In his 10 Deadly Errors, Chief Pierce Brooks defined Preoccupation as worrying about personal problems while on duty. He called that the hard way to solve the problem. I agree and I think this is still a problem. However, there is more types of preoccupation nowadays. I will focus more on this in part 2.
As for personal problems, I have seen time and again good police officers keep themselves distracted by drama in their personal life. Life's normal distractions like sick children, deaths in the family, job loss of a loved one, and many more normal problems can loom large in anyone's life, including that of a police officer. Why do we continue to add to these problems? Shift work is hard enough on a marriage, why add infidelity to the mix? Why risk your pension? You already may not spend enough time with your kids, so why make that time even less?
One of the most glaring examples of personal life drama is from 2012 and the time then-Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino received a very public lesson in integrity:
http://espn.go.com/ncf/story/_/id/7798429/arkansas-razorbacks-fire-bobby-petrino-coach
His boss, Athletic Director Jeff Long said, "In short, coach Petrino engaged in a pattern of misleading and
manipulative behavior designed to deceive me and members of the athletic
staff, both before and after the motorcycle accident." Petrino's demise came after the married coach wrecked his motorcycle with his 25 year old girlfriend on the back. This exposed his using university money to get her a job. Caught in the fall-out was a Captain with the Arkansas State Police who was dinged for accepting free season & bowl tickets and a $225 Sugar Bowl ring.
http://espn.go.com/ncf/story/_/id/8098662/arkansas-razorbacks-panel-finds-bobby-petrino-trooper-likely-broke-law
http://espn.go.com/ncf/story/_/id/7793690/trooper-called-arkansas-razorbacks-coach-bobby-petrino-report-released
In short, integrity matters and no single person is bigger than the organization:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv9zpdTmt-k
Needless drama can pop up even with the single officers. They seem to have a pathological need to flirt or attempt to date every woman they encounter. Sadly this can even end up a criminal act. This officer in England lost his job and almost his freedom because he couldn't contain himself around a domestic violence victim:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7367395/Police-officer-who-had-sex-with-domestic-violence-victim-spared-jail.html
This horrible story from New York is full of problems from the start.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-cops-admit-wrongdoing-jobs-article-1.2143564
Looking at the above case from a risk management perspective, why go drinking with your rape victim? First problem right there.
Keep your mind on your job!
Monday, November 30, 2015
Friday, November 6, 2015
Deadly Error #8: Tombstone Courage
Tombstone Courage, or in other words, why wait for back-up? This is one of those errors that does not seem like officers would commit so easily, yet it happens every day. As I look back on my career, I remember on officer who didn't wait for back-up mainly because of his significant physical strength at the time. On two occasions, that strength failed him and he was in a lot more of a fight than he thought he was going to have. This was needless. Just wait for help. What is the worst that happens if a second officer is there and they don't have to help? They just stand there? Are we that busy that we can't be safe? If we are, then the department has a staffing problem.
One of the things I always think of Tony Blauer's writings on Presumed Compliance. You can find a detailed version here: http://calibrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/presumed-compliance.pdf
The short version is just because you are the police and have on a that shiny badge doesn't mean that suspects and offenders will instantly do what you say. By law your authority mandates compliance in most cases, it does NOT guarantee it. The bad guys will attack you for no other reason than you are in their way. Some will attack you for no other reason than who you are and what you stand for. Feigning compliance to get you to relax and then attacking you is nothing new.
As Blauer says in his essay, this fosters so many issues. Overconfidence and complacency are the chief among them. He calls complacency a disaster magnet! I have heard too many officers say, "this is Mayberry, nothing bad will happen here." This is INSANE! Denial and apathy are also disaster magnets. When I point out some tragic event involving police officers, I like to look up the population of the area where it happened. About half of the time, the population of that area is comparable to or less than the population of my city (11,000). If you include the zip code population, that number doubles and may inch up to over 25,000. All of the sudden that's a decent amount of people. This is far from Mayberry. If it is, then Mayberry has a lot more heroin than I remember from the TV episodes. But I digress...
Below is a video of what is supposed to happen. The officers get a call of a person in some sort of distress and behaving erratically. The first officer on scene waits for back-up officers BEFORE engaging the guy.
http://calibrepress.com/2015/10/video-man-allegedly-on-pcp-resists-arrest/
What would have happened had the first officer just engaged the guy by himself? I know what you're thinking. This was Washington DC. They have a bunch of cops and back-up is right around the corner. Well, they have a decent call volume I bet and that officer around the corner may be on an equally important call and may not be able to break away.
Lets go to Haverhill, NH. Population about 4,700 people. They are called about a man with a stab wound. They arrive and see this, then see him armed with a knife. Did he stab himself? Was he in a knife fight with another person? Unknown and not relevant. The first problem is to get the guy to drop his knife.
http://calibrepress.com/2015/11/bodycam-n-h-shooting-of-knife-wielding-man/
Well he didn't drop the knife. That isn't the point of the video. The point is the officer waiting for back-up. The cameras helped out too. Not that is was needed, but often times having a second camera can get a different point of view on an incident.
Be smart, wait for back-up!
One of the things I always think of Tony Blauer's writings on Presumed Compliance. You can find a detailed version here: http://calibrepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/presumed-compliance.pdf
The short version is just because you are the police and have on a that shiny badge doesn't mean that suspects and offenders will instantly do what you say. By law your authority mandates compliance in most cases, it does NOT guarantee it. The bad guys will attack you for no other reason than you are in their way. Some will attack you for no other reason than who you are and what you stand for. Feigning compliance to get you to relax and then attacking you is nothing new.
As Blauer says in his essay, this fosters so many issues. Overconfidence and complacency are the chief among them. He calls complacency a disaster magnet! I have heard too many officers say, "this is Mayberry, nothing bad will happen here." This is INSANE! Denial and apathy are also disaster magnets. When I point out some tragic event involving police officers, I like to look up the population of the area where it happened. About half of the time, the population of that area is comparable to or less than the population of my city (11,000). If you include the zip code population, that number doubles and may inch up to over 25,000. All of the sudden that's a decent amount of people. This is far from Mayberry. If it is, then Mayberry has a lot more heroin than I remember from the TV episodes. But I digress...
Below is a video of what is supposed to happen. The officers get a call of a person in some sort of distress and behaving erratically. The first officer on scene waits for back-up officers BEFORE engaging the guy.
http://calibrepress.com/2015/10/video-man-allegedly-on-pcp-resists-arrest/
What would have happened had the first officer just engaged the guy by himself? I know what you're thinking. This was Washington DC. They have a bunch of cops and back-up is right around the corner. Well, they have a decent call volume I bet and that officer around the corner may be on an equally important call and may not be able to break away.
Lets go to Haverhill, NH. Population about 4,700 people. They are called about a man with a stab wound. They arrive and see this, then see him armed with a knife. Did he stab himself? Was he in a knife fight with another person? Unknown and not relevant. The first problem is to get the guy to drop his knife.
http://calibrepress.com/2015/11/bodycam-n-h-shooting-of-knife-wielding-man/
Well he didn't drop the knife. That isn't the point of the video. The point is the officer waiting for back-up. The cameras helped out too. Not that is was needed, but often times having a second camera can get a different point of view on an incident.
Be smart, wait for back-up!
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