Friday, November 18, 2011

More With Less Part II – Training


Police senior management must ensure that diminishing budgets do not negatively affect, eliminate or curtail training.   Studies consistently indicate that the number one reason police departments are sued is due to failure to train or a departure from required training.  Police executives must maintain the training budget.  

Training is an investment; it is not an expense. Training must be continued.  If the doing more with less approach can be used, it should be. For in-house training, establishing standard curriculum prevents duplication of effort and factual errors. This practice also ensures that a pre-determined set of skills are developed based on the training.  All in-house training must be standardized, reviewed, authorized, and available via Powerpoint or other media so that a number of trainers can access it.  The days of a trainer coming in unprepared or flying by the seat of his her pants with notes on index cards is over.   
Each department should have a feedback method in which stakeholders can identify areas where training is needed.  Officers will have more buy-in for training if the curriculum is addressing questions they have had.
Departments can look at reducing travel costs, training in-house trainers, sharing training costs with neighboring jurisdictions, on-line training, distance-learning, video-conferencing, and eliminating unnecessary expense for fancy hand outs or meals.   The training must continue, however.  Training is the only way that officers remain standing.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Doing More with Less - Part One

Graphic courtesy of the Design On Talent blog 
Doing more with less is the new reality for police upper management.   Careful financial management has always been necessary. These days doing more with less is a critically-important component of successful law enforcement.  

Up until the very recent past, making budget dollars stretch was a short-term, Band-Aid solution, often deployed at the end of a physical year or possibly the result of some unforeseen and temporary circumstances.  In these challenging financial times, lean and entrepreneurial policing is now an integral part of policy and procedure.

Departments may not replace personnel lost through attrition. Sworn positions may be evaluated to determine if civilians can accomplish the same task.  Full-time personnel may be converted to part-time to save salary and benefit expense.  Departments may use interns and volunteers to save money.    Scheduling changes can often save budget dollars and increase officer job satisfaction.

Some departments are moving toward 12-hour shifts for uniform patrol.  This solution may not work everywhere, especially in smaller department lacking depth in personnel.  There are pros and cons to using 12-hour shifts.  Senior executives should carefully consider if this solution is appropriate.  They must carefully monitor injuries and vehicle accidents to ensure that officer fatigue does not negatively impact the department. However, 12 hour shifts do place more officers on the street at the same personnel cost. 

Departments may also evaluate whether a switch from the traditional police car paint job to decals is appropriate.  Police executives must carefully evaluate purchases made for them by other areas of city government.  It is a common practice for one municipal office to negotiate purchases for many city departments.  This often makes good financial sense, but such purchases and any resulting savings should be carefully tracked in financial reports.

There are no easy answers these days in police budgeting.  The competent police professional will ensure that all stakeholders are involved in preliminary budget discussions.  Rank and file employees must understand and cooperate with changes so that the implementation process is efficient and effective.   All personnel levels need to understand the problem. Senior police managers and executives should seek out the thoughts of subordinates as they initiate change.

Personnel must feel that their dedication and service to the department is appreciated.  Police executives must stress that that changing financial times have forced management to adopt a more with less approach, not any lack of respect for personnel. 

All staff members may not be persuaded to support the changes, but they will remember that management reached out. They will remember having input as stakeholders in the process. If morale is not maintained within a department, then more will not be accomplished with less.  Rank and file personnel must play an active role.

Effective management generates effective policing. Doing more with less will enhance the quality of policing.  Law enforcement will learn to streamline procedures, eliminate unnecessary paperwork, collaborate effectively with other agencies, and accomplish the tasks at hand on a professional level with fewer personnel.

At the end of each tour, each officer must remain standing when more is asked of them than ever before.



Saturday, October 29, 2011

Armor of God Project

pic courtesy of the Armor of God website
Recently I ran across some information about a charity which addresses a need very close to my heart...officer safety. The very name of my blog, Officer Standing, speaks to the importance I place on ensuring that law enforcement officers return home to their families...standing.

Armor of God is a non-profit organization founded by law enforcement officers to see that body armor is available to all.  Many smaller departments of under five officers do not have the means to purchase this equipment.  Working with donated vests and a shoestring budget, the volunteers who administer this program are able to do miracles with very little.

You can learn more about the Armor of God program by reviewing this video:


or checking out their website:

Friday, October 21, 2011

Leadership


Leadership is a quality which continues to evolve and refine itself within the effective police professional.  Leading is an action verb which is constantly developing within the character of senior law enforcement officers.   Leaders are never satisfied to stay at the same level, but strive continuously to improve and better themselves personally and professionally.
Today’s leaders are those who can stand their ground as they bend.  Demonstrating flexibility within the law while maintaining professional integrity is a key factor which fosters efficiency, effectiveness, and professionalism in police executives.   Commitment to integrity and professionalism is one way that individuals lead by example.  There is no other way to run a police department.  Junior officers watch your every move and you must be equal to their scrutiny
The most effective leaders are readily recognized. They do not talk as much as they listen.  True leaders are secure enough in their own competence that they feel comfortable in reaching out to others to lean on their expertise.  Taking the time to gain the insight of someone more knowledgeable than oneself regarding a certain topic is also a sign of wisdom and maturity.
A truly efficient and effective leader is someone properly focused on the issue at hand.  He or she has the ability to choose wisely in spending time on the really important issues, rather than being controlled by the tyranny of the urgent, yet less important. 
Effective leaders are also comfortable in delegating tasks as appropriate.    Some police executives believe that they are needed if things fall apart when they are gone.  The mark of superb leadership is an executive who trains and delegates so effectively that the department runs seamlessly in his or her absence.
Police executives may have to make excellent decisions which are at the same time unpopular.  Nevertheless, the action is must be taken and any unfavorable reactions are dealt with professionally.
True leaders understand policing is a profession. It is not a job. Policing is a challenge. It is not a task.  Policing is a privilege only experienced by a very few.
Police leaders need not be the biggest, strongest, fastest, bravest, best educated, or most skilled individual s representing our police departments. Yet, if you merge these traits together as one you have your leader.   These ingredients, combined with one’s own character, create a leader.  This is not something which can be practiced or taught. It is one’s personal identity which shows itself in the role of community service, often under pressure.
The effective police leader does what needs to be done to keep all officers standing in challenging times.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Victimization: The Key Characteristic of the Active Shooter

All criminal justice professionals should understand victimization. A currently Active Shooter or an individual in process of one of the phases of the Active Shooter has the mindset that he is a victim in some way. Logic does not have a role here.


The combination of being ashamed, embarrassed, humiliated, depressed, and angry all serve as fuel to the fire which motivates the Active Shooter over time.  It makes no difference if the victimization is real or imagined. It is very much real in the mind of a potential Active Shooter. Victimization simply serves as motivation and justification.


All information available about Active Shooters is relevant because it helps us understand them.  However, each incident is particular to itself. I conducted a study and wrote a thesis for my Masters about the correlation between crime and victimization. My finding was that victimization precedes criminality. The youth who participated in the study all indicated each was tired of being the victim so they acted out.  Once they acted out, all felt power and control never sensed previously.


Just as there are no born criminals, there are no born Active Shooters. Until each school system and university has a liaison officer in communication with the local law enforcement agency, the Active Shooter will continue to show himself. There must be a marriage between law enforcement and the Department of Education or University Police Departments.


In order to accomplish this, the following is needed:


·         Each school system can monitor and address non-criminal incidents in house.


·         Law enforcement will address criminal conduct.


·         At times, a local school or university may need to team up with law enforcement to take appropriate action together as one to offset the possibility of an Active Shooter incident.


Understanding what makes Active Shooters tick will help to keep officers (and civilian victims) standing.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Law Enforcement and 21st Century Communication

Recently, Jack Ryan, an attorney, for the PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute brought to light a situation which law enforcement officers needs to understand. Quite simply, it is the position of the higher courts that members of the public have a fundamental right to utilize a cell phone to record law enforcement officers in a public place or any place the citizens have the right to be.   Here is a link to Jack's article:
Jack further indicated that the police need to get over it. I agree. Why not rethink the situation?
If citizens may record officers involved in an arrest, why not use this as a tool?  Law enforcement’s greatest weapon is communication. It demonstrates good faith and professionalism. Why not be recorded where one’s actions be observed simultaneously with verbal directives, such as:
Police Officer! Freeze!                                                                                                                               
Police Officer! Don’t move!                                                                                                                   
Police Officer! Stop fighting! 
Police Officer! Cooperate! We don’t want to hurt you!                                                                                               
Police Officer! Show me your hands!         
Police Officer! Drop the gun!   
Police Officer! Drop the knife!
Expect to be recorded, expect to be filmed, and be prepared to identify any individual with a cell phone on scene who may be able to provide a recording of the incident. Let’s turn a recording of officers by an onlooker into evidence in support of an arrest rather than a means of initiating an action against the police for wrongful conduct. Officers are to do what needs to be done as per the circumstances at hand. Recordings as tools are not to be feared. They are an aid to help ensure throughout the USA there are - Officers Standing!          

Saturday, September 10, 2011

9/11 Rembered by a Ground Zero Responder


Twelve miles separates my community from the northern boundary of New York City. Twelve miles and, then again, light years and worlds apart. On the one side, a teeming metropolis. On the other, a village. Skyscrapers and the center of the world on one side, green grass, a peaceful harbor, and a small town feel on the other.

I was a sergeant on September 11, 2001, a sergeant conversing with his chief in our small department’s headquarters. The first plane had flown into the Twin Towers. A small television sat in that office. He and I watched in horror as the second plane completed its evil mission. There was no doubt America was under attack.

Less than twenty four hours later, teletype requests for mutual aid reached the Chief. Just about every member of my department took turns responding. My opportunity came the next night, when the 4/12 tour finished up, my squad responded. 

As we drove that 12 miles, I entered into another world. A world I never thought to see and sincerely hope to never see again. There was little chitchat as we drove. Never in all of my professional life had I considered that my small department of 50 sworn officers would respond to a call for help from the 40,000 sworn officers of NYPD. Yet there I was. As with many other things that evening, it was surreal.

Images from that evening revolve in the windmills of my recollection of that time. Hundreds of ambulances from numerous jurisdictions lined up in the Bronx, ready to assist victims as requested.   At that time, no one realized, there was almost no one left to save.


I stood waiting to sign in at the Ground Zero command post and looked at the horror below me, smoke made up of unspeakable things rose in a miasma, surrounding the workers. Firefighters were lined up in massage chairs taking a break. They were covered with residue. Was it diesel fuel? Vaporized human remains? Asbestos? Paper? Wood, or a combination of each together as one? The firefighters were bent and weary. Their faces were lined with grief and that pervasive evil dust. That dust rose as large equipment moved rebar and girders to find someone, anyone left alive. I heard the rumble of bulldozers and earthmovers and the beep, beep, beep of the vehicles backing up, there in the middle of the night. That pallor of the dust made me feel like I was on the moon.

I quickly realized we were not prepared to be on scene, We did not have the right equipment. I called my officers to me and moved along with signing in. That dust made me cautious. I instinctively knew that it was good to be as far away from it as possible. My fellow officers and I were assigned a security detail at a gas station.  The owner, of  middle-eastern descent, was giving the gas away to any city volunteers that needed it. There were a lot of ordinary New Yorkers, unsung heroes, who did things like that.
I went home to my family that night. We all did. Sixty of my fellow Port Authority and New York City police officers did not. 343 paramedics and firefighters never returned home on September 11, 2001. Todd Beamer and his fellow passengers who courageously said “let’s roll” and crashed the plane in Shanksville, PA never returned home. Numerous others have since contracted cancer or died as a result of their exposure to that dust.

Let’s remember all our heroes of 9/11, respect all our heroes. Remember those known to us, as well as the unknown, and those we have yet to hear about. We must honor what happened in the past by doing what is being asked of us today. We must learn the lessons provided by 9/11 and use critical incident management and scenario-based planning to ensure that all first responders remain…officers standing.

Monday, September 5, 2011

9/11 Changed Our Approach Not Our Character


As much as we have changed our thinking and strategy regarding terrorism as of 9/11, as a nation we remain very much the same. This is American strength of character and should not to be perceived as a weakness.

These days, our local, county, state and federal agencies still function as we did prior to 9/11. Each agency maintains its identity.  It is now accepted that local jurisdictions assist the lead agency in secondary roles while we manage the threat at hand.

Since the creation of Homeland Security¸ all levels of law enforcement are interconnected as one. Each is able to act in unison if circumstances require it. The changes in place to law enforcement are many and are ever changing; yet we have maintained our identity as a government and a nation. 

As Rudolph Giuliani said, “New York and the United States are stronger than any group of barbaric terrorists…We are bound together.  We will remain bound together.”

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Linked in - Active Shooter Discussion Forum

A fellow member of Linked In's Active Shooter Shooter Intervention forum posed a question regarding the efficacy of training military service members to respond independently to a threat, the so-called, "Solo Engagement Response Training."

My fellow forum members had differing opinions.  One police professional posited that individuals should be discouraged from responding alone to an active shooter.  I feel differently.

Changing times and threats require more than one way to respond to terminate an active threat.   Only individual circumstances and officer discretion can determine the most appropriate response in a given situation.  Continual and effective training helps develop appropriate responses while under fire.   

Whatever a department's policy may be, law enforcement cannot overlook the possibility an officer may be in a solo response situation. If an officer on scene has a tactical advantage over an active shooter should the officer take action to terminate the threat or wait? This possibility requires officers be trained to terminate the threat, alone, with a buddy, or a team. If an officer determines a solo response is to his or her advantage, then that option should not be taken away from the him or her. The officer has a duty to defend others and has a right to protect him or herself.

Departmental commitment and dedication to training will keep officers standing, whatever the threat.

Police Beat - Linked In

I belong to a number of law enforcement forums on Linked In, which I find is a really valuable information sharing tool for police professionals.  One of those forums is Police Beat.  Cops at all career levels post information and questions for others to consider.

Recently a question was posted which was the catalyst for some lively discussion.  The question was, "what does a law enforcement officer do if given an order by a superior officer to engage in activity which violates a citizen's Constitutional rights."

One colleague posted that any officer who would ask a subordinate to do such a thing could not be categorized as "superior."  Another reminded the group that most of us had taken oaths not only to enforce the law, but also to defend the Constitution.

I believe that such an issue should never arise with properly-traine law enforcement professionals.  My personal opinion as an official may conflict with the professional opinion of a supervisor.  However, that opinion cannot stand against the facts which should dictate the way a directive is given and expected to be carried out. 

However, if an officer is put into the unenviable position of being asked to engage in behavior which he or she knows to be illegal or violates a citizen's rights, he or she must respectfully decline.  If he or she is re-ordered to essentially violate the law, the officer need not follow such an order.  He or she cannot be a part of it.  The next step is to immediately notify a supervisor at the next level of the chain of command.  He or she must ensure that all facts are properly documented so that they may be reviewed.

Fortunately, officers are not often put in this position.  Knowing what to do ahead of time, however, will help keep any officer confronted with such a situation...standing.


Sunday, August 7, 2011

An Homage to SEAL Team 6

Today I witnessed a form of respect I never would have expected. As I was eating breakfast at a small deli reading about Seal Team 6 in the Daily News, I noticed a homeless man. He is an older gentleman who is harmless and keeps to himself. His hair is a bit long and he wears a slightly overgrown beard, but he is neat and clean.  

I glanced over from time to time to monitor his movements. I watched as he approached the shelf holding the newspapers. He was reading the same paper as I was. The difference was that I could pay for my paper and he could not.  As people approached, he would step back to allow them to buy a newspaper.  Once they left, he returned to reading the newspaper still on the shelf. 
I saw him calmly strike the shelf with a closed fist. I realized that he and I were both reading about SEAL Team 6. The picture of the helicopter stood out on the paper he was reading as much as it did in mine. I decided to write a blog entry about this tragedy.  Then I witnessed what this man did.  His tribute outdid anything I can say here.
He stood at attention as the paper lay open. He took a step back from his original spot.   Still at attention, he slowly saluted as he looked directly ahead, much like one would do as a member of the military. He saluted slowly, showing respect and recognition. He did so three times. 
When he was finished, the deli owner gave him a muffin.  I don’t know if he paid for it.   As I left, I slid my paper across the table to him.  We didn’t speak.  He nodded in appreciation and I walked out the door.  I will talk with him when I see him again. Today, my words couldn’t match his actions.
Since the events of 9/11 I cannot recall experiencing more pride in our country than the role played by SEAL Team 6 in successfully eliminating Osama Bin Laden. Let us not forget our armed forces were assigned halfway around the world to complete a mission thought to be unachievable when President Bush indicated Osama Bin Laden was wanted dead or alive.
No matter what opinion we may have about the role of Navy SEALS, it should be recognized by one and all that this team with the other branches of our armed forces responded to help ensure the likelihood the United States would not fall prey to domestic terrorist attacks again. 
There will be many comments about what happened, who was involved, and how it was possible the Taliban was successful. I choose not to go there.  I would rather recognize this team for what it represents; courage, commitment, loyalty, dedication, and a desire to do what needs to be done even when others say it is impossible.  
A total of 30 people were killed. As we have learned 22 SEALs and 8 additional Americans along with 7 Afghan commandos died. Nonetheless, I see them standing tall, as I do all members of the armed forces who have represented us in the War on Terror.
A homeless man stood at attention today while I ate bacon and eggs. He saluted a newspaper which told a horrific tale.  His salute recognized the deaths of the SEALS as well as all military personnel.   His example serves notice that all personnel lost in this war, not just SEAL Team 6, are officers still standing in our hearts.
I return this gentleman’s salute.  He remembered the SEALS with great pathos and distinction. I recognize the role of a homeless man who took the time to pay respect in a way few of us ever do. It took to a veteran to do it.     

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Only a Cop

I was recently asked what police books, magazines, and articles had the most profound effect upon me as a police officer.  As a senior police administrator and law enforcement professor, there are many resources I could recommend. 

The following article was written by Detective Sergeant Harry T. O'Reilly, NYPD (retired).  Detective O'Reilly, pictured above, was one of the orginal founding officers of NYPD's famed Special Victim's Unit  This article, entitled "Only a Cop, is why I am still standing and have a career, a family, and an education.

When I was a young  officer, I was initially looking to achieve what I could. Fortunately, I read this article in time have a change of heart. There are two types of people. Those dedicated to themselves and those dedicated to their profession.

At the rank of lieutenant, I am well aware I am still standing because I realized long ago I am only a cop. I may have achieved a higher rank than Detective Sergeant Harry T. O’Reilly, but I am not superior to him or others like him in law enforcement.

Only A Cop
(this article originally appeared in Police Badge magazine)
available online at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=418669323775

I was at a cocktail party recently in Manhattan and my host, in efforts to get conversation going between people with mutual interests introduced me to a shiny, well-groomed young man who had recently earned his master's degree in criminal justice. When he learned that I was a retired cop who was now teaching at John Jay College, he remarked that his father was a cop. When I asked where his father worked, he replied, "Oh, you wouldn't know him. He never did anything important. He's only a cop in the 32nd precinct.”

My host saw the look on my face and before I could put my drink down so both hands would be free to choke him, he whisked the kid off to a neutral corner to protect him, rushed back, begged me to forget about it. I couldn’t so I’m writing this column in the hope this message will reach the young man and so many people like him who are so quick to minimize the role of the working policeman in our society.

I’ve never worked in the 32nd precinct, and I don’t personally know any cops who do; but I’ve visited there few times, much against my will, when I as ‘flown’ in to supervise a detail of men who were supplementing the precinct’s manpower during various crises over the years, and I know what it’s like to work there. I don’t know that kid’s old man, but I do know policemen, and I know whether your beat is in New York City’s Harlem District or in the suburbs of Los Angeles, the nature of the job doesn’t vary that much. The volume of activity may be greater or less, and the surroundings appear to be different, but the dangers and problems, and the stresses and heartache are very much the same.

Listen closely son, I’m going to tell you about your father. Your reference to him as “only a cop” implies a sense of failure or lack of achievement because he’s not a sergeant or lieutenant or higher. How many brothers and sisters do you have? Did grandpa die and leave you a ton of money? If not, are you aware of the financial realities of raising and educating a family? Do you have any idea how difficult the competition is to be promoted in an occupation where there are limited vacancies and opportunities for advancement? Are you aware that if you work a second, and sometimes a third job to make ends meet that maybe you are too weary to study or attend promotion-tutorial classes? Are you aware that for many men, being “only a cop” can be so fulfilling that there may be no desire to be promoted? Have you ever noticed those green, white and blue bars over your father’s shield? Have you ever asked him what they represent? I can assure you he didn’t get them in a Cracker Jack Box. Each one of them represents a superior achievement in a job where bravery, courage, danger and brilliant police work are considered routine.

While the chiefs and bosses were sitting in headquarters sending down orders to “use restraint” and while sociologists were trying to explain (if not to justify) why people were rioting and looting, he was more concerned with staying alive as boards, bricks and rifle fire came down from rooftops. Despite his own fears, he was very careful as he fired his revolver towards the rooftop not to hit one of the innocent, curious decent people who stuck their heads out from windows of their apartments where they barricaded themselves in fear.

He never told you about the time when half a cinder block thrown by a “social protestor” crashed through the roof of the radio car, narrowly missing his head as he drove along on a street patrol.

He never told you about rats, the pissy hallways, the fights or the dead babies. You never knew that when you were a kid and he wrestled with you on the living room floor while Popeye cartoons blared out of the television set, that a few hours earlier he was wrestling around on a filthy sidewalk; with someone who was intent on taking his pistol from him and blowing his head off.

You wonder why he didn’t show too much emotion when you cut your hand playing ball and had to get stitches. Perhaps he has become jaded to pain and suffering. Perhaps he felt that your hurt was small in comparison to the accident which he handled the night before where he saw brains spattered across a windshield, and a severed arm, and smelled fiery death. Perhaps you should be proud and grateful that after that he still had enough feeling to kiss the boo-boo and hug you and pat your head, brief though the moment of tenderness may have been.

When you complain of him “never being home”, he was usually out moonlighting to make extra money required to pay of the house that he couldn’t afford, and bought it anyway, in order to get you away from the old neighborhood when he saw the violence and crime increasing. When you complained that he “wasn’t there when you needed him” it wasn’t his choice. He was out earning the money to pay your tuition while you whined to your friends about how he didn’t care about you or understand you.

When he came home from work one day and seemed a little abrupt to you, you sulked and felt abused and unwanted. You didn’t know that yet another case had been thrown out of court due to some legal technicality after he risked his ass making the arrest; or that he had been hauled down to the civilian complaint review board again on some unwarranted charge because the accuser knew that lodging charges against the officer can be helpful to the defense in a criminal prosecution; or that an overzealous boss who never worked in the combat zone before was on his back over some petty rules infraction. Maybe your pop is at fault for not sharing his job-related problems with his family. Maybe we all are. Maybe in our efforts to protect our loved ones from our frustrations and pain, we fail to communicate to them the very facts which would help them understand our anger.

Perhaps you would have understood if your father was a “hollerer”, one of those guys whose wife always complains that he “takes the job home with him”, the guy who yells and rants to get it off his chest and then goes back the next day and does the job again. Maybe your pop needed that kind of ventilation to void himself of the frustration he felt, and the humiliation and painful criticism of his work at the hands of the self-styled “community leaders”, who, by their visible and vocal presence purport to represent a
community whose decent, hard working people do not share their views of the police, but who are more concerned with day-to-day existence and survival in a poverty area than they are with community affairs.

When he came home late for dinner with a few drinks on his breath, maybe he had to stop off so he could open his heart about some painful aspect of the job to brother officers who could understand what he as saying, rather than to inflict his pain on those of you who he chose to protect. Perhaps he underestimated the strength of you and your mother, who might have willingly shared the pain and commiserated with him; or perhaps it would have been too much for you to handle. Who knows?

Your father has listened to the station-house rhetoric for years. He knows the old timers who claim to have given up, but who still will fight you to get up the stairs on a gun run; he knows the young buffalos who bitch beyond reasonable bitching but still do the job; and he knows the angries, the men who never seem to feel good about themselves because of the seemingly endless struggle against an unrealistic bureaucracy that demands so much of them and does so little in the way of reward and compensation. After all, they are “only” cops.

Your father has sat in the back room of the precinct and listened to the negative remarks and the ethnic slurs of his colleagues which, to an outside observer might indicate a deep-rooted hatred for all people of the community. But he tolerated the remarks, not because he’s afraid to take a stance, but because he knows that cop’s true feelings, and that the same cop who is doing the bad mouthing would not hesitate for one instant to crawl into a burning tenement and risk his life to save a child of the same ethnic minority which he was defaming a few hours before.

He has shared the joy of birth. In fact there are kids walking around the neighborhood bearing his first name, just as you do, because he delivered their mothers of babies in a taxicab or in an overcrowded sweltering tenement apartment. He has smiled with his people, and he has grieved over deaths, the shameful waste of precious life, which is part of the lifestyle of this community.

He has stood in the rain with tears streaming down his face as they buried yet another of his brothers who was killed in the line of duty. You never heard about it, but he lost a piece of himself each time it happened, and it happened far too many times.

Your “only a cop” description tells me that perhaps you think your old man isn’t too smart; yet he had the wisdom to insulate you from the hardships and hurts of his life and to try to raise you in an atmosphere of normalcy that was denied him for at least eight hours a day for the greater part of his adult life.

Now son I’ll get off your case. I can understand your feelings. And so can your old man, believe it or not. I am not looking to lay any guilt trip on you. Maybe your father didn’t talk to you enough. Maybe you weren’t listening. As the song says, “there ain’t no good guys, there ain’t no bad guys”. But I’d like you to take a step back and take a good look at your old man again. You’re looking at a man who has seen more of the evil and the negative side of life than anyone else you have ever known, and yet he is still able to be sweet and gentle when the time is right to be soft. He is a strong man, with a strength born of surviving a steady diet of painful episodes, any of which might shatter a lesser man. He has been through the fire that can destroy or purify, and he has emerged as tempered steel. Try talking to him sometime about the theory you have learned on the way to your master’s degree. You missed something somewhere along the line in your education if you can say that working as a cop your father “never did anything important”. Maybe if you can communicate with your pop and combine your formal learning with his street wisdom and knowledge of the real world, you can get something to give you the impetus to effect the changes necessary to create a viable criminal justice system at some point in the future. The one we have now isn’t working too well, I’m afraid. It’s you and the people like you who will have to be the catalyst for change.

Just remember as you proceed in your career that your pop is, as all cops are, part of the thin blue line that each day preserves our civilization as a misguided society systematically places frustrating stumbling blocks in his way while protecting the rights of the criminal element and virtually ignoring the rights of their victims. It’s an awesome job, and yet he can still come home at the end of a tour and kiss mom on the cheek, ask you how things went in school, go on with his life, and go back in the pits again tomorrow. I guess being “only a cop” is a pretty worthwhile thing to be.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Defeating The Active Shooter - Fantasy Stage

Congresswoman Gabby Giffords has returned home and is working toward a full recovery.  Her husband is retiring from the Navy and they plan to write a book together about their experiences.  God bless them.  In our jaded times, few events are deemed miraculous, but Giffords' recovery is a miracle. 

However, this is a time to reflect back on the lessons learned about defeating the active shooter. In studying Representative Giffords’ case, I hope we can learn some lessons which will help us avoid similar future crimes.

Lt. Dan Marcou and I had dinner in May during the 2011 ILEETA Conference. He explained his theory to me; the Five Phases of the Active Shooter.
http://www.policeone.com/columnists/dan-marcou/


Dan is an experienced SWAT officer who has identified the following steps which bring a perpetrator to the instant of actually firing on innocent people. They are as follows:
• Fantasy Stage
• Planning Stage
• Preparation Stage
• Approach Stage
• Implementation Stage
Jared Loughner’s college banned him from the school while he was a apparently still in the fantasy stage.  Sadly, local law enforcement was never notified. Had the college teamed up with town police to address Loughner’s situation, the active shooter could have been defeated before a shot was fired.   
My understanding of an active shooter’s fantasy stage caused me concern when I learned that Super Columbine Massacre RPG was available to play on line. Time magazine reported about another School Shooter video game which reenacts both the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings.

I’m as much for the right to free speech as anyone, but this idea of celebrating the successful massacre of innocent people was not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when the First Amendment was drafted. If this video game is not carnage along the lines of yelling fire in a crowded theater, then what is it?  

The active shooter’s first stage is fantasizing about the event.  Aren’t these games simply facilitating that process? In fact, one can make an argument that the creators are accessories before the fact.

Recently, in a 7-2 vote the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the videos I mentioned are protected under the First Amendment. I find this ruling disturbing. Now that the door has been opened, can a video be developed awarding points to the gamer who does the best job of sexually abusing a woman?  Apparently the U.S. Supreme Court is of the opinion this would be another form of free speech.

We're going to have to work hard to educate the public about the stages of the active shooter to ensure that both civilians, and officers, remain standing.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

My Name's Gaffney. I Wear a Badge.

I am a creature of habit.  Like many people, my daily schedule frames my day.  I developed my breakfast routine many years ago as an antidote for the unplanned chaos of the job.  I needed a transitional place to get my game face on, to leave my personal life behind, and gear up for my professional one.  I eat the same breakfast at the same deli with a small seating area every day.  I’ve done this for years.  My name’s Gaffney.  I wear a badge.
I’m a traditionalist.  I like my eggs over easy and my bacon crisp. They don’t ask me, “what’s yours?” because they know what I want. No thank you, I do not want Egg Beaters, a Panini, a scone, or an artisan sandwich. I’m not even sure what an artisan sandwich is.  I do celebrate clichés and have the occasional afternoon donut.  I want my coffee with milk or half and half.  Coffee must be unadorned with extra pumps, sprinkles, foam, caramel flavoring, or soy milk.  Especially not soy milk.  I’m having a cup of coffee not a milkshake.
I sit at the counter, read my paper, and load up on caffeine. I read the old-fashioned paper.  I don’t want to read it on line.  I like the kind of paper you can fold in half, rip an article out of, or prop up against the sugar container to read while you eat bacon.  My deli has no living room chairs, jazz music, fireplaces or laptop docking stations.  And that makes me happy. I’m as adept on my lap top as the next guy, but working on it over breakfast, well…just does not compute.   I read the New York Post Sports section first and then the rest. 
I listen to Westchester County buzz around me.   Sometimes a citizen asks me questions, but mostly I just read my paper in silence.  This suits me just fine.  I am Joe Friday at the deli, a man of few words.   I’m not on duty yet.  I answer questions and solve problems all day long.  My biggest issue first thing in the morning is making sure that the top on my second, “to go” cup of coffee is secured.  I am particularly cautious, since my deli doesn’t label my coffee with a warning that it is hot.  I have to fend for myself there.  The deli’s owners just live life on the risk management wild side, I guess.
A few weeks ago, I worked on a federal holiday. It was 0800 hours and I was on the Boston Post Road.  I started off on my morning routine, but the deli was closed.  I drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry, so to speak. The sensation was disconcerting.  No one checked with me when they closed the deli for Memorial Day.  I went to another spot, but it just wasn’t the same.  Tuesday was a much better day, because my spot at the counter was open again.
And that routine is part of what keeps this officer standing. 

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Training is an Investment, Not an Expense

According to KGO-TV, the ABC news affiliate in San Francisco, CA, on May 30, a 57 year old man committed suicide by drowning himself at Crown Beach in Alameda, CA.  Horrified citizens, the man’s mother, and public safety personnel looked on helplessly.

This death is sad for all involved. I understand why people are dissatisfied with the actions of the police and fire departments.   After listening to the representatives of these departments, I can also understand why these officers held their ground.

This story is not about the failure of either department to respond. Both city public safety departments responded.  This suicidal gentleman died because of a failure to train. Training failure is an open invitation to lawsuits time and time again.  Officials cut training because they consider training an expense rather than an investment. The personnel on scene held their ground because they had not been trained, prepared, or equipped to initiate a land-based water rescue.

The end result will be the implementation of land-based water rescue procedures and training. The family will be awarded a settlement out of court.  The City of Alameda will spend much more money after the fact, because it took the death of a suicidal swimmer to establish training which should have been in place when this very sad incident occurred.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

First Day

This morning I welcomed two new rookies to the department fresh out of the Academy. They looked incredibly young to me. Raw, nervous. They took me back to my first day in law enforcement many years ago. I hoped that when they looked back on things some day from my vantage point, they would feel that they had made a difference.


I thought about the many changes in law enforcement during my time on the job. Columbine, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City, the Branch Davidian cult, Ted Bundy, and the Unibomber. Rodney King and the LA Riots. Video surveillance, Shot Spotter, cell phones, in-car computers, and Facebook. Force Science, tasers, DNA testing, and COMPSTAT. I think that this would have all seemed like Star Wars to the rookie I once was.


The Internet brought new tools for law enforcement to utilize and, conversely, new environments for criminals to exploit. The concept of cyber crime did not exist when I was a rookie. Today it is a major concern for private citizens, major companies, and the government. Now we must cope with the explosion of financial, identity, and sexual exploitation crimes which dominate the computer security field.


The force I joined was a white, male-dominated, cohesive unit. Today’s law enforcement draws on the synergy of diversity…diversity of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and age. I read not long ago that the Virginia State Trooper Academy welcomed a 53 year old recruit starting a new career.


Law enforcement now has non-lethal weapon, forensic, and computer technology which I would have not dreamed possible. We have so many additional tools at our disposal, as well as challenges which can seem nearly insurmountable.


The biggest change? Local law enforcement can never again be a simply reactive agency handling local issues. The events of September 11, 2001 have taught me that the long tentacles of terrorism can reach far. I would have never dreamed that extremists could kill over 3,000 citizens, including 60 brother law enforcement officers who were first responders, just a few miles from my own department.


I flashed back one more time to my first day.  I never imagined that there would be any other department for me or that I would retire to something else.  The end of one thing is the beginning of another and I’m eager to take on the new challenges ahead.


Did I share all these thoughts with the rookies? No. I made sure they had their bullet-proof vests and wished them both well. However, as long as I am on the job, I will do everything I can to ensure that they remain…Officers Standing.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It is Hard To Hit a Moving Target

Last month during the annual International Law Enforcement Educators & Trainers Association (ILEETA) Conference, I attended a seminar entitled, “Shoot the Bad Guy, While You Dodge The Bullet” presented by Lee Shaykhet.    You can find out more about Lee here at:


www.shaykhettraining.com


Lee focused on effectively neutralizing the moving subject, while maintaining officer safety.   I was thinking about this very effective training when I read about a threat to an NYPD officer which occurred on May 15 around midnight.


A Manhattan plainclothes officer was struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by a man who had stalked the officer and his partner because of an earlier conviction for a drug offense.


Officers ordered Joseph Dellutri to step back.  Instead, he entered his minivan and pinned one officer against an iron fence. Dellutri backed his minivan up and drove forward to strike the officer again. The officer’s first move was to dive behind a tree. As a result, Joseph Dellutri missed the officer and drove away. He was apprehended shortly thereafter.
This officer is standing today due to his movements. He neutralized the threat. Had the officer held his position to draw his weapon that would not be the case.  


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/cop_stalk_wild_man_arrested_bIrtGSVALRSc840NTT5XZI#ixzz1MkAC0H7N