Monthly Archives: March 2010
This is an updated version of the Tarnished Badge video that I posted earlier. This one was done at the Character Training Institute a few years ago (which you can tell by the increased amount of hair I have…!). I also talk about the relationship between Character and Achievement, a concept I explore in even more detail in the Twin Towers of Integrity video…
A heart-warming story about a man’s love and availability…
Availability vs. Self-Centeredness:
Making my own schedule and priorities secondary to the wishes of those I serve
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e4caLZUrFw
A little bit out of the norm for the Police Dynamics blog, but I couldn’t help but think just how determined this drunk was to hang on to his beer…!
The working definition we use for Determination comes from the Character First! curriculum. It says that determination is:
Purposing to accomplish right goals at the right time, regardless of the opposition
Of course you have to question his choice of goals in this video, but you can’t question his commitment…!
Law enforcement and leadership are full of obstacles. In his book Challenging the Law Enforcement Organization: Proactive Leadership Strategies, Jack Enter calls leadership the “path of most resistance.” (I have heard Jack speak on numerous occasions and am very impressed with his humor, communications skills, and insights into police leadership. I highly recommend him as a consultant and motivational speaker.) Jack promotes determination in the face of opposition as a key character quality for effective police leadership.
I am currently reading Larry Kreider‘s new book, the 21 Tests of Effective Leadership. Larry makes the same point. He says discipline is the key to passing the Perseverance Test:
“Discipline is what keeps us going forward when our emotions are saying something different. Discipline is what causes us to ‘order our steps’ and face our fears… Discipline keeps our thoughts and emotions on track when circumstances around us would dictate otherwise.”
And I’ve often found myself saying “The undisciplined life is not worth living.”
If only we could demonstrate the level of determination demonstrated by this drunk in accomplishing some of our “right goals.”
People are quick to say that ethical matters are not always black and white, but often gray. My counter is that I don’t think it’s a matter of grayness. Grayness is just our lack of information or our lack of understanding of the underlying ethical principles.
It’s like looking at a black and white photograph in a newspaper. At first glance, there appears to be a lot of gray. But pull out a magnifying glass and look closer. What do you see? A bunch of black dots on a white background. So what appears to be gray on the surface is really just black and white when we analyze it more closely.
Ethical situations can be a lot like the photo. We sometimes have to pull out our “ethical magnifying glass” if we are to see and understand the underlying principles more effectively. Once we can bring the black and white into focus, our ethical decisions become easier.
I was reminded of this principle earlier today when I read a post by Jack Marshall on the Ethics Alarm Blog Site (an excellent resource for ethics-based leadership, by the way). Police Dynamics and the principles of good character help us to keep that magnifying glass polished so we can make better ethical decisions.
Making the decision to retire after serving three terms as the Sheriff in Dorchester County, SC was a difficult one. But I had my time in and my wife and I felt like we should move on to other challenges. It didn’t take me long to find one!
One week after my retirement, I found myself in Sierra Leone, a small country in West Africa. I had been requested by the City Manager of Freetown to present Police Dynamics training to their National Police and Military. So I spent two weeks in this fascinating country that has been ravaged by unimaginable atrocities during a decade of civil unrest due to the conflict diamond trade (watch the movie Blood Diamond and you’ll see what I mean).
By and large, the police are feared by the populace and corruption is a way of life. The leaders there are in the process of rebuilding the government and realize just how important good character is to regaining the trust of the citizens.
One of the attendees, an Inspector named Gusman, had this to say during the closing ceremony to the Mayor of Freetown and members of the City Council:
His comments:
This course will have a profound impact on our professional lives. This course has taught us how bad character will not enable us to achieve our organizational goals…
We have learned that if we become good officers, if we respect our people, if we discharge our duties responsibly, without fear or favor, we will earn the respect of the citizens of this country. They also taught us certain principles about forgiveness, about patience, that we might take to our homes to teach our wives and our children so that collectively all of us will become responsible citizens…
I am very grateful on behalf of our police, to the City Council, and to the Police Dynamics Institute for this effort. I am sure, when we get back to our various institutions, we will share this knowledge that we have learned…
I think Gusman got the message and nicely summed up what Police Dynamics is all about…
Fighting crime is much like a game of chess. Imagine that your jurisdiction is a giant chess board where a war of sorts is being waged. Just like in a real war, or a real game of chess, our opponents (the criminals) are trying to take ground.
When they become entrenched in a neighborhood and rule through fear and intimidation, they have established a criminal stronghold. From here, criminals will branch out into other neighborhoods, commit their evil deeds, and retreat back into the safety of the stronghold.
There are several strategies the we as police administrators might employ to deal with this community problem. One is the Reactive Model of policing. We can assign police officers to patrol the other neighborhoods, hoping that we might stumble across some criminal in the act of committing a crime, or discourage one from doing so by our “presence” in the neighborhood. As the saying goes, I suppose even a blind squirrel can find a nut every now and then. But this proves to be a very ineffective crime fighting strategy and a poor use of our limited law enforcement resources.
The community policing or coactive policing model dictates that law enforcement must penetrate the stronghold to destroy the fear, apathy, and tolerance for crime that the criminals are relying on. Building trust based relationships through the power of good character is the key to this process. This is the truly effective crime-fighting strategy that we explore here.
An obituary sent to me by a friend that requires no further comment:
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn’t always fair; and
- Maybe it WAS my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place:
- Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate;
- Teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch;
- A teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sunscreen or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death
- by his parents, Truth and Trust;
- by his wife, Discretion;
- by his daughter, Responsibility and
- by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers:
- I Know My Rights
- I Want It Now
- Someone Else Is To Blame
- I am a Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone…
Jefferson made this famous quote in a letter to his daughter, Martha, on May 5, 1787. It speaks to the character quality of Diligence.
The definition we use from the Character Training Institute is:
The wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, understood the importance of diligence:
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings…
The law enforcement officer who is operating out from under authority will often lead the police department in citizen complaints. The Independent Spirit that he or she demonstrates when interacting with the public can generate a reaction on the part of the citizen, which can in turn generate a complaint on the officer. I have been in police administration for a long time and I have seen this scenario played out over and over.
An officer that maintains his or her composure under pressure, on the other hand, demonstrates the type of character that builds public trust in our relationship with the citizens. This is the highest ideal of law enforcement: to bring peace out of disorder.
Dr. George Thompson brings this out in his tactical communications course, Verbal Judo. He emphasizes the importance of controlling the tongue. In fact, one of the dynamics in Series 2 (the Dynamic of Compliance) is based on Dr. George Thompson’s teachings.
Sheriff Ray Nash
