Do Police Officers Matter
olice work is the forced enough to drop to the ground and
evolution of your endure the water's onslaught? Do
perceptions of the human you train to become agile enough
condition. Every moral code, to leap out of harms way?
belief and preconceived deal of
socially appropriate behavior Or, do you train yourself to
will be assaulted, shaken and become an arrow that pierces the
taken to the turf in a law water, splitting and deflecting
enforcement career. its' power, while you remain
steadfast and totally aware of
Police work rattles your it—even while surrounded by its'
adrenalin cage, slaps you in the potentially lethal torrent?
face with raw reality and gives
you 3 seconds to make rational, If your only need is to survive
informed—possibly the deluge and continue on, any
life-or-death—decisions. of these training options might
be acceptable. But what if
Imagine this: your work day is self-preservation was only
punctuated by having 20 tons of conditional? What if every work
water dropped on you—sometimes day centered on waiting for, and
someone, or your intuition, being prepared for, the water?
shouts a warning, sometimes not.
The water is a threat to you, to Waiting for, anticipating and
those around you and to your reacting to the water.
fellow officers. It is inevitable
and inescapable. You must deal Ever ready, ever alert, ever
with it every day—every time it prepared.
happens.
Police work demands being
So…do you train to become strong prepared to act—and that demand
creates tremendous anticipation encounters times of crisis in
of action. You watch, you wait, their lives and that most people
you review action options. You are not accustomed to crisis and
listen, learn and wait some more. don't react well to it. Emotions
And eventually you see that can be excessive, responses out
anticipation of action has to be of character and judgments
controlled, regulated and impaired. The police officer
educated—so it becomes a finely becomes the critical incident
tuned and accurate trigger for expert during those times of
adrenalin-induced action. crisis. Their uniform, badge,
weapons and vehicle are tools
The toll of maintaining this that reinforce this role, but
level of awareness can be their demeanor and actions
staggering to officers, but with establish their authority as a
experience comes an ability to welcome reality within the
balance perspectives and accept unreality of the critical
the realities encountered. incident.
Police work is a daily parade of
people in crisis. And every Officers are expected to know all
crisis is unique to the people the rules; render fair, impartial
involved, but may be based on a judgments; rebuild realities and
conflict common to many. One read minds. While others scream
shift may include a dozen in agony, reel in horror or
domestic disturbances, all caused become enraged—the officer must
by families in crisis, but all take actions that protect all,
unique due to the different enforce the law and resolve
individuals involved. chaos. Regardless of personal
injury or threat to life and
Experienced police officers limb, police officers are
accept that every person expected to perform their duties
professionally and without personal realities and
hesitation. personalities. In times of trial,
the camaraderie borne of this
The tragedy and human suffering specialty fuses to become a bond
that touch an officers' life that brings officers, and
takes a special fortitude of balance, back—safe in body and
spirit and mind to keep that sound of mind.
touch from creating wounds in
About the Author:
Sgt. George Godoy retired from police work after 22 years. He was assigned to police recruitment for 5 years and was specifically involved in the police hiring process. He is founder of: http://www.PoliceExam911.com
Read more articles by: George Godoy
Article Source: www.iSnare.com |
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