Category Archives: Police Dynamics
Enjoy this video from Watts Bar Lake in Tennessee…
The Dynamic of Expectations gives us a framework for understanding community expectations. By viewing citizen expectations as a continuum with “exceeding expectations” on the positive end and “failing to meet expectations” on the negative, the zero point becomes “meeting expectations.” When we meet expectations, it means we have done our job, nothing more and nothing less. This means we are getting no complaints. We have a tendency to think that as long as we are not getting any complaints, things must be going OK. But Zero Complaints is a very poor standard of excellence for a law enforcement agency.
Police officers must learn to exceed citizen expectations by giving them a WOW experience. The problem is that we don’t really know where their expectations are. So, as a professional police officer, you must ground their expectations in reality by telling them what you are going to do, and then doing it. In this way, you control their expectations. In fact we have a term to describe someone who does what they say they are going to do. We say that person has a lot of Integrity, which is the first step in forming trust-based relationships as we outlined in the Relationship Diamond.
And remember the Expectations Maxim:
Unfulfilled Expectations Damage Relationships
But after meeting their expectations, you job is not yet done. Very methodically and systematically, you must go just a little beyond and exceed their expectations. By doing this you will generate a Grateful Spirit which translates into community support for your law enforcement efforts. Failing to meet their expectations, however, gives them an OW Experience. Those hurt and can lead to a Wounded or Bitter Spirit that translates into public criticism and lack of trust. Don’t believe me? Take a look at what is going on in Ferguson and many other places around America. The citizens we are sworn to protect are doubting us, losing faith in us, and worse…
Sheriff Ray Nash
Police Dynamics Institute
Unresolved anger is one of the most prevalent problems in law enforcement today. It can lead to all sorts of ethical failures by our police, including abuse of force, unlawful arrests, and a myriad of other constitutional and ethical violations. Giving up your right to get angry is power under control and shows genuine meekness – a powerful character quality for any professional police officer to possess. And in light of recent events questioning police use of force, this video that I recorded in Cancun a few years ago seems particularly timely and relevant. Please let me know what you think.
Coming “Under Authority”
I recently had the opportunity to present Police Dynamics training to about 160 fellow members of the National Internal Affairs Investigators Association at their annual conference in Tampa. NIAIA promotes the highest standards of integrity and professional ethics in the law enforcement community and provides technical support and professional development for IA investigators. Although they are often viewed as pariahs, IA investigators play a crucial role in promoting the noble virtues of the police profession.
I decided to kick off my portion of the training with a compelling video dealing with police abuse of force. In light of recent events in Ferguson, MO, it seemed particularly relevant to the audience. Although the video seems to be biased against law enforcement, the lyrics are clever and the images are disturbing to those of us who promote high standards for the police profession.
Is this perception or reality? Probably some of both. But to change perception you have to start by changing the reality. And the reality is that the public is becoming less trustful of the police and increasingly concerned about an “over-militarization” of police tactics. Answers to these problems may seem to be elusive, but Police Dynamics provides an ethical foundation for moral policing that impacts perception as well as reality.
As an aside, I am putting together the Police Dynamics schedule for 2015. So if your agency is interested in hosting a conference similar to the one we did for NIAIA, please contact me through this website…
Sheriff Ray Nash
Unfulfilled expectations damage relationships. This is a fundamental truth. So as a law enforcement officer entering into a contact with a citizen, you must understand that they have certain expectations about who you are and how you will perform as a police officer. Unfortunately, the citizen’s expectations may be very unrealistic. Therefore, it is up to you to ground their expectations in reality by first telling them what you are going to do, then doing it. It sounds overly simplistic, but it is a powerful principle that we often overlook. Plus we have a word to describe people who do what they say they are going to do. We say they have a lot of integrity, which is the first essential ingredient for building trust and generating public support.
Once you have established control over their expectations, it is up to you to very methodically meet those expectations. Then go one step further and exceed those expectations. I call this a WOW experience. WOW experiences translate into public support. However, if you fail to meet their expectations, that is an OW experience! And those hurt. They siphon trust out of the relationship.
So my challenge to law enforcement officers all over the world when I conduct Police Dynamics training is to avoid giving anyone an OW experience. But try to give someone at least one WOW experience everyday. In that way you will exponentially begin to build public support and confidence in your agency and the law enforcement profession in general.
Many thanks to Perry Piper for serving as my videographer while I was at Lake Tahoe to record this police training video.
Well, the race for Congress didn’t turn out the way I had hoped (I came in 8th out of 16 in the primary!). But at least it got me back home and available for a new opportunity. So, now that I’m back in the states, at least on the short-term, I’ve got two things going on. First, I am available for live Police Dynamics conferences. If you’re interested, please send me a message via the “Contact Me” button on the left of your screen.
But an even more important announcement is that the Police Dynamics Institute has partnered with the International Academy of Public Safety (IAPS) and brought me on-board as the VP of Law Enforcement Training and Development. IAPS, and its sister company Readiness Network, are fully integrated Technology and e-Learning companies. Their iLEARN, iCOMMAND, and iSHIELD portals create an ecosystem that acts as the connective tissue for command and control with comprehensive learning and development tools that enhances readiness at all levels. Dr. Mitch Javidi, founder and CEO of IAPS, contacted me about a year ago while I was still overseas about incorporating some of the Police Dynamics training videos into iSHIELD (SHeriff’s Institute for Ethical Leadership Development). Since then, we have planned to partner together whenever I got back home.
Here’s the introductory video from our series on Reflective Leadership which will be available soon. And we plan to have the entire Police Dynamics program online in the near future.
There is much more to talk about in regards to IAPS and iSHIELD but I will leave it at that for now. Please contact me if you would like to learn more or to schedule a demonstration of the system.
Sheriff Ray
Please share this link through
FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or email…
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Scroll down to check out our Professional Development Series
In this last video from the Aventura Spa Palace in Riviera Maya, Mexico, we look at the four phases of Group Dynamics as they relate to the Relationship Diamond. The study of Group Dynamics has identified four distinct phases in the formulation of a working group. Interestingly, the phases fit very nicely in our Relationship Diamond model as we superimpose them over the dynagram.
The Four Phases of Group Dynamics and the Relationship Diamond
The first is the Form Stage and that has to do with structure. Most relationships start with some type of structure. From a law enforcement perspective, it could be a call for service, a traffic stop, a consensual encounter on the street, or a Crime Watch / Community meeting. During this phase, you will begin to establish your integrity, a key component of police ethics, in the eyes of the other party.
The second is the Storm Stage. When you start to open up channels of communication, the relationship can get very stormy. And the more diverse the two groups, the stormier the seas. But you must be willing to weather the storm, just don’t get stuck there.
The third is the Norm Stage. It is here that the group begins to establish their roles and responsibilities as well as lines of accountability.
The final stage is the Perform Stage. This is where the work actually gets done. Resist the temptation to jump around the bases prematurely. So many groups stall out at first base or try to jump from first to third. You can’t do that in a baseball game and you shouldn’t try to do it in a relationship either. In this stage, you will employ strategic problem-solving methodologies to accomplish your community / coactive policing goals — such as establishing peaceful and safe neighborhoods, and stable and successful families.
Building working relationships between law enforcement and the community is a tricky business. But understanding the process so that you don’t get frustrated is a key step forward.
If you found this lesson helpful, please share this link through
FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or email…
For over a year (off and on), I have been working on preparing these professional development resources for those of you interested in taking your understanding of the character-based principles of Police Dynamics to the next level. For a limited time, if you purchase either the Basic Training Package or the Professional Development Package for the already discounted price of $47, you will have the opportunity to purchase the other package for only $27…
The 10-DVD Premium Package is intended for a departmental purchase but it can be reviewed for 30 days risk free:
Please contact me for more information about the Premium Package…
If you know of others who may be interested, please share this post by clicking one of
the Share the Knowledge buttons below…
Third Base in the Relationship Diamond is establishing a Partnership. But it requires mutual accountability.
Think about the Crime Watch organizations that you have been affiliated with in your law enforcement career. How many of them last past the first few meetings? Yet there are some Crime Watch groups that have been successful long term. Those are the ones that have learned to build accountability into the community policing philosophy. Mutual accountability involves us (the police) giving the citizens permission to hold us accountable. But it also requires them to give us permission to hold them accountable, a critical step in the Coactive Policing model.
Remember that accountability is the last component of the Trust Formula and must come last in the process, after establishing your integrity and opening the channels of communication and understanding. We are so quick to point the finger of accountability at others before we have invested time and effort into building the relationship first. After a trust-based stakeholdership has been established with the community, then and only then should accountability be introduced. Otherwise, the relationship will not be strong enough to withstand the stresses that are about to be placed on it, especially if we are working to “demolish” a criminal stronghold where trust of law enforcement tends to be low.
If you found this lesson helpful, please share this link through
FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or email…
Recorded at the beautiful Aventura Spa Palace in Riviera Maya, Mexico, we look at the next step in the Relationship Diamond – building a stakeholder interest.
As Sir Robert Peel said, “The police are the public and the public are the police.” But your citizens don’t necessarily see it that way. They view crime as a police problem, not a community problem, which sets them up for unrealistic expectations. Which brings us to the maxim for this dynamic:
Your community does NOT understand you. But they think they do…
That’s why open and honest communications are so important. Let me illustrate this principle with a humorous example that I have used over and over again in community settings. Imagine that you are a citizen living in a criminal stronghold. You are frustrated with the police, but know only what you have learned from TV shows, movies, and conversations with others. You watch an officer pull up in front of your house, get out of his car, and then do what all of us do when we get out of the car. He pulls his gunbelt up. Now, that is a very innocent adjustment of some uncomfortable police gear that means absolutely nothing to the officer. But it sends an entirely different message to the citizen.
Set up the example the next time you are speaking to a community group and ask them what they can already tell you about this officer and his attitude based on nothing more than their observance of his body language. Know what the citizens will say? “He’s arrogant. He’s got a bad attitude. He’s looking for trouble.” None of those things are true. But do you think the citizen’s preconceived notion about this officer and his attitude will have any impact on the contact that’s about to take place?
And the first question out of the citizen’s mouth is, “What’s the problem, officer?” Now, out of all the things that the citizen could think to ask, why do they ask this question? Because the only time you’ve EVER been there in the past, there was always a problem! This is due to the limitations of Reactive Policing.
To overcome these types of conflicts, we must initiate open and honest communications with the citizens, and in so doing, develop a stakeholder relationship where they begin to view crime as a community problem that demands a coactive, community response.
If you found this lesson helpful, please share this link through
FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or email…
While snake-hunting along the Edisto River at Givhans Ferry State Park, I paused to record the next video in the Dynamic of Relationships series.
Once we have identified the “bases” on the Relationship Diamond, the next question becomes “How do I get around the bases?” I think the answer is found in the Trust Formula. It’s our Integrity that gets us to first base. Openness gets us to second. Accountability takes us to third. And strategic Problem-solving methodologies take us home as we accomplish our Coactive Policing goals. So the Trust Formula becomes the baselines in our model of building trust-based community relationships.
Integrity is defined as “being who you represent yourself to be.” It is character and competence working in tandem. And it’s not only your actual integrity, as important as that is. It’s the other party’s perception of your integrity.
One of the quickest and easiest ways to establish your integrity in the eyes of the community is to do what you say you are going to do. As simplistic as that sounds, we often neglect a critical component of this. We get so focused on actually DOING our job, that we forget to tell the citizen what we intend to do first. If we discipline ourselves to tell them what we are going to do BEFORE we do it, we ground their expectations in reality. So instead of evaluating the effectiveness of our policing activities by their own skewed expectations, WE set the standard of law enforcement and community policing performance. This is such an important concept that I devote an entire training series, the Dynamic of Expectations, to developing it more in depth.
