“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms … disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

— Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishment, quoted by Thomas Jefferson in Commonplace Book

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

James Madison, The Federalist Papers #46

I forgot to post a picture of this huge iguana I caught at Riviera Maya…!
Scroll down for the video on the Five Types of Offenders.

In this last video from Riviera Maya, Mexico, we examine the Five Types of Offenders to make a determination as to their level of character. Having the discernment to see below the surface of behavior into the heart of their character is essential to applying the Discretion Maxim.

NOTE: Regretfully, the battery in my camera apparently died just before the end of the video and cut off the last few seconds. However, I was only making a summary at that point so you don’t miss much…

The Five Types of Offenders gives us a pattern for recognizing the character of criminal offenders, inmates, employees, or even children. Once you determine which level of offender you are dealing with, then you can apply the Discretion Maxim to choose which enforcement action you might take along a continuum of discretionary options.

Discretion Maxim
Let the nature of the offense determine your range of options.
Let the character of the offender determine which option you choose. 

Graphically, it looks something like this:

Five Types of Offenders

Each progressive level of offender reflects a further step out from under authority and demands a more severe enforcement option.

Here are the characteristics of each type of offender:

The Simple Offender (more…)

“The duties which a police officer owes to the state are of a most exacting nature. No one is compelled to choose the profession of a police officer, but having chosen it, everyone is obliged to live up to the standard of its requirements. To join in that high enterprise means the surrender of much individual freedom.”

President Calvin Coolidge (while serving as Governor of Massachusetts)

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams in a speech to the military, 1798

If the majority of Americans lose their moral compass, our system no longer works…
Sheriff Ray 

Now at last we are getting to some of the more advanced principles contained in Series 2 of the  Police Dynamics training program with the Dynamic of Discretion.

Note: This is actually the second video in the Dynamic of Discretion series. The first video had such poor audio quality due to wind and surf noise coming from the beach (at the Dreams Puerta Aventuras Resort in Riviera Maya) that I hesitated to even post it. But for those of you are dedicated Police Dynamics fans, I have included it below. This video stands on its own, but if you want to watch them in order, watch the second one first…

One of the 49 character qualities from Character First is called Discretion. Character First defines it this way:

Discretion
Recognizing and avoiding words, actions, or attitudes that could bring undesirable consequences

However, that is not the use of the word that I want to look at here. I’m talking about police discretion. (more…)

“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.”
– Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Dr. George Thompson, the founder of Verbal Judo, was the first person I ever heard coin the term “Golden Rule Policing.” He defined it as treating people the way you would like be treated under similar circumstances. We can apply the same principle to our “deep-dive” analysis of character and Police Dynamics in this two-part series on the Golden Rule of Character.

Golden Rule of Character – Part 2

(I have to apologize for the quality of the second video. I filmed it on the beach and didn’t realize the wind and surf noise would be so loud. But it’s a short video, so please suffer through it…)

A fundamental truth, that I have found to be true far more often than not, is that the character flaws that irritate you about other people are often evident in your own life… and you don’t even know it. It’s a blindspot. And, by definition, you can’t see a blind spot.

Look at it from this perspective. (more…)

“When young men seek to be like you, when lazy men resent you, when powerful men look over their shoulder at you, when cowardly men plot behind your back, when corrupt men wish you were gone and evil men want you dead … Only then will you have done your share.”
– Song lyrics by Phil Messina