,” he said. “I love my job, but I like to leave it at work when I go home.”
Ruegamer, who played 11 seasons for several professional football teams, stressed the significance of knowing when to turn the violence off.
The NFL has had a rocky reputation as of late, filled with athletes who abuse and beat: from Ray Rice who was captured on camera punching his then-fiancee in an elevator to Jonathan Dwyer who was arrested on charges of aggravated assault against a child and mother. Football can be a violent sport, and players often work themselves into a fury to win.
But violence cannot step off the field, Ruegamer said. Athletes who are violent off the field will be harshly punished or removed from the team, he said.
Much like Ruegamer, Benavidez, who is currently ranked second in the official UFC flyweight rankings, engages in violence based around competition.
Various fighters are drawn to cage fighting because it is an outlet for whatever they need to release. The cage is inevitably a violent environment and often leads its fighters to tough places and rough patches, such as prison or gangs. Benavidez, however, commented that MMA and fighting can be far from that.
Benavidez read a poem that he wrote after his worst loss ever. He was depressed and broken during that time, but pushed through it because he was “born to entertain” and fight.
“I do it for the competition,” Benavidez said. “It’s my job. Somebody has to pay the bills. You just need to know when to turn it off.”
The room got heavy when questions were raised about tolerating violence in war.
Three decades after the Vietnam War, a new Yale University study concluded that male veterans who spent time in combat were more than four times as likely as other men to engage in domestic violence, according to National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence.
“There’s always the stigma of PTSD. For me, there is some level of PTSD,” said Mitchell, the Iraq War veteran, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroic actions during the Second Battle of Fallujah.
He now relies on the challenge of mastering education to stay directed and focused. Mitchell attends ASU’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering and is earning a degree in mechanical engineering.
The next policy forum will be held in March and will cover the topic of guns. More information will be announced.
Contact the reporter at catherineann.nolen@asu.edu
