Have a very merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas

 One of the overlooked aspects of law enforcement (And FD, RN, and PW) is working weekends and holidays, when almost everyone else is off.  Today, for me, its 8 hrs OT at the desk (Double time how can you pass that up) and then 8 hrs regular shift...so my wife and daughter are on their own for Christmas Eve.  This is a common occurrence.  I work a 6 and 3 schedule so 1 out of 3 years I get the holiday off naturally.  As an example I got July 4th off but have to work Christmas Eve and Day.  So to all my fellow first responders and holiday workers of all kinds, have a merry Christmas and thank you to all the support family members that have to celebrate it alone.

Change for the Better

 Police officers are fixers.  To fix something, you must identify the individual elements, understand their integration, and devise a solution.  Typically, most of an officer's experience is within patrol, so you must have a solution before going home.  As a result, officers tend to be hypercritical and detail-orientated.  It's a good thing for the job, but it is bad for job satisfaction and a bad thing for your personal life.  I find myself falling into this mindset often.  Specifically addressing job satisfaction, roll call, breaks, and meals tend to focus on what is wrong or not going right.  So, being intentional about focusing on the positive aspects of this profession is needed.

In this vein, there is positive change for law enforcement in Cook County, Illinois.  For the majority of my law enforcement career, the attitude of the Cook County State's Attorney's (ASA) office and our sitting judges was that we signed up to be attacked by offenders on the street.  This was reflected by the ASA's absolute refusal to approve aggravated battery to a police officer (Felony level crime), and if it made it past them unless it was horrific, it either was dealt down or dropped with the judge's approval.  Basically, it started with a broken bone, and really, you needed to be shot to have this charge go through approval, not be changed to a lesser charge and have the judge convict.  This was so commonplace that routinely, when we would get a black eye, bloody nose, broken finger, or twisted knee due to the criminal actions of the offender, we wouldn't even call felony review; we would just charge simple battery (A misdemeanor) and go to court, where it would not be upgraded to a felony.

However, it appears this attitude has changed or is changing.  Recently, two of our permanent homeless men were drinking at the rear of an abandoned store.  Both suffer from some significant and untreated mental illnesses, so one got upset at the other and punched him in the eye (For snoring too loud).  My guess, by the way it looked, is he had a broken orbital bone, but while he insisted on being taken to the hospital, he refused any scans but got stitches.  The Asa's will not charge the aggravative battery without a medical diagnosis of significant damage.  When it came time to arrest his buddy for simple battery, he decided while screaming profanity and something...he was hard to understand...at us that he did not want to go without a fight.  The officers had their hands full but were able to get him into custody with very little injury to anyone despite our offender really going for it.  We got him into an ambulance and to the hospital, where it took two full doses of Ketamine to get him quieted down.

A little later, one of the officers came into the report room and pulled up his pants legs.  One side was a small laceration, and the other had a small abrasion.  We reviewed the video footage of the incident, and the offender was purposefully kicking our officer.  I said well, we might as well try to aggravated battery to police officer, but I highly doubt we will get it.

After working the case for two and a half days, the primary reporting officer called felony review...and got it!

Change for the better and something good to focus on.

Training

 Sometimes the simplest things can do the most good.  Every police training that I have been subjected to in my 26 years (soon 27) in this profession has begun with going around the room telling everyone your name, years of service, position within the department and one thing that makes you unique.  Everyone hates it and it serves no purpose, it is supposed to be an ice breaker and loosen up the training environment, in reality it is just another exercise that you have to endure and get it over with to start the training day.

I recently had a training day (Activate-Critical Incident Tabletop Training for Police Leaders).  It was a little unique since two of the three instructors were military with only one the police.  When we went around the room the only things we had to do was tell the room our first name and the police department we worked with.  I know it sounds like a simple thing but it was significant in that we all appreciated we didn't have to have to practice our public speaking and creative skills (Got to come up with something interesting that does not make you lame but not so weird that everyone talks about what your said for the rest of your career), we just got on with the training.  Everyone universally appreciated it.

Just a simple thing that would make all training better.

  

Now That I Finally Have Time

 This year has been a bit of a milestone in my adult life.  First, on January 3 of this year I was promoted to Sergeant and by the luck of the schedule I was able to land on afternoons, basically skipping midnights, which is a gift for a not so young 50 year old.   The second is that I completed my PhD in June and the diploma is sitting in my living room (walk in the robes next week).  Third, the biggest jump in pay is from Sgt 1 pay to Sgt 2 pay after a year, which will be January 3 and I will have credit for 27 years of service January 8.  So unless a miracle happens and I can advance again next year it is time to go.  Currently I have a number of applications to criminal justice tenure track professorships in this state and in the south that all start August-September-October 2024.

I have been neglecting this blog simply because something had to give between working a more than full time job, a side job, full time school and not neglecting my family.    But now I have a little more time and will go back to regular posting.  The only difference is I will probably go away from long form posts and keep it short and sweet unless something grabs me.

So if your still out there come on back!