Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
"Sometimes doing the right thing isn't doing the right thing." Schmuck Captain from the movie SWAT.
"You know how it is, Street; sometimes doin' the right thing ain't doin' the right thing." Sgt. Hondo from the movie SWAT.
Those statements are almost identical. Voice inflection and attitude are definitely different. But do they really say the same thing? Not when you think about it. When you think about what each meant they mean nearly the opposite. The Captain is essentially saying to do nothing at all while the Sergeant is saying to do something that probably violates rules but
needs to be done.
It also reminds me of,
"You can court marshal me if I live, sir!" said by Navy SEAL Casey Ryback (in the movie Under Siege).
Of course, he says that to an Admiral while in the midst of a gun battle that he couldn't avoid unless he wanted to sacrifice the lives of his shipmates.
Before I go much further, let's talk about "the right thing". I'm going to reword the statements from the Captain and from Hondo as I understand them.
The Captain is criticizing actions taken by Street and his partner, Gamble, as they rescued hostages in a bank robbery gone bad. Although the actions of Street & Gamble saved lives, they disobeyed an order to rescue the hostages. In this case, the Captain is responding to Gamble's statement that, "Every cop on this department knows we did the right thing." So the Captain's reply, in my opinion means,
"Sometimes to follow orders you have to do something that doesn't sit well morally or ethically."
When Hondo tells Street that "doin' the right thing ain't doin' the right thing," he's talking about catching a bad guy / cop gone bad / murderer / kidnapper (Gamble) in spite of the Captain's order to stand down. In other words,
"Sometimes to do your job and catch the criminal you have to ignore the orders of your superiors."
Hmmm...
These seem in direct conflict, but present an interesting question: What is more important in our lives? The orders of our superiors? Or doing the right (morally and ethically) thing?
That is a decision that we each must make in every different set of circumstances we encounter. It's not up to me to judge whether or not you make the correct choice - any more than it's up to you to judge whether or not I made the correct choice. But when you're alone at night, before you go to sleep, you know the truth...
What's your truth?
